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By Ray Shasho
-Interviewed July 22nd
2014
KEITH
EMERSON is an accomplished pianist, keyboardist, and
master of the moog synthesizer, who contributed a unique styling of futuristic
and intricate musical arrangements covering elements of classical, jazz, and
progressive rock, with such notable bands as The
Nice and legendary progressive rock trio Emerson Lake & Palmer.
Cherry
Red Records recently released the brand new CD entitled
… Keith Emerson & Greg Lake –‘Live from Manticore Hall’ -Keith
Emerson and Greg Lake, two of the founding members of progressive rock legends
Emerson Lake & Palmer. The duo's forthcoming live album captures their
unique two-man versions of a selection of well known material from ELP’s
celebrated catalog, including the hit “Lucky Man”. These recordings were taken
from a live show during their 2010 world tour and released now for the very
first time! -Purchase at Cherry Red Records oramazon.com.
Keith
Emerson’s early success began in the mid 60’s with The V.I.P’s which
also featured singerMike Harrison, bassist Greg Ridley, drummer Mike Kellie, and
guitarist Luther Grosvenorwho later formed
the rock band Spooky Tooth.
The
Nice: In 1967, Emerson
formed the psychedelic/progressive rock group The Nice. The band featured Keith Emerson (organ, piano, vocals), Keith “Lee” Jackson (bass, guitar, vocals), David “Davy” O’ List (guitar, vocals), Ian Hague (drums -1967), and Brian “Blinky” Davison (drums).
Their debut album ‘The Thoughts of Emerlist
Davjack’ (1967)
received rave reviews. At the end of 1967 they were included in a tour with
Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, and Amen Corner. “Lemmy” Kilmister
(Hawkwind, MotÓ§rhead) became a roadie for ‘The Nice.’ In
1969, the band performed at the ‘Isle of Wight Festival’ to an estimated
audience of 150,000 people.
Albums
by The Nice … ‘The Thoughts of Emerlist
Davjack’ (1967), Ars Longa Vita Brevis 1968, Nice (aka Everything
As Nice As Mother Makes It) (1969), Five Bridges (1970),Elegy (1971).
The
Nice disbanded in
1970 due to a lackluster of commercial success. The band briefly reformed in
2002 for a series of concerts.
ELP: Keith
Emerson (The Nice) and Greg Lake (King
Crimson) first met at the Fillmore West in San Francisco while exploring
alternative band options. After working together they realized they meshed
musically well together. Impresario Robert Stigwood suggested that they hire
drummerCarl Palmer (The
Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster) to join the band. The progressive
rock supergroup morphed into Emerson Lake & Palmer with
a lineup of … Keith Emerson (Piano, Hammond
organ, moog synthesizer), Greg Lake (lead
vocals, bass, and guitars), and Carl Palmer (drums
and percussions).
Emerson
Lake & Palmer’s self-titled
debut album was released in 1970. The album featured, “Lucky Man” a
medieval story penned by Greg Lake when he was only 12 years old. The
song was originally used as filler on the album but surprised the group when
hearing it being played on the radio. “Lucky Man” reached
#48 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The song was re-released in 1973 hitting #51 on the
charts. The track spotlighted an incredible moog synthesizer solo by Emerson at
the end of the song.
ELP’s electrifying
performance at the Isle of Wight Festival delivered the band into
superstardom.
‘Tarkus,’ the band’s first concept album was
released in 1971, described as a story about “reverse evolution.” ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ a
live album recorded at Newcastle City Hall in England was also released that
year. ELP’s third studio album, ‘Trilogy’ featured Greg
Lake’s alluring acoustically performed composition, “From the Beginning.” The
song became Emerson Lake & Palmer’s highest charting single #39
in U.S. The album also featured,“Hoedown” a
live performance crowd pleaser.
In
1973, ELP released ‘Brain Salad Surgery.’ The album
featured another Greg Lake acoustical classic, “Still… You Turn Me On” and “Karn Evil 9,” featuring
their most noted opening lyric …“Welcome back my friends to the
show that never ends.” Supposedly the title for ‘Brain
Salad Surgery’ came from the lyric ‘Just
need a little brain salad surgery/Got to cure this insecurity’ from Dr.
John’s Top 10 Hit (“Right Place Wrong Time).The album was also their first
under the Manticore Records imprint.
In
1974, ELP was top billing for California
Jam I. The concert featured Rare Earth, Earth
Wind and Fire, Eagles, Seals and Crofts, Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath,
Deep Purple and Emerson Lake & Palmer. The most
memorable highlight of the concert was Keith Emerson performing
on his Grand Piano while spinning
(flying) end-over-end fifty feet in midair. The
concert attracted over 250,000 music fans and was broadcasted on the ABC
television network.
Emerson Lake & Palmer disbanded
in 1979 but reformed in 1985 with ex-Rainbow drummer Cozy Powell. In
1991, ELP rejoined forces once again issuing the comeback
album, ‘Black Moon’ and
began touring again in 1996.
After more than a
decade, Emerson Lake & Palmer embarked on a North
American tour in 2010. ELP celebrated their 40th anniversary by
headlining The High Voltage Festival at
Victoria Park in London.
Keith
Emerson solo releases: Inferno -
soundtrack (1980), Nighthawks - soundtrack (1981), Honky (1982), Best
Revenge - soundtrack (1985), Murder Rock - soundtrack (1986) , The
Emerson Collection (1986), Harmageddon/China Free Fall (1987), The
Christmas Album (1988) , Changing States (aka Cream of Emerson
Soup) (1995), Emerson Plays Emerson (2002), La Chiesa - soundtrack
(2002), Godzilla: Final Wars - soundtrack (2004) , At the
Movies (2005), Hammer It Out (anthology) (2005), Off the
Shelf (2006), Keith Emerson Band featuring Marc Bonilla (2008),
"Moscow" - live album CD & DVD (2010), The Three Fates Project
(The Keith Emerson Band) (2012).
Most
Recently: Keith Emerson was elected into the Hammond Hall of Fame (2014).
Emerson will also be
honored for a 70th birthday tribute concert presented by the South Shore
Symphony Orchestra. The tribute will be
held at The Madison Theatre at Malloy College -Rockville Centre, Long Island,
New York on October 10th &11th. You can
purchase tickets[HERE] or
got to www.keithemerson.com/#2014-SouthShoreSymphony for more
information.
Keith’s Band, The Keith Emerson Band is
also busier than ever. The Band’s lineup is …Keith Emerson (Keyboards), Marc Bonilla (guitars and vocals), Travis Davis (Bass), and Joe Travers(drums).
I had the rare
privilege of chatting with Keith Emerson recently
about … The brand new Keith Emerson & Greg Lake –‘Live From Manticore
Hall’CD …The legend of the spinning piano… A longtime friendship with Dr.
Robert Moog …ELP ….Future projects … Carl Palmer… And much-much more!
Here’s my interview
with pianist/ keyboardist/ moog synthesizer extraordinaire -
composer/songwriter & legendary founding member of ‘The Nice’ and ‘Emerson
Lake & Palmer’ … KEITH EMERSON.
Ray
Shasho: Hi Keith, it’s still early morning here in the states, so what
part of England am I calling?
Keith
Emerson: “Hi Ray, I’m in the southern part of England
right on the Sussex coast.
Ray
Shasho: Keith, let’s first talk about your
latest release … Keith Emerson & Greg Lake 'Live From Manticore Hall,'
recorded from the 2010 world tour. The CD was officially released on July 14th.
I liked the intimate setting of the show and the concept of sort of bringing
the audience into the recording studio.
Keith
Emerson: “The idea was put to me by Martin Darvill back
in 2010. Martin plays a part in helping Emerson Lake and Palmer individually in
their different exploits and also to a degree ELP as a band. He called
me up, I was in California, and he wanted me to meet with an agent who I later
had lunch with in LA, and they put the idea to me. They said, what about
starting with a duo tour with you and Greg. He said, I think it would be a
great help for Greg because he hasn’t done an awful lot of touring and I think
Greg wanted to get warmed-up. So that was one of the reasons put to me that it
would make sense to do a duo tour. Meanwhile Carl Palmer was playing with Asia
and with his trio as well. What we were aiming at or what Martin was aiming at…
if Greg and I did a duo we could do a big concert at the High Voltage Festival
in London which was later on in the year, and it would be a great sort of
warm-up. So I thought about it and thought, well actually the ELP repertoire is
pretty huge, and as much as I played acoustic gigs with my own band which
features …Marc Bonilla (guitar/vocals), Travis Davis (bass) and Joe Travers
(drums), and have done duo gigs with Marc Bonilla with some degree of success,
so I thought there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to do the same thing
with Greg.”
“When I spoke to Greg
about doing a duo tour he wanted it bigger, let’s take around on the tour our
own setup and build a recording studio onstage so it looks like you’re in an actual
recording studio. You can see the engineer behind the mixing desk, and when
we’re ready to do a song, our engineer in this case Keith Wechsler, who has
been with us for a very long time, he would issue all the instructions and then
the red light would go on, record, and then we would do the concert. We did
have a record label called Manticore so the idea was to recreate a fantasia of
what Manticore Hall would actually look like, and of course it was an expensive
trip, whenever ELP or E & L get together it does turn out to be that way,
it does get very expensive in production.”
“Greg and I had a
rehearsal period in Santa Monica and then our first gig was in Cleveland which
got off to a rocky start. Greg’s rig was still being adjusted and I had no time
to tune the moog up and do my soundcheck which was frustrating to say the
least. There’s no doubt that the concert would have been a shambles so we
postponed it till later. But these things happen; the sad thing was that Greg
put up on his Facebook that I had stage fright. I mean he couldn’t be further
from the truth. I’m sometimes prone to apprehension but not to a degree of
stage fright. I don’t know why he had to say that. The reason for the first
night being poor was as I said, and if you were to ask any of the road crew
they would say exactly the same thing. So you can’t make these sorts of things
up. But I’m really pleased to say, after we overcame the first two gigs, and it
was unusual, if you’re going onstage with like a larger unit, say four or five
people, there are ways if you’re apprehensive about the show, you lookout and
cover for each other and that’s the great thing about large bands. But when
there are just two of you everything is quite focused and the magnifying glass
comes out, you can’t get away with too much.”
Ray
Shasho: ELP music is quite complex so it was amazing
how you and Greg pulled it off successfully and intimately in front of a
smaller audience.
Keith
Emerson: “It was enjoyable for me and I said to Greg,
if we do some of these arrangements just as a duo, I would like to change a few
things. I said, I wasn’t going to change anything of yours, what I would like
to do in certain cases is do an extended introduction, introducing the piece
and things that we normally play like “Lucky Man” and maybe extend the moog
solo at the end and maybe improvise something at the beginning. I’m not sure if
Greg was that happy about it but he said let’s give it a try. So I went over to
his house and got on the keyboard and I came up with an arrangement of “Lucky
Man” with different chords and I think it made it sort of semi-classical but
still in a romantic era, and I just played it as keyboard solo. I asked Greg,
so what do you think of this? Greg listened and said …what is that? … who wrote
that? I said you did! (All laughing) He obviously didn’t recognize it but I
think it was totally recognizable.”
“In the middle of the
show we had a question and answer thing with the audience which went down
really well, and there was one night when we had a lady from the audience put a
hand up and a guy in the audience went up to her with a microphone and she
said, “You know one of my wishes has always been to sit under the piano while
Keith Emerson is playing. So Greg called her up onstage and this young lady lay
under the piano while I played solo. (All laughing)”
Ray
Shasho: Besides keyboard and moog synthesizer … I’ve
really enjoyed your piano playing, and especially on “Bitches Crystal” it sort
of had a Ragtime feel.
Keith
Emerson: “I was a big fan
of Scott Joplin, but if there was any influence on “Bitches Crystal” …I
remember Dave Brubeck did a piece called “Countdown” and it was a boogie-woogie
piece in 10/8, and I thought I’d do the same idea but in 6/8, so that was the
idea behind that.”
Ray
Shasho: How was Moogfest 2014 this year?
Keith
Emerson: “Like any festival … pretty crazy, lots of
places to go and I got dragged from one event to the other. They had shipped my
moog modular system to North Carolina but during its hiatus it was spending its
time with a very technically minded moog guy called Gene Stopp. He actually had
it at his house and spent quite a lot of time going over it and servicing it
because there were always occasions with ELP when the oscillators would drift
and you find yourself having to tune the thing onstage. It was a very sensitive
keyboard; if it got hot inside the studio or the building the oscillators would
rise and pitch and you’d have to try and tune it while you were still playing.
Anyway, what Gene Stopp would do is stabilize the oscillators a little bit
better, clean all the contacts, and to my delight it was very reliable. When I
was over Gene Stopp’s place, he lives in California not very far from me, and
he said the moog company is looking at copying your big moog modular system
exactly like it is, would you mind? He said just to put your interest at heart,
the moog company wanted to kind of clone it and they want to call it ‘The Keith
Emerson Moog Synthesizer.’ I said wow, sure, are you sure anybody is
going to buy one of these things, I’m sure it’s going to be quite costly. He
said, well, we’ve got a few offers already from Japan, Germany, and Italy. So I
said okay. I suppose at first I was like, well, I’ve got the only one, but then
thought, yes this is great there are so many young players who really want the
real thing, they want a moog synthesizer.”
“I got to North
Carolina and went around the moog plants and I walked into this room and I’ve
got to tell you… there were two huge identical moog modular systems side by
side and I had to say to the people who were showing me around…wow, which one
is mine? (All laughing) I really didn’t know until I felt the scuff marks on
the side of the casing. I said how does it play? They said exactly like yours …
I said bloody hell!”
Ray
Shasho: Keith, you were good friends with Dr. Robert Moog … did you work
together on inventing new things?
Keith
Emerson: “I was friendly with him since 1969. At that
particular point he had a plant and factory in New York and I used to fly over
there a lot in the early 70’s, I’d fly from England because I wasn’t in
California at that time, but I’d see what other tricks he had going. He said to
me, the moog modular system you’ve got is just beyond the capabilities of the
normal garage band musician. I think he was under pressure to get something
which was more of a production line instrument and so he came up with the
minimoog. Obviously Chick Corea had one and made it his own the way he could
use the modulating wheel so you can get vibrato and stuff like that going on.
He really got the most out of the minimoog as far as I’m concerned.”
Ray
Shasho: The most amazing thing I ever saw … and maybe
it should be added to the list of ‘The Seven Wonders of the World’ … was you
spinning (flying) around while playing the grand piano at California Jam I.
What was that adrenaline rush experience like?
Keith
Emerson: “I think having a pilot’s license helped
a little bit. One of my road crew said we found this guy that used to work in
the circus and he does a lot of things for TV and special effects and he’s made
something that might interest you, it’s a piano that spins round, and I
immediately responded, oh that sounds interesting. I happened to be within the
New York area and I was driven over to Long Island to a guy called Bob
McCarthy, and there in the background he had this piano situated. So he called
his wife down from upstairs and said, darling could you demonstrate this for
Keith? I looked on, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. His wife comes down and
sits on the seat and up she goes in the air and proceeds to spin around. I
thought, well that’s great! Then Bob asked me, do you want to have a go at it?
…Yea, okay. You need to understand, below the keyboard there’s an inverted-tee,
like a bar. You wrap your legs around the down pipe and put your heels under
the inverted-tee. Then you go up in the air and try and do your best to play.
It was a little difficult to play at first because of the centrifugal force, so
it wasn’t easy.”
“I think we actually
used it for the first time at Madison Square Garden, it was a Christmas
concert. I think people in the audience were so astounded they couldn’t quite
believe what they were seeing. Later on that coming year the California Jam
came up and I said we have to do that there. Bob drove the whole contraption
down to the California Jam and there was very little space to set it up. There
were loads of bands up on that stage, all having to do their set and then
getting their equipment off. Now, with the moog, the Hammonds, Carl’s
gongs and everything, it was hard enough to just get that off stage. We had the
spinning piano and everything that went along with it and we tried to find a
place to situate it. It ended up going just at the end of the stage, so when
the piano went up it was literally over the heads of the audience. After that
every TV show I did came the question … Keith, how do you spin around on that
piano? I’d say what about my music? (All laughing) When I had the honor of
meeting the great jazz pianist Dave Brubeck just before he died, he said, Keith
you’ve got to tell me how do you spin around on that piano? Dave Brubeck was 90
years old then and I said Dave, don’t try it! (All laughing)”
“When I did the ‘High
Voltage Festival’ with ELP in 2010 I really wanted to reintroduce the spinning
piano. Immediately the authorities wanted to see the plans and said outright no
way, this would never pass health and safety. So I couldn’t use it.”
Ray
Shasho: Keith, here’s a question that I
ask everyone that I interview. If you had a ‘Field of Dreams’ wish like the
movie, to play or collaborate with anyone from the past or present, who would
that be?
Keith
Emerson: “Maybe John Cage … I’d also say quite a lot of
guys from the jazz era like Coltrane, Miles Davis …that would have been pretty
cool.”
Ray
Shasho: “Wasn’t
jazz music really big in England before rock and roll?
Keith
Emerson: “Not really, it
was very difficult to buy jazz albums in England. You had to order them in and
not like America. A lot of jazz albums were like imports. There were a few jazz
musicians and one who was a great friend of mine, Ronnie Scott, who actually formed
a jazz club in London. It’s still going actually although Ronnie is no longer
here. I think that was the only way that lovers of jazz in England could
actually get to see live jazz at that time. Ronnie would have people like Zoot
Sims, Stan Getz, Thelonious Monk, the Buddy Rich Big Band, Oscar Peterson … he
used to get them in and there would be wall to wall people, always sold-out. It
was the only opportunity that musicians in England could get to actually see
the real thing. But a lot of musicians like Ronnie Scott used to play on the
cruise ships back and forth to New York. Once they were in New York of course
they went down 52nd street and saw all of their heroes while learning quite a
lot. They even took lessons from some of them while in New York. Then they
would come back to England and really show off while all the English would go,
wow, that’s the real thing!”
Ray
Shasho: Keith, have you recorded an all-jazz album?
Keith
Emerson: “I’ve done a few pieces on some of my solo
albums like ‘Off the Shelf’ but not an entire jazz album. I have been in talks
with a guy called Bruce Lofgren who lives in California and he said do you
fancy doing one? I don’t know how far it’s gone with the arrangements, but I’m
not sure there would be a big call for it.”
Ray
Shasho: So what’s next for Keith Emerson?
Keith
Emerson: “I’m hoping to
get a lot of my piano stuff published and working on that at the moment. I had
quite a lot of fun working with the guys at Cleopatra Records. I contributed to
‘Light My Fire- A Classic Rock Salute to The Door’s,’ a tribute album which had
other players on it like …Rick Wakeman, Patrick Moraz … and it’s had great
reviews. I performed on the intro for “People Are Strange,” and did my bit much
in the style of Django Reinhardt and StĂŠphane Grappelli and kept it very
acoustic. Jeff Skunk Baxter performed acoustic guitar on it. I think Cleopatra
Records has another project which is orchestral with The London Symphony
Orchestra and so they just asked me if I’d be interested in that one, and I said
yes.”
Ray
Shasho: Keith, are you utilizing the latest
cutting-edge equipment?
Keith
Emerson: “Yes, I’m always
keen to learn what I can do with what I have. I’m quite happy with the piano,
the Hammond organ and the moog synthesizer. I was at the NAMM show and being
elected into the Hammond Hall of Fame. While I was there I looked around at
what they’ve got and I tried the Hammond Suzuki keyboard. I stuck the
headphones on and just played the piano sound and thought …this is cool, I like
that. Before I left I asked …any chance of getting one of those? They said,
don’t worry we’ll see what we can do. (All laughing) I’ve got one now and I’m
really pleased with it.”
Ray
Shasho: I can’t even imagine how much equipment you must have.
Keith
Emerson: “Well, I’ve got a fair
bit yea …plus two Steinway Grand Pianos which I have absolutely no room for at
the moment, but I suppose I’m going to have to sell those at some point.”
Ray
Shasho: Keith, of course I’ve got to ask this one …
any future plans for another ELP reunion?
Keith
Emerson: “Oh that one …I
think it’s highly unlikely, after the High Voltage Festival, Carl made some
kind of comment to the press saying … that was it for him. I realized during
rehearsals that Carl was not entirely happy with certain individuals, without
getting into any sort of detail, but I could see his point. It came as no
surprise after the High Voltage Festival, Carl was seen getting into his car
and just driving off. So that was it really. I’ve heard certain stories that
Carl is off with management and certainly with Greg. He doesn’t really work
very well and it’s not a very professional way to go about things, I think it’s
a little unnecessary really. It’s really typical isn’t it … you read about The
Who, The Beatles … and it seems almost impossible to have a really good social
relationship and a good musical relationship with everybody. The only thing I
can say is I’ve never had so much fun playing with Marc Bonilla and my band. I
don’t think Marc and I have ever had one argument. We may say… okay I kind of
disagree with that so what else do you suggest? It’s the best professional way
to go about it. Plus the fact that last year was an incredible year for me
knowing that the Tokyo Philharmonic were performing ‘Tarkus,’ one that I’ve had
a hand in arranging with the Japanese arranger by the name of Takashi
Yoshimatsu and they were performing at the Tokyo Opera House … I flew over just
to see the concert. I never thought I’d witness something as spectacular as
that. There’s no doubt that the Japanese musicians are heads up above everybody
else.”
“I’ll be at Rockville
Centre, Long Island, New York October 10th &11th. They’re doing a 70th
birthday tribute concert for me presented by the South Shore Symphony
Orchestra.”
Ray
Shasho: Keith, thank you for being on the call today
but more importantly for all the incredible music you’ve given us with ‘The
Nice’ and ‘Emerson Lake & Palmer’ and the music you continue to bring.
Keith
Emerson: “Thanks Ray,
it’s been enjoyable talking with you … all the best, bye.”
Purchase the amazing
new CD By Keith Emerson & Greg Lake –‘Live From Manticore Hall’Keith
Emerson and Greg Lake, two of the founding members of progressive rock legends
Emerson Lake & Palmer, recently released their highly anticipated CD 'Live
From Manticore Hall' – Officially released July 14, 2014 on Manticore Records,
via Cherry Red. The duo's forthcoming live album captures their unique two-man
versions of a selection of well known material from ELP’s celebrated catalog,
including the hit “Lucky Man”. These recordings were taken from a live show during
their 2010 world tour and released now for the very first time! -Purchase now
at amazon.com.
Track
Listing 1) FROM THE
BEGINNING, 2) INTRODUCTION 3) I TALK TO THE WIND, 4) BITCHES
CRYSTAL, 5) THE BARBARIAN, 6)TAKE A PEBBLE, 7)TARKUS, 8) C’EST LE
VIE, 9) PIRATES,10) MOOG SOLO / LUCKY MAN
Purchase Keith Emerson’s re-mastered solo releases… ‘At the Movies' (3CD
Box Set), ‘Changing States,’ and ‘Honky’ at Cherry Red Records
Very special thanks to
‘the great’ Billy James of Glass Onyon PR
COMING
UP NEXT … Robin Trower (legendary
guitarist and songwriter) … Don Wilson guitarist,
pioneer, and co-founder of ‘The Ventures.’ … Country Music’s shining new star
-19 year old Mary Sarah … And Folk/Rock
singer & songwriter Jonathan Edwards (“Sunshine”).
Contact music
journalist Ray Shasho at
rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com
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special memoir called ‘Check the Gs’ -The
True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business …
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