Keyboard Rich

The most important aspect of YESSHOWS is its display of the live interaction between the musicians. While Yes was never accused of being a "jam band," their elaborate, sophisticated arrangements require their own kind of musical telepathy between participants. That connection is apparent throughout the epic "Gates of Delirium" from RELAYER. The pleasure Squire, Anderson, Howe and company still get from playing together is especially apparent on their old chestnut "Time and a Word," a simple but very effective ballad…

With 1987's BIG GENERATOR, Yes continued in the synthesizer-laden, production-heavy mode that had made the band's comeback album, 90125, such a success. While some diehard fans found this era of Yes to be in contrast to the band's previous classically influenced art rock, this incarnation of the band had plenty of the strong musicianship and fantastical imagination that had propelled the group to legendary status in the '70s. Indeed, producer Trevor Horn and the band succeeded in creating an intriguing sonic landscape that only Yes could conceive…

The key components to every great prog-rock album comprise memorable guitar riffs, punchy immediacy that draws you into the song, ample rhythmic kick, and the imaginative capacity to transport the listener to a place well beyond the confines of reality. Yes’ The Yes Album features all of these rare qualities and more, the 1971 record as significant for saving the band’s career as well as for establishing new parameters in virtuosic technicality and skilled composition. The first set recorded with guitarist Steve Howe, it remains Yes’ grandest achievement and claims a musical vision the British quintet’s contemporaries struggled to match…

Opening with a few bars of Stravinsky to set the adoring crowd on its feet, this once-three-LP set is Yes at their finest. This was, after all, probably the most mainstream act that had even provisional "prog rock" status, and their tunes show it. While "Heart of the Sunrise" may be one of the more modestly titled Yes songs (compare it with "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" or "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" or even "Total Mass Retain"), it also bears marks of the band playing at its most frenetic pace around Jon Anderson's soaring near-falsetto. Rick Wakeman's grand synthesizer flashes are more than textural, finding visual meshes aplenty with Roger Dean's cryptic cover art–most of which is shrunken or absent on this two-CD reissue…

New albums from the Canadian progressive band Dream Aria don't come once per year. The band's projects–led by Don Stagg (keyboards), Ann Burstyn (lead vocals) and Garry Flint (drums, producer)–instead, like the finest wine, take some time to mature before the cork is popped and a new album emerges from the Dream Aria team…

Warren Bernhardt - You Can Play Jazz Piano vol. 1-3 [Repost]

Enter the rich and exciting world of jazz harmony. This fascinating piano lesson from one of the greats in contemporary jazz is packed with musical insights, invaluable advice and detailed keyboard technique for players who are starting out in this idiom. All you need is a basic knowledge of the keyboard, and before long you’ll be comping evocative jazz chords and creating lush improvisations.

Scarlatti and the mandolin: this album provides a fascinating and unusual encounter between one of the most important composers of the baroque period and an instrument that originated in Naples and enjoyed great popularity throughout Europe, especially in Paris and in other European capitals during the 18th century. The Pizzicar Galante ensemble, founded in Paris in 2012 by mandolinist Anna Schivazappa and harpsichordist Fabio Antonio Falcone, reveals hidden aspects of these musical gems from the Italian Baroque.

VINDICTIV is a Swedish progressive metal band that was formed in 2004 by Stefan LINDHOLM and keyboardist Pontus LARSON. Other band members include singer Goran EDMAN, bassist Nalle PAHLSSON, and drummer Mikael WIKMAN. Other band members that used to be in VINDICTIV, but left after their first demo, were guitarist Johan LARSSON, and singer Tommy KAREVIK…