Jordan needs to...

[Nick]

Do simple piano improvisations on the next tour. We all know nothing like he's thrown on youtube recently will end up on an album, but I think a 5 minute piano improv in the middle of DT's set would be stellar if he can keep playing like he has in his last two videos.

[BRGM]

It would be lovely!

[orcus116]

The first half of his LSFNY improv is my favorite of the live stuff he's done. The rest, not so much.

[Nick]

I personally love his keyboard solos, but those have been done enough, something like this needs to have its own room to shine.

[Sigz]

When Petrucci's guitar died in the middle of Paradigm Shift, he did piano improv like that for like 5 minutes, and then when they fixed it it went into the piano part of Universal Mind, and then they played the rest of Universal Mind from there. It was pretty fucking epic.

[Algo Fonix]

I have to agree.  The two songs he's put up are chock full of emotion.  He seems like he's got a lot of intense hope and sadness going on at the same time, and if he can continue to channel it into a nice improv piece that he dances around every night, I believe it'd really be appropriate for the upcoming tour.

[The Letter M]

Yes. For more, see his improvisation during the piano solo in "Universal Mind" from LTE's LA Show on their 2008 tour. More of that, please, Jordan.

-Marc.

[robwebster]

Do simple piano improvisations on the next tour. We all know nothing like he's thrown on youtube recently will end up on an album, but I think a 5 minute piano improv in the middle of DT's set would be stellar if he can keep playing like he has in his last two videos.

I think they should take some of the ideas from that song, and make it into a structured piece. With less of the piano fiddliness, a bit of guitar, some sparse drums. Use the chord progressions and the melodies, less of an improv and more of a Hollow Years. Keep the end chord. That'd be really nice, turning those real life immediate, instinctive feelings into a brand new song.

[blackngold29]

Jordan could sit down any night and improv on his piano for two hours and I would buy it.

He's mentioned a few times about how change can really well, lead to changes. I think before that DT was more or less lead by MP and JP, but now JR is going to get the opportunity to step up some more. He's obviously less-metal oriented than the other guys; I don't expect a Damnation-type album, but I don't see any ToT II for a while.

[TL]

Do simple piano improvisations on the next tour. We all know nothing like he's thrown on youtube recently will end up on an album, but I think a 5 minute piano improv in the middle of DT's set would be stellar if he can keep playing like he has in his last two videos.

I think they should take some of the ideas from that song, and make it into a structured piece. With less of the piano fiddliness, a bit of guitar, some sparse drums. Use the chord progressions and the melodies, less of an improv and more of a Hollow Years. Keep the end chord. That'd be really nice, turning those real life immediate, instinctive feelings into a brand new song.

This. It would be great to have some music in this style on the new DT album. There's just so much raw emotion behind it.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I'm praying for more piano in the next DT album. Imagine how amazing it would be to actually have a piano on stage, and do songs like Vacant or Wait for Sleep there 

[ScioPath]

The first half of his LSFNY improv is my favorite of the live stuff he's done. The rest, not so much.

This and Bucharest.


And wait holy shit, was that improv?

[Rafael Guerra]

Totally agree. The piano break in Blind Faith is one of my favorite JR moments in DT. The live improv in CIM is also stellar!

[orcus116]

Meh, his Zen Riffer stuff was a little too careless for my liking.

[ariich]

I quite enjoy his synth improvs, but I definitely prefer his piano ones.

[Valdor]

Me too. He rules the synth world, but he originally trained to be a classical pianist. The man has INCREDIBLE talent in improvising.

How about an "unplugged" concert without any drummer, with Jordan on acoustic grand?

[In The Name Of Rudess]

Meh.. I don't think I would like it. Don't get me wrong, his improvs have really nice progressions and he conveys emotion, but they're are basically all the same:

1. Play a melody made up of random chord tones with right hand
2. Play bass octave with left hand
3. Shift hands so the left hand plays the right hand melody
4. Play downward/upward arpeggio pattern with right hand
5. Repeat steps 1-4 over different chords and arpeggiate the bass octave once every four measures

The intros and endings are usually somewhat interesting, but after a while (usually a minute or so) he starts this pattern and I just lose interest. Watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bvXZpsy1MI from 1:15 onwards and you'll see a clear example of this. The man is a great pianist, but since he's just following a pattern he's not actually improvising. Even the arpeggio patterns are probably memorized.

If he could improvise like this it would be awesome, too bad this was probably composed earlier for the most part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaKURARcIUc If you listen closely you can hear the pattern in this too.

The first half of his LSFNY improv is my favorite of the live stuff he's done. The rest, not so much.

And wait holy shit, was that improv?

No. You can see by the way he moves his hands that it was memorized. Also, it contains a fragment of a piece by Mozart.

[El Barto]

When Petrucci's guitar died in the middle of Paradigm Shift, he did piano improv like that for like 5 minutes, and then when they fixed it it went into the piano part of Universal Mind, and then they played the rest of Universal Mind from there. It was pretty fucking epic.

The single finest thing I've ever seen at a concert.  However, it was UM the whole time.  Paradigm Shift was the encore. 

[emindead]

The first half of his LSFNY improv is my favorite of the live stuff he's done. The rest, not so much.

[Octavawake]

Jordan could sit down any night and improv on his piano for two hours and I would buy it.

He's mentioned a few times about how change can really well, lead to changes. I think before that DT was more or less lead by MP and JP, but now JR is going to get the opportunity to step up some more. He's obviously less-metal oriented than the other guys; I don't expect a Damnation-type album, but I don't see any ToT II for a while.

Let us never see ToT again!

[MetalManiac666]

I for one enjoy TOT, but I don't really see them going back to that style ever again.

As for JR improvs, I would be absolutely ecstatic if he did them on DT's next tour.

[Adami]

I for one enjoy TOT, but I don't really see them going back to that style ever again.

As for JR improvs, I would be absolutely ecstatic if he did them on DT's next tour.

I agree. I assume that all of his tour solo spots are improvised to some extent. I have NO idea why he chooses to do those annoying wanky sound solo things instead of a beautiful piano part. No clue.

[Orbert]

How about an "unplugged" concert without any drummer, with Jordan on acoustic grand?

Seriously, who needs a drummer anyway?

[The Letter M]

How about an "unplugged" concert without any drummer, with Jordan on acoustic grand?

Seriously, who needs a drummer anyway?

Actually, I think it would be a neat idea to do a couple small Christmas-time shows like that. Play a set list that's pretty much the antithesis of what they did on the Iron Maiden tour - a bunch of acoustic-based songs, and perhaps some acoustic reworkings of songs:
Another Day
Wait For Sleep
Innocence Faded
Hollow Years
Take Away My Pain
Anna Lee (so JR can finally play it!!!)
Through Her Eyes
The Spirit Carries On
Disappear
Goodnight Kiss
Vacant
The Answer Lies Within
The Ministry Of Lost Souls (edited/shorter)
Wither

Could be a good set, really...

-Marc.

[In The Name Of Rudess]

I for one enjoy TOT, but I don't really see them going back to that style ever again.

As for JR improvs, I would be absolutely ecstatic if he did them on DT's next tour.

I agree. I assume that all of his tour solo spots are improvised to some extent. I have NO idea why he chooses to do those annoying wanky sound solo things instead of a beautiful piano part. No clue.

Because he enjoys (or at least enjoyed) doing the wanky sound solo things more than playing the piano. Remember, he left Juilliard school to play prog. Many young pianists would kill to enter Juilliard. So he must have really been into the whole synthesizer thing. If he had enjoyed playing piano more he obviously wouldn't have left Juilliard.

[orcus116]

Obviously.

[Adami]

I for one enjoy TOT, but I don't really see them going back to that style ever again.

As for JR improvs, I would be absolutely ecstatic if he did them on DT's next tour.

I agree. I assume that all of his tour solo spots are improvised to some extent. I have NO idea why he chooses to do those annoying wanky sound solo things instead of a beautiful piano part. No clue.

Because he enjoys (or at least enjoyed) doing the wanky sound solo things more than playing the piano. Remember, he left Juilliard school to play prog. Many young pianists would kill to enter Juilliard. So he must have really been into the whole synthesizer thing. If he had enjoyed playing piano more he obviously wouldn't have left Juilliard.

With that kind of logic I'm shocked you're not a vulcan!

[The Letter M]

Obvious observation is obvious?

I think he likes to mix in piano solos and interludes every now and then, but I do agree - the technological side of him is really drawn to synthesizers and more modern forms of piano playing. We can probably blame the Continuum for that, because before then, all he had on his DT rig was still his single work station, right? With 8VM, he had the Continuum and lap-steel guitar, then after that the Zen Riffer, and now the iPhone/iPad. It shan't be long until he wows us with a Stylophone solo.

-Marc.

[In The Name Of Rudess]

I guess my sarcasm detector doesn't work so well after waking up without coffee.

[darkshade]

Do simple piano improvisations on the next tour. We all know nothing like he's thrown on youtube recently will end up on an album, but I think a 5 minute piano improv in the middle of DT's set would be stellar if he can keep playing like he has in his last two videos.

I think they should take some of the ideas from that song, and make it into a structured piece. With less of the piano fiddliness, a bit of guitar, some sparse drums. Use the chord progressions and the melodies, less of an improv and more of a Hollow Years. Keep the end chord. That'd be really nice, turning those real life immediate, instinctive feelings into a brand new song.

YES

[Valdor]

Obvious observation is obvious?

I think he likes to mix in piano solos and interludes every now and then, but I do agree - the technological side of him is really drawn to synthesizers and more modern forms of piano playing. We can probably blame the Continuum for that, because before then, all he had on his DT rig was still his single work station, right? With 8VM, he had the Continuum and lap-steel guitar, then after that the Zen Riffer, and now the iPhone/iPad. It shan't be long until he wows us with a Stylophone solo.

-Marc.

It's all about JR getting more interested in various performance oriented controllers (continuum, Riffer). Those kind of esoteric controllers promote a certain kind of playing, be it portamento & modulation based (cont.) or fast solo riffing (Riffer).