The Wizard of the Keyboards

As you can see in my past posts, my favorite band is Queen, but my favorite solo artist it’s a man that just with a group of keyboards can make extraordinary and complex music, the wizard of the keyboards Rick Wakeman. Born in England in 1949, he gained popularity in 1971 when he became a member of the progressive rock band Yes, one of the most important bands of the genre, where he participated in magnificent albums like Roundabout, Close to The Edge and Tormato, demonstrating his awesome skills with the piano and keyboards. He also plays as music session in song of many artist like David Bowie, playing the piano in “Life on Mars” and the mellotron in “Space Oddity”, the two best songs of Bowie in my opinion, the beautiful piano intro at Cat Steven’s “Morning has Broken” or Black Sabbath’s “Sabbra Cadabra”.

Besides I love the Wakeman’s work with Yes and other artist, it’s the solo career of Rick what makes him my favorite musician, his conceptual albums are just incredible, the way he makes so many melodies and extraordinary song with his keyboards and invited musician it’s something indescribable. The first time I heard “Journey to The Centre of The Earth” I was shocked by the way he mixes an orchestra with instruments like the Minimoog and how he tells this incredible history with his music, so I started to search his other albums, finding pieces like “The Six Wives of Henry VIII”, with songs like Catherine Parr that prove that he is one of the best keyboardist of all time, the best in my opinion.

I’m waiting the opportunity to see him in a live concert, I don’t lose the hope to listen those beautiful songs that he played in his many keyboards and pianos sitting in the first line of his concert and making one of my dreams come true.