Jordan Rudess – 4NYC

Dream Theatre’s Jordan Rudess offers us a stunning performance on piano with this inspirational piece.

It came as a reaction to 9-11. Jordan played an outdoor benefit for the victims. The recording, however, was too short for a full album so he went into the studio and recorded a few more pieces using the same equipment and trying to capture the same mood. I think he did it quite well too as one can’t tell the difference between the live recordings and the studio ones.

Most of the album is improvised. Before going onstage, Jordan had no idea of which pieces he was going to perform, so he winged it. I thought only Patrick Moraz could do it so well.

The most interesting piece on this album, in my opinion, is a song called Lamb Chops. As Jordan was about to go onstage, his young daughter asked if he could play Mary had a Little Lamb. Jordan obliged and he turns it into a sometimes moving, sometimes hilarious piece.

Some proceeds from the sale of this album will be going into a fund for the families of the victims of September 11.