Background
Jordan Rudess was born on November 4, 1956, in Great Neck, New York.
2008
Dream Theater playing live March 8, 2008.
2008
Opole, Poland
Jordan Rudess playing at the 17th International Percussion Festival in Opole, Poland.
2012
Los Angeles, California, United States
John Myung, John Petrucci, Mike Mangini, James LaBrie and Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater arrive at the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards held at Staples Center on February 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
2013
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
Jordan Rudess arrives at the 2013 Vegas Rocks! magazine music awards at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on August 25, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2014
Wembley Arena, London, England, United Kingdom
Mike Mangini, John Myung, Jordan Rudess, James LaBrie and John Petrucci of Dream Theater perform at Wembley Arena on February 14, 2014 in London, England.
2016
Pechanga Casino, Temecula, California, United States
Jordan Rudess and John Myung of Dream Theater perform on stage at Pechanga Casino on November 18, 2016 in Temecula, California.
2016
Teatro degli Arcimboldi, Milan, Italy
Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater performs live at Teatro degli Arcimboldi.
2017
Hammersmith Apollo, London, England, United States
Dream Theater performing live on stage at the Hammersmith Apollo in London, on April 23, 2017.
2017
Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway
Dream Theater performs a live concert at Oslo Spektrum. Jordan Rudess on keyboard is seen live on stage.
2017
Symphony Hall, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Jordan Rudess performs at Symphony Hall on April 18, 2017 in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
2017
Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy
Dream Theater performs in concert at Auditorium Parco della Musica on January 30, 2017 in Rome, Italy.
Juilliard School
Dream Theater won The Spirit of Prog Award at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour 2009 in London.They were also nominated for the Album of the Year Award for their album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings in 2009, but lost to AC/DC's Black Ice.
Jordan Rudess was born on November 4, 1956, in Great Neck, New York.
At nine, Rudess entered the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division for classical piano training, but by his late teens he had grown increasingly interested in synthesizers and progressive rock music. Against the counsel of his parents and tutors, he turned away from classical piano and tried his hand as a solo progressive rock keyboardist.
After performing in various projects during the 1980s, he gained international attention in 1994 when he was voted "Best New Talent" in the Keyboard Magazine readers' poll after the release of his Listen solo album. Two of the bands that took notice of Rudess were The Dixie Dregs and Dream Theater, both of whom invited him to join. Rudess chose the Dregs, primarily as being a part-time member of the band would have less of an impact on his young family.
During his time with the Dregs, Rudess formed a "power duo" with drummer Rod Morgenstein. The genesis of this pairing occurred when a power outage caused all of the Dregs' instruments to fail except Rudess', so he and Morgenstein improvised with each other until power was restored and the concert could continue. The chemistry between the two was so strong during this jam that they decided to perform together on a regular basis (under the name Rudess/Morgenstein Project or later RMP) and have released a studio and a live record. RMP will undertake a short U.S. tour in November, 2013.
Before joining Dream Theater in January 1999, Jordan connected with John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, bassist Tony Levin of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel notoriety, and recorded two albums with Liquid Tension Experiment.
Rudess has been the full-time keyboardist with the grammy nominated progressive metal band, Dream Theater, since the recording of 1999's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory. He has recorded seven other studio albums with the group: 2002's Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, 2003's Train Of Thought, 2005's Octavarium, 2007's Systematic Chaos, 2009's Black Clouds & Silver Linings , A Dramatic Turn Of Events as well as their newest album, Dream Theater. In addition, he has appeared on the live albums and DVDs Live Scenes From New York, Live At Budokan, Score, Chaos In Motion 2007-2008 and Live At Luna Park.
In addition to working with Dream Theater he occasionally records and performs in other contexts, such as a 2001 one-off duo performance with Petrucci, as well as backing up Blackfield on their first short US tour in 2005 and playing a solo opening slot for them on their second in 2007. He also contributed to Steven Wilson's 2011 album, Grace For Drowning. In 2013, Rudess joined with bassist, Tony Levin, and drummer, Marco Minneman, to create a new supergroup, LMR.
In 2010 Rudess started a software company called Wizdom Music. He paired with artists such as Kevin Chartier, Felipe Peña and Eyal Amir (from Project RnL), creating new types of musical instrumental user interfaces and experiences, new and innovative ways of creating sound synthesis, and of recording and performing music, with tablet computers. The company also produced a unique game for learning pitch and chord recognition and an app for real time video effects on a live camera.
Rudess appeared on the Ayreon album, The Theory of Everything released on October 28, 2013. In 2013 he released “All That Is Now“, a solo acoustic piano recording which works interactively with his app, “Jordan Rudess Explores” and his orchestral album, “Explorations” which features a 50 piece orchestra. In 2015, he released “The Unforgotten Path” which was a collection of original tracks as well as a collection of acoustic piano covers of songs that have inspired his musical life.
He is Chief Music Officer at CME Music, creators of the acclaimed XKey mobile keyboard, as well as the Director of Music Experience for the London-based technology company, Roli Labs, creators of the Seaboard. Jordan has had the honor of being the keynote speaker at MacWorld, Microsoft Build Developer Convention and Project BBQ. In addition, he is the author of 2 keyboard technique books including his latest, “Total Keyboard Wizardry: A Technique and Improvisation Workbook”. Musicians all over the world subscribe to Rudess’ Online Music Conservatory, which offers a full range of courses in everything from harmony and rhythm to improvisation, ear training and technique.
Jordan as stated that he is Jewish. He is very interested in Israeli history and culture because of his jewish heritage.
While many keyboard players in progressive rock tend towards bringing numerous keyboards on stage, creating large racks of keyboards, Rudess would sample sounds from other keyboards he owned and map them to a single keyboard. Each "setup" assigns different sounds to different layers and key ranges of the keyboard controller; these setups are then arranged in the order they will be required for a gig, and cycled through with a foot-switch.
For the 2009–2010 tour, in support of Black Clouds & Silver Linings, Jordan introduced the Apple iPhone on stage, running an application called Bebot Robot Synth. He plays it during A Rite of Passage – both studio album and live versions of the song – and frequently uses it for improvised solos, like in Hollow Years' intro and during a new instrumental section on Solitary Shell.
Quotations:
"All of the guys love to take serious topics and go for it; we're not writing a whole lot of love songs. With 'Sacrificed Sons,' we had some sensitivity there about how we'd present it. I remember there was a lot of discussion about the kind of words that would be used and how direct we wanted to be."
"If you are into synthesis it’s a must have app. I’ve been jamming all night!"
Quotes from others about the person
Steven Wilson: "Same goes for Jordan [Rudess] from Dream Theater. Toured with them and have stayed in contact with Jordan. I’m not a fan of Dream Theater but I am a big fan of them as musicians and it was great to be able to give Jordan the opportunity just to play in a different context, just piano. And he plays so beautiful, it’s just really magical."