Jordan Rudess: It is scheduled for release on September 12. It's called The Road Home, and it's an album where I covered some of my very favorite and influential progressive rock tunes. I also play a piano medley of some of the classic progressive melodies, and I wrote an original piece which I originally wrote for the Dream Theater album. We had this idea along the way that we are each going to have a little solo spot on it, but we wrote too much music. And since I was only one that actually had gone out and done the solo piece, I decided to put it on my solo album and it worked out well. I have been collecting quotes from the various musicians from the original bands, and that's been fun.
You’ve also released some instructional books and DVDs. What other projects are you working on?
I've been focusing on getting my online conservatory going. It's my way of reaching out to get my message to the most people, and I have a wonderful team of guys that allow me to do that. The web site is jroc.us. We have been expanding it, and we even have a section for drummers, we have a section for guitar, we have keyboard videos, drum videos. It's a little world unto itself which is growing nicely. One of the nice things it features is an area called Jordan’s Riffs. People can go and actually see fingerings that I use to play riffs from the new album and hear the parts soloed out to be able to analyze a little bit more. I try to keep that up to date.
Many musicians don't have much of an interest in teaching their skills to others. What drew you to this area?
My background is from a very formal, classical training. I realize how much that provided the basis for everything I do. Because I made the shift from classical to being a progressive rock keyboardist, I feel my path has been interesting and there is a lot to share. Not many people have the same background. I'd love to see the world of keyboards evolve to the next level, and I feel like there is something I can do to help push that along.
Recording technology has changed immensely in the past twenty years, but the actual instruments haven’t changed as much. The one instrument that’s changed dramatically is yours, the keyboard.
It's really incredible. As much the technical style of guitar has changed over the years, it continues to grow and change because of the amount of players. With the keyboards there is a strong emphasis on technology, because the focus is not so chops oriented. Keyboards are used by people who are designing sound effects, scoring films, writing jingles. It's a different kind of world from somebody like me, who is interested in performance. I'm using it in a different way. My demands for the instrument are different. Along the course of technology, so many things have happened with the ability to create sound and manipulate sound. One of the interesting discussions I have with these companies, the Korgs, the Yamahas, the Rolands, is that yes, while there has been so much thinking about the nature of synthesis and sound creation and the design of physical sliders and controllers, there are certain things that get left out. My concern about using a keyboard as a performance instrument seems like it would be a major concern, but honestly is just one of them in the bigger picture.
