Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake and Palmer Dies

Ultimate Classic Rock ^ | 3/11/2016 | Nick DeRiso

[Borges]

Keith Emerson, the outsized co-founding keyboardist in Emerson Lake and Palmer has died. Long-time bandmate Carl Palmer’s publicist has posted a message that confirms Emerson’s passing last night (March 10) in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 71. “Keith was a gentle soul whose love for music and passion for his performance as a keyboard player will remain unmatched for many years to come,” Palmer said. “He was a pioneer and an innovator whose musical genius touched all of us in the worlds of rock, classical and jazz.”

[LS]

Just going by what he said in his book. He was one of the few I didn’t get to interview. I read his book. Not sure, he may have had two books.

[Night Hides Not]

I was a big YES fan and really liked Steve Howes’ guitar work.

O/T, but what's it going to take for Yes to make it to the Hall of Fame?

I was having a conversation on NY's Eve with Frankie Valli's sax player...my 14 YO son thought I was cool, for all of 90 minutes...lol. It started when I toasted him and a few of his band mates in German. Turned out that Rick Keller, a world class sax player, lived and performed in Germany for two decades.

My jaw dropped when he was naming names of other artists he worked with, one of whom was Bill Bruford. I tried not to put a beatdown on him, but I told him that I start every walk with the opening from Yessongs, including Siberian Khatru, where the drummer just kicks a$$ for about 10 minutes.

I also told him that if I did have a band (I'm not a musician), I'd call it "Rearden Steel". Oh yeah, I bent his ear about Atlas Shrugged for about 10 minutes. Let's just say we had a wide ranging conversation, primarily comparing notes from our experiences in Germany.

[TangledUpInBlue]

I love that song. I wore out Pirates......

[21twelve]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ryce1O5IA

Behind the scenes of 1973 World Tour. 27 concerts in 32 days! Lots of great stuff. Emerson at his estate with bow and arrow and shotgun at 29 minutes.

[x]

His brain salad surgery was a success, but he died anyway ...

[Gasshog]

Technically amazing band but lyrically ELP was a spiritual void. Rip Keith.

[moehoward]

ELP at California Jam
If you play a keyboard you’ll probably give it up after watching the master at work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyTKmmcXLSs

[ßuddaßudd]

RIP KE

[21twelve]

“Show me the Way to Go Home.” Farewell Keith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1ZMTwPim_s

[MarDav]

I seem to remember that one of the Saturday sports shows used “Fanfare For The Common Man” as its theme.

[newfreep]

Cool story - thanks for posting!

I saw Yes 3 times (all in Cincinnati) - the final was “In the Round” with the round stage rotating with Jon anderson standing in the middle. IIRC, Rick Wakemen was keyboardist in that first show...many, many moons ago.

Yes had so many great albums...and Cheap Trick IS in the Hall of Fame? What a sham...

[sushiman]

They needed KIng Crimson’s Peter Sinfield . ^_^

[traderrob6]

For some stupid reason I was thinking those were the words to “Knights in White Satin”....Brain fart.

[ADemocratNoMore]

I just heard the sad news on the radio. I was a big ELP fan back in the day, right since Lucky Man, still am. Was also a lucky man in that I saw them live once. I sat four rows from the house PA bins, four or six horn loaded woofers & god only knows how much power. Keith was doing incredible arpeggios with his ribbon controller on his Moog 55 and this MASSIVE wall of bass was hitting me like some giant padded fist all over my body. In spite of being a great showman he was a hell of a pianist as well. Although he will be missed, we are so very fortunate to be living in an age when we have access to the recorded body of his work. R.I.P. Keith.

[plain talk]

Really saddened to hear this. He was a great composer and keyboardist. The first time I saw him was right after Tarkus came out. Next time was right after Trilogy came out. Wish I could have seen him more recently. Thanks for the songs, keith. He was an incredible composer. I have tried to play some of his stuff so I know up close how hard it is.

[MarDav]

Thanks for that...took a sad song and made it better

[Scrambler Bob]

M4L ELP

[DCmarcher-976453]

Just too funny!

[LaRueLaDue]

Tarkus was the first 8-track I bought. Yes “Close to the Edge” was my first vinyl album.

[Rebelbase]

Ahhhaa..this is why there were Emerson Lake and Palmer songs on the radio while I was running errands this afternoon.