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:[[Jean Michel Jarre]]
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:[[David Bennett Cohen]] ([[Country Joe and the Fish]])
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:[[Jon Lord]] ([[Deep Purple]])
:[[Ray Manzarek]] ([[The Doors]])
:[[Ray Manzarek]] ([[The Doors]])

Revision as of 02:23, 7 December 2007

A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid 1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more general term for a person who plays them. These keyboards include:


It has become stylish among hard-rock enthusiasts and musicians to adopt an attitude of scorn and derision towards keyboardists and keyboard music. As an example, guitarist Ted Nugent goes hunting and shoots a keyboard in one of his DVDs. However, in general, the keyboardist has seen something of a resurgence in rock music in recent years, with bands like Maroon 5, Athlete and The Killers featuring keyboards prominently.

Notable electronic keyboardists

Note: while the term 'keyboardist' can cover a wide variety of instruments both acoustic and electronic, the following musicians are mostly known as electronic keyboardists, although they may also play piano or other acoustic keyboards.

Rock and pop

Vince Clarke (Erasure, Depeche Mode, Yazoo)
Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
Brian Eno
Martin Gore (Depeche Mode)
Ralf Hütter (Kraftwerk, Organisation)
Jean Michel Jarre
Booker T. Jones
David Bennett Cohen (Country Joe and the Fish)
Jon Lord (Deep Purple)
Ray Manzarek (The Doors)
Gary Numan
Billy Preston
Alan Price (The Animals)
Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)
Florian Schneider-Esleben (Kraftwerk)
Vangelis
Stevie Wonder
Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)
Rick Wakeman (Yes)

Jazz

Generally speaking, in jazz music, electronic keyboard players are very often also pianists.

Chick Corea
Herbie Hancock
Keith Jarrett
Jimmy Smith
Josef Zawinul (Weather Report)

Classical

Wendy Carlos

See also