Rest in Peace, Keith Emerson

A moment of silence, please, for Keith Emerson, keyboardist extraordinaire, who passed at age 71 this past week.

Though he and the rest of ELP had their critics, I for one found their efforts innovative and stimulating, dominated by some intricate, classically-inspired musicianship by three very solid talents.

To this day I have never seen another player twirl a full-sized synthesizer on one corner, playing it as it rotated…I play some early ELP (say, Tarkus or Knife-Edge) for my students and they will invariably prick up their ears and ask me who that was…great stuff and always a fun show…RIP Keith…