------------------------------------------------------- OCTOBER 26, 1976 ------------------------------------------------------- Source: Circus Magazine Keyboard Envy: Seven Stars Talk About Their Favorite Keyboards (Excerpts) By Ira Wolfman "Keyboards" used to mean one thing: piano. If someone talked about his or her favorite keyboard player, it meant the man tickling the ivories. No more. Today, a keyboard man does as much computing and button-pushing as he does ivory-tickling. "Keyboards" now includes everything from a souped-up harpsichord to a computerized electronic gadget. Rock stars utilize a number of effects in the studio and, many times, in concert, too: electronic sounds and sound effects, complex instruments that can simulate the sounds of other instruments, recorded and computer-programmed music. Their instruments carry names like Mellotron, Moog, Pro-Solist and Clavinet. Today's rock keyboardist is light years away from someone like Erroll Gardner, the famed black jazz pianist who claimed he never learned to read music. These artists are also highly trained technicians. Keith Emerson, one of the pioneers of the electronic sound in pop music, probably knows as much about electronics as many a professional engineer. Pat Moraz, Yes keyboardist, may play as many as 24 keyboards during the course of one Yes concert. Different musicians look for different things in their keyboards. Chuck Leavell (formerly with the Allman Bros.) uses attachments to get "a little bit extra funky sound." For Gregg Allman, even the touch of his Hammond organ is distinctive. For Pat Moraz, the thing that impresses him most about his synthesizers is that, "They make very noble sounds." Some like it funky, some noble. In spite of the onslaught of the electronic age, the basic piano is not forgotten. Almost every artist we talked to still uses the old standard. Like many other rockers, Elton John uses the Steinway Grand "simply because it's my favorite make." And every one of the keyboard players we talked to admitted that he cut his teeth on the piano before he moved into the world of electric, electronic and exotic new keyboards......... Patrick Moraz Pat Moraz plays keyboards for Yes. He's a careful and particular man, who used more than 15 different keyboards on his solo album, "Patrick Moraz." Among the pieces: a Steinway Grand piano, a Hammond C-3 organ, a Rhodes electric piano, two double Mellotrons, four Mini Moogs, a custom-built Double Moog, 3 Arp Pro-soloists, a 16 channel Tascom mixer, and a custom-built Ecoplex unit. The man obviously cares about the sound he gets. "I've been playing keyboards all my life," Patrick said. "I began playing synthesizers about six years ago." His entire system is customized, and Moraz uses that system with a vengeance: during Yes Concerts, he is playing anywhere from 16-24 keyboards at once. And each of those have their own amps and pre-amps! "I've been developing and designing new concepts in sound which will be heard on the new Yes album," Moraz told us. "Some of the changes are really very revolutionary." For one thing, the next LP (expected out sometime around Christmas) will be completely polyphonic, with fully polyphonic synthesizers. What is it that is most important to Patrick in his choice of instruments? Obviously, there are complex reasons behind many of his decisions, but one thing all his instruments have in common, says the Yes keyboardist: "They make very noble sounds." Indeed they do. Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, inquiries, corrections, or additions, contact yitp@yesservices.com