I’m trying to think of the best way to say these thoughts. It’s very interesting listening to Emerson’s recordings and catching the difference in his playing later on. My favorites are the early stuff from the 1960s and 1970s. That’s when he was at his very best! He played a lot of amazing things on the piano, Hammond organ, and the Moog synthesizer, combining both classical and jazz styles together.
Keith was my introduction to keyboards. It was really cool what he did, adding a mixture of Bach, Copland, some jazz, and blues together to create his sound. He was also really amazing at orchestration in his improvizations on the piano, Hammond organ, and synth. Some piano and organ examples include: The Nice – Rondo 69, She Belongs to Me, America from the Elegy album, and Hang On to a Dream also from the Elegy album. Some of the synthesizer solos that stand out for me include: ELP – Trilogy, the last section in the live version of Tarkus from the live album Welcome Back My Friends…, Fanfare for the Common Man, and Abaddon’s Bolero.
He was very influential for me when it came to the Hammond organ. Pictures at an Exhibition and Knife Edge were the songs that got me interested in playing the organ. Then it was Karn Evil 9, Tarkus, Rondo from the Isle of Wight performance, then a lot of The Nice starting with the Tchaikovsky Pathetique third movement, then Country Pie, Little Arabella, the Intermezzo from Karelia Suite by Sibelius, Ars Longa Vita Brevis, and Five Bridges.
He did a lot of wild effects with the instrument: turning the motor
on and off, using the noise from the reverb springs, etc. Those things were done with the Hammond L100. Also, for the piano, he plucked the strings for the beginning of Take a Pebble.
I would like to think before he had the nerve condition, he played
so many fun things – his unique use of intervals, lots of wide chord stretches (the song Nighthawking from the Nighthawks soundtrack which is also from the compilation At The Movies), fast arpeggios and phrases with lots of excitement (probably the most famous would be his solo spot from the Cal Jam performance during the Brain Salad Surgery tour), and so many other examples. You can feel the joy and excitement when he played those things, particularly in the Welcome Back My Friends album.
I was really glad to meet him for a brief time. He was really nice. I miss him.
Rachel Flowers
23 comments
Wow, that are very nice words, from you, who I will respect as his one and only follow up. Be Inspired and get joy out of his performances when he was at his best. Good Luck with your musical career. I will keep an eye of you! Because I appreciate your (Emerson) distorted tacky play!
Hello Rachel, Your comments on Emerson, are still on point, this player was a rare breed. All of us should carry Keith’s Musical torch forward.
Thank you ever so much Rachel for talking so nicely about Mr Keith Emerson who was to me (and to many others around the world) one of the greatest keyboards players and a musical genius at large; My first encounter with ELP in the 70’s came as a real shock to me as I first heard “par hasard” Keith Emerson’s Moog synthesizer’s and Hammond organ’s solo out of an open window somewhere in Toulouse, France, as he played “Blues Variations” from the “Pictures at an Exhibition” vinyl record of course!; “What a thrill, what a thrill!”Greg Lake would have sung…I was so d….blown away! I had never before heard such a sound and virtuosity mixed together, and from that day on I became a huge ELP unconditional “fan”, and still am at 58, endlessly listening to 74’s ELP live performance of “Welcome Back My Friends To the Show That Never Ends” in my car, and well I guess that thanks to people like you, Rachel, it will actually “never end”! Will you please excuse my “written logorrhea” but as it comes to Keith and Music in general I cannot seem to come to a halt. A tear rolls down my cheek as I listen to this Music and think what a nice (!) and gentle man Keith Emerson was off stage… Only now people begin to realize the impact he had on musicians such as Steve Porcaro or Jordan Rudess, to name but a few… And of course you are one of them, Rachel. God Bless You. Yours sincerely, Jean-Claude, Toulouse (France).
Dear Jean-Claude,
Thank you for sharing your story with us. That is the Keith Emerson that we knew, and the more we hear from those who were touched by his life, that is indeed the real Keith Emerson. It warmed my heart to read your story. You have a memory to cherish forever.
All our best to you,
Jeanie and Rachel
Rachel please accept my respects. You are a great person and artist Just go on. I’m sure the best of your art is still to come. Rachel favor acepte mis respetos. Usted es una gran persona y artista. Sólo tiene que seguir adelante. Estoy seguro de que lo mejor de su arte está aún por llegar.
Hi, That is an amazing story. I am happy you shared it. I share your like with ELP. I saw them 2 times in Montreal in 1977,1978. My hero was Carl Palmer on drums, but I had followed each one of them in their careers. I had liked very much Greg Lakes history with King Crimson, who I also liked alot, 1970-1980 was the era in which i really loved what they had to offer in those times.Keith was a real showman, leaping over his keyboard. Those were cherish memories. I’d like to hear you play some King Crimson. You are quite an accomplished musician.
Found your playing on youtube in search of tributes to Keith Emerson. The collaboration on The Endless Enigma is a thing of beauty. I still choke up after all these years when the triangle is tapped during the piano solo. Something about ELP hit me the right way even from their first recording, but Trilogy and Brain Salad Surgery are master works of the Rock Era. I recently watched interviews with all three, and what I took from it was, their just guys. The neighbor you borrow a tool from, have a beer or share barbecue, but when they put the the axe in their hands, amazing sounds. As a musician in the 70’s my influences were Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce, Donald Fagen and Keith Emerson. I always imagine that Emerson’s influences were Gershwin,Brubeck and countless Ragtime piano players. I was saddened that he may have been so depressed that he ended it all, but knowing that his compositions live through yourself and others is a great thing. If you ever get to Cincinnati I will definitely see that show. Stay true to your self. I am so glad I found your talent.
The thing that meant more to me about Keith Emerson than any of the albums, keyboards I have bought and played (badly). Nor has it been the concerts or any of the merchandising. I was in London one day in the 1970s quite unwell with something quite serious at the time but no doubt easily cured with a pill today. I wandered into Manticore Music and asked for Keith Emerson. The lady running the office could see that I was unwell and apologised that ELP weren’t in that day. A week to the day, I was at home when a photo of Keith arrived with a note which said: From one Keith to another. My office tells me that you haven’t been too well. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you called. We all hope that you get better soon, Keith That proved to me that as well as a keyboard god, Keith Emerson was a nice man who took the trouble to write me a note wishing me well soon. I will never forget Keith Emerson the rocker who cared enough to write me a letter. There, I’ve been wanting to get that off my chest for forty years.
Dear Keith in Scotland,
We are honored that you chose to share your story here.
Keith Emerson was more than a rock star, more than a keyboard virtuoso, more than a genius composer, arranger, and performer. He was a towering example of humanity at its finest and we are blessed to have met him and been a small part of his life.
Rachel will continue to carry the torch. Keith will live forever through his music.
Our hearts are with you,
Jeanie Flowers for Rachel Flowers
This is so nice to learn. Since as you and many music lovers are crazy about Keith as one of the most genius composer and keyboardist ever. We are so happy to hear that beyond that he was a kind person, which is a great value!
I could ramble on for days about what Keith Emerson did for me for my entire life. I had always heard Lucky Man, Still, You Turn Me On, Karn Evil 9, From The Beginning and the other “radio hits”, even heard Hoedown a time or two… But it was around 1989 when I was still only 16 years old that I decided I better check more into this awesome band and developed a keen interest in synthesizers, particularly the Moog modular system. It was then that I REALLY discovered Keith Emerson. I can’t even adequately put into words what an inspiration Keith Emerson was on me! Let’s just say he changed my musical outlook for many years to come.
All these years later I happen upon these Rachel Flowers videos and I am just blown away by Rachel’s passion and devotion in her playing. Her passion and devotion to Keith Emerson. She is such a bright, shining light in this rather dim “future” we find ourselves in. Her enthusiasm and her unbridled joy when she plays is simply amazing. I have shared the videos on Facebook and told my circle of friends that Rachel should be the cultural icon, not these “hacks” like Kanye West that just pretty much lack in everything musical and stride along on their manufactured fame. Not to get too deeply negative though, I’ll just focus on how much joy and inspiration I get from watching Rachel play these songs so perfectly (with occasional small mistakes) that I have listened to hundreds of times in my life. Rachel, you are amazing! Just please keep the fire burning! I am a fan of yours! I get really inspired by every aspect of your playing. It is everything that real, true music is and should be.
Rachel deserves fame and fortune. She is a rare, rare talent and having never met her, I’m just completely in love with her! She is so wonderful! I have attempted to play keyboards but I was unfortunately born quite tone-deaf! Doesn’t do me much good! Thank God I have some natural rhythmic abilities and have a pretty solid handle on playing the drums. My keyboard playing is limited to plunking around and making some interesting noises – I’m more gifted at sound-design than I am at playing beautiful music. But I find inspiration in watching young Rachel Flowers and I imagine she would be great fun to play in an ensemble with! Best of luck to you, Rachel. You deserve everything and more in the world of music and even in life. Your inspiration to me isn’t limited to music. Your love of life and floods of joy gushed out after most pieces are truly exciting and inspirational! I just love it! Cheers to you!
Thanks Rachel kind words indeed. Keith Emerson was a huge force in my life when I was a teenager and his music will always be with me. It is wonderful that young people like yourself have picked up the baton and are now not just playing his music but taking it to another level. Will try and get to Birmingham in July to see your concert. Best Wishes
David Jarrett
Ars longa, vita brevis…
Hi Rachel. I was fortunate indeed to hear you play the 3rd movement of Keith’s 1st piano concerto at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham, England, last night (28 July 2017). Your performance (accompanied by a wonderfully enthusiastic orchestra) was the highlight of my evening, and brought me close to tears with the poignance and sheer beauty of your exquisite playing. Thank you for helping to keep Keith Emerson’s music alive. Many years ago, I told myself that Keith’s music would one day be recognised for what it really is. Talented musicians such as yourself and Jeffery Biegel are making that dream a reality in my lifetime. Thank you so much.
Thank you Rachel for sharing your memories of Keith Emerson. I’m glad you had a chance to meet him. I’m a huge fan of his and yours. This would have been his birthday. It made me feel better reading your and your mother’s stories about him.
Hi Rachel from Paraguay. You write “Keith was my introduction to keyboards”. So my question is, who introduced you to Keith or ELP? Usually a parent of friend introduces a young person to the classical composers first and then we find out on our own somehow about more modern artists who have taken keyboards to the next level. What is your story?
Please see http://rachelflowersmusic.com/2016/05/19/how-rachel-first-heard-keith-emersons-music/
I downloaded six of Rachel’s songs from her “Listen” CD today from iTunes. Rachel, like Keith, have music in their soul, both great musicians and composers. Thank you Rachel for keeping Keith’s amazing music alive. He was one in a millon and you are too. Keep composing and sharing your music with the world.
Rachel, I am so glad you came along to share Keith Emerson’s music. I am blown away every time I hear you play one of his compositions. He didn’t write songs, he wrote compositions and scores of the finest quality. Your visual challenge does not hold you back at all & your perfect pitch is a true gift from God! You are a gift to this world of music! I am at a loss for words trying to describe how important you have become! Please continue to be an advocate in proving to the world how important Keith’s music is & may his legacy live on forever in the music community! You are a true professional in every sense of the word & more! I cherish you when I watch your video’s. You seem to channel Keith’s soul as you play his songs! I know you are so much more than just an interpreter of ELP music but I am a life-long follower of ELP music & you have touched my heart in a special way. Carry on Rachel, for I just know you have much more to offer to this world. I cherish everything you do! You are amazing!
First off I want to say how blown away I am by your performances of Keith Emerson’s music I’ve seen online. For many years I tried to play his music, and even with the sheet music in front of me, I could never come close to sounding like him.
I saw your performance at the tribute concert and was moved after seeing how emotional you became. I can understand how you felt and was impressed how you were able to play so well under those circumstances. Watching the video caused me to finally break down too, and fully mourn his loss. I thank you for that. None of my friends are into ELP and so when Keith passed I mourned alone, and hadn’t fully released most of my buried sadness.
Soon after his passing, as a way to unburden myself of some of my grief, I wrote the essay below, which I sincerely hope you and others will appreciate. If you don’t mind letting me indulge myself I will post it here:
I cry when my heroes die
The music that we enjoy most as teenagers is music that we will hold dear to us for the rest of our lives. Psychologists and Neurologists have found complicated scientific explanations for this but I think most of us are the living proof.
I turned 13 in 1980. By then I had fallen in love with ROCK music which for me, meant 60s-70s era rock bands. Unfortunately the 80s were very tough on these bands and it became apparent that I was viewing its slow demise. It seemed that every band I grew to like would break up at just about the same moment. The few that didn’t call it quits became unrecognizable versions of themselves (I’m looking at you, Genesis.) But I kept on buying every one of their albums, often found in .99 bins. I never formed an interest in the then brand-new flavors in music: synth-rock, new wave, hair metal, power pop, etc.
I also started to learn how to play music that year. I made that decision 90 seconds into watching the pseudo-documentary about The Who, The Kids are Alright, which was a front seat to that band’s particular brand of touring mayhem, comedic drunkenness, and some great rock and roll music, much of it written specifically to express teenage angst. But I did not pick up a traditional Rock and Roll instrument like guitar or the drums. I learned to play the rarely used pile of wood that was gathering dust in my parent’s living room: the family organ.
I took a year of piano lessons but it was clear they were mostly useless since I didn’t have a piano! But I did accumulate just enough skill to learn some songs performed by my favorite bands. Its probably no accident that I gravitated towards bands featuring a lot of organ; many of them were progressive rock bands. I was in my mid-teens at this point so while the guitarists were out getting girls, I was getting glasses – and sheet music.
Unlike singers and guitar players, keyboardists do not inspire much hero worship. And besides, back then there were usually so many keyboards on stage you couldn’t see them half the time. But there was one guy who stood out: Keith Emerson. He was a keyboardist that actually looked OK wearing leather. He had endearingly dorky English-style long hair, went on stage wearing super cool leather vests, played TWO Hammond organs and TWO Moogs. He was a badass too; never very far from a bottle of Courvoisier and to hold down notes, he sometimes stabbed his organ with knives (I used pencils.) His music was a bombastic blend of Jazz, Blues and Classical, all of it infused with aggressive rock and roll energy – and volume.
Time has not been kind to progressive rock, especially ELP. Even in their day it was Greg Lake’s folky acoustic pieces – with only the occasional synthesizer snuck in (“Lucky Man”) that received the bulk of any airplay.Anyone who disparages prog-rock nearly always mentions ELP in their critique. Some of this may have been deserved. This was a band that had to reinforce their stage to accommodate a custom drum kit made from half inch steel, Persian rugs, a synthesizer the size of a refrigerator and the world’s most expensive home organ (The Yamaha GX-1). Their concerts featured long drum solos, piano solos played on a spinning Steinway, and a full orchestra. Lacking a healthy share of subtlety, their music today sounds a bit adventurous (read: bombastic.) Back in my formative years I loved every bit of it.
So its true, these days I don’t break out my vinyl very often. I do not play the many live bootlegs I collected. I have no ELP MP3s. Nonetheless, the death of my former hero and fave rave Keith Emerson has saddened me quite deeply, much more than I would have predicted. Its not all that surprising, really. I read everything I could about him. I knew more about him than I knew about many of my friends, I had posters of him on my teenage bedroom wall. I used to dream about meeting him. I feel like I lost a close friend I haven’t seen since high school, or possibly, a former next door neighbor. Maybe they haven’t been around much lately but the memory of them is still sweet.
2016 has been very unkind to musicians. Many have cried over the loss of David Bowie, Glen Frey, Paul Kantner, Maurice White, Vanity and George Martin. I cried for Keith.
What comes from the heart, touches the heart. Your performance at the tribute concert brought tears to my eyes as well. Rachel, as a fellow musician, I have a great respect for you and your ability. To follow so closely in Kieth’s footsteps and in fact fill his shoes, is amazing. Let us not forget the two other amazing musicians that he worked with, Greg and Carl. Like Keith, I believe it must be difficult for you to find such high quality musicians to back your towering talent. The “corporate music” of today can’t hold a candle to the musicians of prog rock, the big band era, and the classics of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Rachel, you are an absolute gem among the “one note/one beat karaoke singers” of today. The music of Emerson Lake and Palmer will live on forever, and it will only be rare talents like yourself who will have the ability to introduce new generations to it.
I hope to see you at NAMM again next year.
Like most of his fans, I was not lucky enough to meet him in person, although I managed to shake his hand in 2006 before the concert in Vigevano (Italy). A great emotion for me that I have followed him since the first Nice albums. My 20s, my youth, have been shocked by his music that has accompanied me all my life. His legendary LuckyMan finale opened my eyes to the horizons of synthesized music. Keith made me crazy to be able to buy my first Mini Moog. I had sold the car to be able to pay the crazy amount of almost 2 million Italian Lire. But I did it willingly because I was completely hypnotized by the sounds and sensations that Keith communicated and inspired me.
Some people change your life even if they are very far from yours. I am sure that my life would have been worse without his music. And that’s why I will never stop thanking him and remembering him with great affection. Thanks Keith for having existed.
Can you make a YouTube playing ELP’s ‘Take a Pebble’, and ‘Toccata’?
Would love to hear and see you play those!
God Bless You.