Originally published in Guitar 2001 magazine · January 2001
Jordan Rudess – Keys for Dream Theater
InterviewJordan Rudess4 min read
Jordan Rudess began playing piano when he was seven years old. He went to Julliard from age 9 until he was 18. At 17, Jordan discovered the Mini Moog – “I was so passionate about the Mini Moog that I had pictures of it plastered all over my walls.” His first band experience was complex – a three piece band which included two of his good friends. One of them happened to have been his first theory teacher at Julliard when he was age 9. “The music we created was like some of the early Tangerine Dream work.” His first big band break was Speedway Boulevard, who had a record deal with Epic Records. “It was very exciting being in the band. We spent a whole year in the studio writing songs and recording.” He admits that with today’s high costs, that doesn’t happen often.
Jordan got another nice break when he was working for a computer program designing company. The unique way of meeting guitarist Vinnie Moore was that one of his responsibilities was to create music for demonstration shows. Vinnie Moore was there burning through his guitar work, and Jordan – with a tiny little battery operated synthesizer with him – asked if he could jam along with him. Vinnie agreed and they belted out some wild leads. A year or so went by and one day Jordan got a call from Vinnie Moore’s manager. He said that Vinnie had been trying to find Jordan for a year, to join him on his recording of Time Odyssey. Jordan ended up contributing to the album and touring with Vinnie.
In the mid 90’s Jordan was voted ‘Best New Talent’ in Keyboard magazine Readers Poll. This is right about the time that Dream Theater was looking to find a replacement for Kevin Moore. DT contacted Jordan about auditioning for the band, which Jordan says went very well. “I actually got a chance to perform at the Concrete Music Convention in California with them but another call came in right about the same time.” The Dixie Dregs wanted Jordan’s keyboard expertise for the road. So he felt for various reasons, to join Steve Morse, Rod Morgenstein and the Dixie Dregs. “I just felt at the time that it was the right choice because I didn’t know what I could have brought to the table for Dream Theater. I felt there was a lot of things I needed to get out of myself and DT was already defined and developed.” He admits that the decision was a hard one. One of the things that came out of his playing with the Dregs was his relationship with Rod Morgenstein. A few years prior he had went to a Dixie Dregs show in NYC as just another fan. He said, “I thought about how cool it would be to have that drummer playing my music.” Shortly after, his dream became reality as they put out an album called Rudess/Morgenstein Project. He said that they had a lot of fun taking their show out on the road. “People really responded to the two piece outfit.” (I actually got the chance to see Rudess/Morgenstein Project open up for Dream Theater in 1995. I was impressed with the power and total music that these two guys could create. It was really quite a feat to witness).
In 1997 Jordan got a call to be part of Liquid Tension Experiment. He jumped at the opportunity because the timing was right and Jordan felt that the experience with Dream Theater members, drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist John Petrucci would be such a good one. It wasn’t easy recording the first LTE album as the record company had limited funds to make the album but the experience was musically satisfying and they all got along so well. He says, “Even now when I listen to the album, I hear those wild bass sounds Tony Levin created and smile.”
Jordan feels lucky to have worked with the caliber of musicians he’s worked with. “All three guitar players that I’ve worked with were equally talented and skilled.” He feels that, though each one is coming from a little different place, each one of them have had incredible skill. “John Petrucci comes from more of a metal side . He’s got this heavy, slow vibrato that is really cool. Steve Morse can do these picking things that just blows my mind. He can do rock, country, basically anything he wants equally well. It’s been a long time since I played with Vinnie Moore but I remember his ability to play fast, clean, neo-classical style.”
Liquid Tension Experiment had been successful enough that the guys recorded a second album, LTE2. This doesn’t surprise me (see my review) as I felt that LTE was one of the best albums of 1998. Jordan said “There are compositions that are planned out and others that are completely improvised. I’m quite pleased with the way the album turned out.”
It was shortly after that, Jordan joined Dream Theater as their new keyboard player. Jordan believes he brings something slightly different to the table than the previous players, cutting edge experimentation with sounds and the development of the keyboard “I have a very good relationship with playing off John Petrucci, we have a hyper-kinetic link, where we are able to do things that are really fast and we both are able to play together and off each other.”