Jordan Rudess

In 2011 he was ranked the best keyboardist the world has today. He is best known as “The Wizard” in the musical realm. Currently, he resides as the keyboardist for the progressive rock band Dream Theater, he is Jordan Rudess. Born November 4th, 1956, Jordan Charles Rudess started playing the piano in the 2nd grade.

In the 2nd grade, Jordan was in school when he first discovered the piano. The school held songs and out of nowhere Jordan decided to accompany them and surprised his teacher. His teacher called his mother and exclaimed how wonderful it was to have him playing for them and soon after he underwent lessons. At the age of 9, Jordan entered the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division and started his intense musical training. In Juilliard, Rudess would study piano, musical theory, ear training and composition. He stayed in Juilliard for 9 years, and during that time he let his school work slack just so he can stay at home to practice. In music he excelled at everything, on the contrary, in school he was lacking in almost everything.

In his teenage years, Rudess was introduced to synthesizers and progressive rock music. He was introduced to progressive rock artists like Yes and Gentle Giant but the icebreaker was when he first heard Tarkus by ELP. Since then he turned his back on his parents and tutors because he felt that he could contribute greatly to the keyboardists of the progressive rock scene. Since then, Rudess knew that rock music and synthesizers was the direction of his future and not classical piano studies. He started his first gigs on college radio stations and eventually moved his way up to his first record deal being a part of the group Speedway Boulevard. However after a year of studio writing and recordings, the promotion for them was dropped and it was at this point that Rudess received a call from Vinnie Moore to record an album with him.

In 1994, Keyboard Magazine voted him “Best New Talent” after he released his solo...