DREAM THEATER Keyboardist's New Solo Album Will Include 33-Minute Song

Jordan Rudess, best known as the keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire for progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER, will release his new solo album in April via the Mascot Label Group. He told 8dio about the disc: "It's in the progressive rock vibe and I'm very excited about it. It has all kinds of cool guests playing on it. I haven't done one like this in a while. The last album I did that was related was probably the one called 'The Road Home', which was a collection of my favorite progressive rock tunes that I re-did, re-arranged. Before that, I had an album called 'Rhythm Of Time', which was also very progressive. So this is kind of like a follow-up along those lines, some years later, but it's the big work. There's actually a 33-minute song on it, so it's really 'proggy'. I also did some singing on the album too, and there's a progressive kind of blues track on it, with a very special guest who will be announced soon."

Rudess's remarkable career began at the age of nine, when he entered the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division for classical piano training. By his late teens, he had grown increasingly interested in synthesizers and progressive rock music, and 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 groups during the 1980s, he was invited to join the DIXIE DREGS, with whom he performed until joining DREAM THEATER in January 1999.

Rudess has been the full-time keyboardist with DREAM THEATER since the recording of 1999's "Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory". He has pursued numerous collaborations and solo projects throughout his career, beginning with his solo debut, "Listen" (1993). A relentless innovator, Rudess released "All That Is Now" (2013),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. "The Unforgotten Path" (2015) was a collection of original tracks as well as a collection of acoustic piano covers of songs that have inspired his musical life.

Rudess owns the successful app-development company Wizdom Music, which has developed numerous award-winning apps. He is also 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, and is an active artist in residence at Stanford University's CCRMA (Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics).

Photo credit: Elena Arzani