Keith Emerson - Improvisation

[MarchingBagel]

7:29 sounds like a fast version of Tiger in a Spotlight. Comment back if you agree.

[progmeck]

@gigantorrrrrr Keith emerson is not self tought at all. Neither his family was poor. Keith Emerson had lessons from three different female teachers, when he was a child..Emersons father was a chief technician at a general post office. His mother worked in a school. He grew up under normal relationships.

[edoemerson93]

Hour and hour and hour and hour and hour and hour and hour and hour of study and lots lots lots lots lots lots lots lots lots lots lots lots lots lots of talent: HE'S KEITH EMERSON!!!

[watthecheese]

Absolutely amazing! So very inspiring.. even to a non-piano player. Also I find it utterly incomprehensible how anyone could "dislike" this video... even if it isn't your favorite type of music can you not at least respect the talent? Seriously.. this is IMPROVISATION my friends!

[snufkin789]

splendid. i love how he casually makes quotes from famous pieces, like at the very end the theme of respighis gli uccelli. pure genius

[Rijsthoofd]

Came here cause my mind got clouded when i saw someone commenting on an Oscar Pererson rendition and told ppl to go listen to a REAL piano player like Keith Emmerson. I see hes a good player yes, but not to be compared to Oscar Peterson

[VladtheEmailer]

I could watch this a million times!

[weednlogic]

I think Rick Wakeman is really good and I think KE would agree with me. But I agree that Emerson is much, much, better.

[kayserlein]

Pure Bebop. Wow.

[moviemaster8510]

It's like Vince Guaraldi on crack. AND I FUCKING LOVE IT!!!!

[alteal]

Kieth Emerson worked for his money and he was underpaid.

[alanrich1956]

Kieth Emerson ...... he is the god of keyboards......

[musjam2]

Rick Wakeman!!

[joverboss]

@musjam2 really?

[Nawtas90]

l'unico e vero numero 1!! gli altri top tastieristi o si son persi o sono attualmente delle muffe...Wakeman suona musica di m con fasciano e Lord è una muffa!! un dinosauro della musica!! sonorità sempre uguali...ridicolo...per fortuna che c'è keith il n1!!! thank u Keith!!!

[plikterman]

lol........



[GPWS339]

Certainly the best player rock and roll will every see.

[Helenova]

Emerson is.. IDK!!

[syrerockdk]

Emerson is a wizard,on all kind of organs,pianos and so...I will always love him!

[FireAssasin]

No matter what you do, you'll never be as rad as Keith Emerson.

[jamessullysullivan]

Holy, holy, holy shit.

I bow to Mr. Emerson.

[ognibandyrrah]

149 likes, 2 dislikes....What the fuck is there to dislike here?....Emerson was top dog in the 70s...this was his "moment in the sun"...still makes me laugh watching that left hand ostinato work...Simply one of the best YT keyboard clips of all time....Thanks a million for the upload...

[hartles99him]

The master at work. I was very excited at 16 yrs of age to be there at CAL jam 1 1974 Ontario speedway to witness this and other great acts.

[mynamebackwardsisbob]

its so good and complex i actually have a slight headache. bravo!

[maxcredits]

I still lose my breath listening to this. Awesome!

[sevchyk]

What is the name of the piece playing at 04:30 - 05:00?

[3bar]

The best part starts at 3:45.

[gigantorrrrrr]

Look at him. His name is Keith Noel Emerson. Born of a poor family in England. Self Taught. He is one of the few greatest keyboard players in world history. He is living in YOUR lifetime. He came close to death within the past year from a surgery that went wrong. He is on Facebook AND has a Youtube channel. Look him up and say HI to a LEGEND! You are witnessing HISTORY! Love Ya Keith! Live long, continue to prosper and inspire us!

[piippoiinzaghi]

eccezzionale

[Emanic2]

il numero 2!!!!!!

il numero 1 è Wakeman

[Nawtas90]

the best

[louswire]

There are two tone - deaf rhythm deficient people, who clicked on this vid by mistake. 

[6john6drake6]

Keith "Fingers" Emerson indeed!

I've never seen this video before and I think it's the best I've ever seen him play.

I like how the camera shows his left hand at some points, it shows why he was so renowned for that. He must have been in his prime back them.

Seems like he has a brain for each hand, with the different rhythms they are playing.

His speed rivals a player-piano, but with human technique.

I like his Bartok-inspired stuff and his Ginastera interpretations also.

[GPWS339]

Keith Emerson was WAY BETTER THAN RICK WAKEMAN!!!

[juandhaltrich]

@GPWS339 to make you make sense of such a ridiculous sentence you just wrote, i'll put it this way: is like you were saying beethoven was better than mozart, or schubert, or wagner. they were different. period. not one was better than the other, so shut the fuck up, pretty please. how old are you anyway? 14? moron!

[sandygort]

@GPWS339

Way better? I agree the young Keith of the 70's was better. But I don't believe anyone is way better than Rick.

[juandhaltrich]

@GPWS339 apples and oranges. different players, both very talented. impossible to tell who's better.

[diosesygenerales]

@GPWS339 yes!!!

[2011synthfantasy]

Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman......qual'è il migliore?

[mrgears]

Ah yes, the California Jam, 1974. This was at a time when ELP was 2nd to NONE

[pelusonpuntocom]

Audio basso. Ma audio..SPLENDIDO !!!

Qualcuno di voi, sà per caso, il clavinet che usa il grande Emerson, che marca è ? Non è un Honer, molto usato all' epoca.. Grazie comunque.

[pelusonpuntocom]

Audio basso. Ma audio..SPLENDIDO !!!

[aliceg2]

HoLy sMoKin' PlaYiN' Keith...*!.....lol/* Your Still here! Thank Christmas!

[PolloAReazione]

questi SUONANO

[wmlfan9]

How does someone sit down at a piano and do that?!?!?!?

[djsurgeles]

One Man Stand Alone--->>>KEITH EMERSON

[wmlfan9]

I wonder if Keith (or anyone else) has ever transcribed this into printed form. I'd love to own this as sheet music. I'm not saying I could play it - just liked to own it. Does anyone know if this exists as sheet music?

[nicokanakaris]

this is the essence of ELP.the jazz of keith emerson

[Eirikr430428]

What's the part from 7:30-7:50 called? I always love that part when I hear Keith Emerson play it in his improvisations.

If it is unknown, suggest a sweet name for me to call it!

[ironwallful]

@Eirikr430428 it's what u can call a straight foward boogie woogie playing!!

[KennyOKemp]

@Eirikr430428 The passage you mention is merely a blues riff (1-4-5). He engages in blues motifs more than once in this improvisation.

[rottro]

right around the4:30 mark blows my mind. Great work.

[TheSphinxster]

@rottro The song is Little Rock Getaway.

[totto210]

the best ever

[dwilmer7]

I like cheeseburgers.

[Orpheusnarrowway]

Is this video from a bootleg?

[spitfire71068]

@Orpheusnarrowway From California Jam, I believe.

[cutis1000]

How can one ever tire of watching this?? Phenomenal! I believe this is the mid-portion to Take A Pebble.  Somehow, I always feel Keith Emerson has never been recognized enough for the talent that he is. What other modern day pop musician even comes close to this level of talent, originality and creativity??

[shiftwork]

@cutis1000 Emerson WAS recognised as a phenomenal talent in the 70's. Prog rock (and ELP in particular) is no longer considered cool enough to be recognised as a talent, with all the silly cooking on ice/dancing with old farts diarrhoea that we are endlessly fed on television in the UK nowadays. Having the ability to play your instruments? Pah! Ridiculous.

[mus1cat]

Amazing how all you YouTubers watching this turn the thread into some silly religious discourse. How do you go from watching the sheer talent of this man to religion?

Amazing and stupid. The discussions, that is.

[otef434]

Talent! Absolute talent. And a lot of energy too. No way my arms could stand that.

[alteal]

The best keyboard artist in the world going on 40 years now, in my opinion.

[youdube01]

Take all your religious fuckin bullshit and fuck off ..you are all wrong..assholes..get a fuckin life...the music is all that matters.

[pontoeusino]

a masterpiece... both exciting and relaxing... when i'm angry, cheerful, bored, sad, confused or happy i listen to this improvisation and i find "something" that helps me and makes me a better person... it's hard to explain, but i can meet myself when i listen to it...

[helpforaddiction]

I bet this guy practices a lot.

[Fairlynormalme]

Keith Emerson of Emerson Lake & Palmer. One of the greats

[zigzag909]

A master at work.

[iamastormtrooper]

i wonder how it feels like, having all this music in the head and put it all down on a piano with absolute perfection

[hippitybippitybop]

Just ask Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Bach,etc. Emerson was a great keyboard player but most of his music was borrowed from great composers. Emersons piano concertos were not very good!!

[iamastormtrooper]

@hippitybippitybop

i agree! but theres no video on them playing, im learning a chopin piece right now and when i learn it i can just feel how incredible he was., we can not only listen to these compsers for thats not fair, we have to give room for the musicians of today, for an example, theres tons of great jazz music even today but every one is listening to their old favorits and komplianing theres no music today, i think Emerson is great for someone actually alive,

[gesseroure]

@hippitybippitybop oh... I like emerson's piano concertos and pieces a lot...

[hippitybippitybop]

@gesseroure Try listening to any of the Beethoven piano Concerto's especially #4 in G major and then listen to an Emerson piano concerto and you will know exactly why I made my statement. I am sure Keith would agree with me on that one for sure! Auvior!!!!!!!!!

[gesseroure]

@hippitybippitybop I'm a classical pianist, and I'm not saying that Emerson's concertos are the most incredible thing in music, but they are good... By the way, I don't like beethoven a lot, I prefer Liszt, Rachmaninov, Korsakov and speccially Bach

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop Are u stupid? you comparing beethoven to emerson? beethoven lived 200 years ago, do you or do not know how much music progressed since then? beethoven wrote timeless music indeed but so did emerson if you cant hear it in hes harmonies you need to clear your ears.

[hippitybippitybop]

@surrealillness There is no written or recorded music than can even come close to matching the perfection of beautiful sound produced by Master Composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Bach, etc. In others words the whole gamut of Western Classical music. Listen to Beethovens 9th symphony "Ode to Joy" chorus and tell me I am wrong!!

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop Well, music is not about comparing it to music that comes 100 years after, those composers are genius because they were the first to explore and reach and create great harmonies Bach was the father of this, and no thank you, ode to joy is not Beethoven best symphony i find the 5th much better or 7th, not to mention Tsiolkovsky's 6th which so so much interesting and creative in many aspects then ode to joy which is simply overrated in my opinion.

[hippitybippitybop]

@surrealillness All of Beethovens music was GREAT! The Master composers never put on ANY COMMERCIAL TRASH THAT THEY CALLED MUSIC! They did not compose their music for fame or fortune. What they did was to glorify their Creator through the genius of their beautiful music!

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop back in Beethovens days there werent any music industry!..so what the hell are you comparing..many of the musicians in the 20th century also were musicians for the sake of music like musicians in the jazz scene and later rock musicians, in rock you cant blame producers for taking advantage of music and making it into a profit making industry, this doesnt make the beatles or pink floyd or any good rock musicians into fame seekers, you can clearly hear their music was good.

[hippitybippitybop]

@surrealillness Sir George Martin composed most of the Beatles tunes along with Billy Preston. The Beatles were terrible musicians! Although a handful of jazz musicians were great at the art of improvisation these greats were very few indeed!

Miles Davis, John Mc Laughlin, Dave Brubeck, Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Oscar Peterson, to name a few!

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop Hahaha, ok now you reached the subject which im best at, its the beatles, george martin as much as i love him did NOT compose anything for the beatles he did play a few piano solos in a few songs, Beatles composed and played all of their music, martin did orchestral arrangements in many songs, gave many ideas and overall was a big musical mentor to them, he didnt compose anything though, and they were infect especially McCartney, geniuses.

jazz is boring to me now, its small.

[hippitybippitybop]

@surrealillness Paul Mc Cartney is certainly no genius, although he is a decent bass player. I would suggest that the driving force behind the Beatles musical influence was the Son of Perdition himself. The Master musician and fallen Angel Lucifer the Arch-Angel. Music falls into two categories only and they are either Good or Evil.

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop Yes, you are indeed crazy and foolish, if u say something as foolish as this about McCartney you clearly do not posses enough musical knowledge, good bye.

[hippitybippitybop]

@surrealillness I am not crazy nor am I foolish. Read the Bible which is the source of all Truth. "The Truth shall set you free"!

[BenjaminMJ]

@hippitybippitybop Omg wtf are you talking about? You wanna categorize all music under only 2 categories good or evil? nothing else to measure music with? you are the biggest idiot ive ever seen

[hippitybippitybop]

@BenjaminMJ You take the name of the Lord in vain (your initialed first statement), then you use profanity , then you insult me. You need to read the Bible (King James Version).

[BenjaminMJ]

@hippitybippitybop The bible lmao fuck off

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop The bible? i lived in israel for 17 years, i know about the bible more then you ever will, if you knew anything about the bible you would know how powerful music and how sacred it is but you probably a christian right? , the bible is not christian everythn in the new testimony is not true, Christianity took the bible and shaped it as their own, the other thing is genius music is not classified by any non musical aspects, you are simply stupid try not to reply me anymore.

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop crazy person..

[castello669]

@hippitybippitybop

Whoa man take it easy on the dope

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop true bible says only one thing about music, how big and spiritual it is, what ever you read in your foreign work is not true, your faith and entire life is a lie sadly you dont know it, you perspective on life is like a donkey, looking only straight, keep living in your box, your probably an american..a red neck or a republican..jesus is your savior lmao..jesus was a jew just so u'de knew..and your bible is a rip off the jewish tora.

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop Saying they were terrible musicians is very insulting, foolish and wrong, to write a song like Yesterday takes the highest level of musical talent and knowledge, in rock no one comes close to the beatles, only stevie wonder maybe.

queen and pink floyd were close.

[twooffour]

@surrealillness

Please explain to me the harmonical complexity of "yesterday"

[surrealillness]

@twooffour It is not complicated in chord structures, its genius in its musical thought process, if you dont know it, dont reply to me.

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop Stravinsky and Shostakovitch were making quite the profits as well at their times, maybe they werent Mater composers? or maybe they were commercial trash? geniuses as they were, i think not.

[hippitybippitybop]

@surrealillness You forgot to mention Franz Liszt-they just happened to be lucky and made some good money for their talents. I assure that the love of money was not their focus nor was the fame. They loved to compose music! Emerson was too much into theatrics although I did love his version of Allergro Barbaros by Bartok and of course Pictures at an Exhibition!!!!!!

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop Emerson liked the drama yes, it was that period of big production rock, but still Emerson own style and music is very personal adjusted he has he's own harmonic style which is very unique and can go from classical to jazz easy..yeah pictures was great, Bartok idk, im not a big fan of bartok..

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop this is also only your opinion, many can say the Beatles or pink floyd has much beautiful music as mozart and you cant really argue with them, cause they were genius in the 20th century and mozart was in the 17th..im sure if mozart was living in the 60's he'd be composing for electric instruments, yes you can say mozarts music is more complex in terms of arrangements, but over all music is just sound combination's through a wide choice of instruments,

[hippitybippitybop]

@surrealillness Neither the Beatles or Pink Floyd ever put pen to paper and certainly they did no improvisation which is the art of spontaneous composition. Also they did not do permanent damage to the hearing of an audience by play at sound levels that border on the threshold of pain. I attended ELP's concert at the Hollywood Bowl in the summer of 1970 and I had to put my hands over my ears because it was WAY TOO LOUD!

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop Haha, well i dont know how much you can blame ELP for the high volume my first finger pointing would be on the sound people..pink floyds music lots of it did came into paper out of improvisation first, they would jam for some time then put it on paper can clearly hear that on many of their songs that its almost just jamming..beatles approach to music was in composing they werent a jazz group..no one said improvisation is a must nor the highest achievement in musical abilities

[twooffour]

@surrealillness

Why are you so sure Mozart would be composing for electrict instruments today? Many contemporary composers don't.

[surrealillness]

@twooffour what makes you so sure he wouldn't? contemporary artists are using electric keyboards and electric guitars for a very long time by now and made some good music using them, its just a theory, take it easy.

[twooffour]

@surrealillness

sure he might, or he could write music for microtonal harpsichords - i just find it stupid when everyone says "mozart would be a rock musician if he lived today"... yea, or he might listen to finnissy and say "hey, that's some cool stuff"...whatever :)

[surrealillness]

@twooffour Ah, so this is what its about, you think i just said so with no thought at all, i think mozart's musical personality might fit rock music

[surrealillness]

@hippitybippitybop not very good in what sense? if you cant answer that then your statement is valid but i doubt u can.

[fretfirestarter]

The youth of america used to listen to this music.Think about that compared to the crap hip hop they listen to now.

[weednlogic]

I never get tired of watching this. It is an amazing piece of work.

[franciiesco]

il numero 1...non c'èdubbio!!

[97champion]

Sicuramente!!!!!The Best!!!!!!

[FascioINgabbia]

@franciiesco Nel Rock, di sicuro... in assoluto direi di no :)

[sannaluca]

Qui si sente e si vede il pianista jazz strepitoso che è stato Keith Emerson ai tempi d'oro. Giù il cappello signori musicisti!!!Fantastico video!!!UN GRANDISSIMO CHE HA INFLUENZATO UNA MAREA DI TASTIERISTI!!!!!!

[woodlawn4623]

HOLY TOLEDO!!!!

[PaPhotographer]

His genius shines in this piece. Freaking amazing. Wish the audio is what it was when played- you just dont want to miss a single note. 2:30 he caught on to a line and ran with it. I'm so freaking jealous ...have been for 35 years now.

[frankzappa74]

amo como toca el piano emerson... me gusta mucho mas que cuando agarra un teclado

[VladtheEmailer]

Love the Bartok around 3:11! Nice!

[IwshIcldstrtover]

I love Bartok! One of my favorite composers!

[jlclap]

love keith, first off, and energy to the universe to heal his hand/finger..

I LOVE WHEN MUSIC HAPPENS

I'm 24

for me..

"classic rock" =appreciate and can relate to my parents

Rap=have to negotiate to parents.. lol but some is prolific(not the right time)

jazz= seems easy truth is... can't make it sound right unless you are in a meditative state.. created by your deep within.

Piano piano piano= Can bring out the Best and the Worst. Let's leave it at that.

[fdeepf]

JUST AMAZING... !!

[97champion]

Non c'è che dire, una bellissima esecuzione: con una mano l'accompagnamento e l'altra solista, io non ci riuscirei mai mi confondo sempre

[drfeelgood883]

what's the song he starts playing at about 5:09?

[PaulRoberts]

An extremely fast rendition of Little Rock Getaway I think.

[acorntechnique]

The bit you are at this time frame (preceded by a bit of Boogie Woogie) is the end of Scott Joplin's piano rag:

'The Entertainer'

[Xanthous04]

is this thing on cd anywhere?

[ZeppelinFromtheLake]

DVD idk about CD though

[Ken5244]

Quote: "is this thing on cd anywhere?"

This piece is also on the "Welcome Back, My Friends ...." live album taken from this tour. I assume the original 3-album set is also available on CD.

The version on that album is VERY similar to this one. Even though Keith called the piece "Piano Improvisations," it's actually a structured piece he put together specifically for this tour. So it didn't change a lot from performance to performance.

[ZeppelinFromtheLake]

i think the only difference between this one and the welcome back one is that this one is under 10 mins while the other one is jus under 12 mins.

[KingCrimson776]

This at the beginning here is part of a piece called "Prelude and Fugue", it's on the Return of the Manticore boxset.

[Xanthous04]

this is absolutely stunning, i'd love to transcribe it..... huge undertaking

[patadam]

I love Greg Lake's expression on his face at 8:04 "Come on! Give me a break!"

[waburto]

wow i dream awake playing that crazy prog things, i like it so much .... is like that rythms describe me, it was inspired by me ... thanks for uploading man .....

[NewEnglandLovesMe]

The greatest thing I've seen in more than two years

[Cminor90]

This is keith emerson at his best! The king of prog!

[Ken5244]

Bloody amazing. I never get tired of watching/hearing this. Thanks a lot for posting it.