![]() "I remember years ago there was a big scene where groups used to do classical things and bang the hell out of them," he once told journalists when The Nice's career was at its peak. ![]() Emerson began experimenting with classical arrangements and knife throwing - and the Hammond L100 was the target for both. When the four musicians first went out on their own, they were billed as "PP Arnold's Backing Band", but had left those days laps behind. They never glanced back, and a parting of ways soon followed. They plumped for The Nice.Īt that year's Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival (also attended by Fleetwood Mac and the Yardbirds) the "backing" band found themselves with half an hour in which they could impress the audience before Pat Arnold came on stage. It was perhaps a better choice of titles than the entire band later elected for itself. In fear of there being too many Keiths, Jackson adopted his "Lee" surname full time. They were lured away and joined to a drummer, Brian Davidson, and guitarist David O'List, who had previously played with The Attack. First to be contacted was a bass player called Keith 'Lee' Jackson, who had moved from the north-east gig circuit to join Gary Farr and the T Bones. A successful single prompted a UK tour and the need for a band. ![]() The first major break came when he was recruited for the backing band behind Pat Arnold, a former singer with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, which visited Britain in 1966.Īrnold was signed to Immediate Records and slotted into a studio with various r'n'b celebrities of the time, including Jimmy Page. It was these occasions which seemingly gave birth to Emerson's stage act which involved leaping on top of any keyboard he didn't happen to be throwing around the stage. Neither was it too unusual for the band to join in, at least with the excitement if not the fist slinging. He progressed to r'n'b bands gigging around Europe where it wasn't uncommon for the audience to erupt in fights. They did have to fix an extra amp in the back, but he was at least mobile. Tired of pounding the ropey pianos provided at south coast gigs, he saved some cash and, with the help of a loan from his father, went out in search of an organ, finally settling, almost by chance, on a Hammond L100. By the time Emerson entered his teens, he had a grade seven standard certificate under his belt.īut after-school hours were spent listening to jazz records, and earliest gigs were to be as part of a local Worthing big band performing Basie and Ellington swing arrangements.Īnd it was around this time that Emerson's long affair began with boogie woogie and the likes of piano greats such as Oscar Peterson and Meade Lux Lewis. Lessons came early from an ancient teacher who would visit the household at weekends, taking over from Keith's father who had already taught him the rudiments. ![]() ![]() Keith Emerson was born on November 1, 1944, and hadn't even made it to junior school before being addicted to the piano. They arrive at the end of "Lucky Man", on the first ELP album, and they were played by Keith Emerson. Those notes, and the solo that follows them, mark one of the earliest rock appearances of the Moog synth. What they don't realise is that with those two notes they're re-writing the history of the keyboard. Invariably the answering expert starts on a low note and glides upwards by exactly an octave. OHHH," is the usual reply whenever we've posed the question. ![]()
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