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Adding insulting injury to so many injurious insults this year, the fates have taken from us another highly accomplished music legend. Keith Emerson was 71. Of all the classic 70s British prog bands, ELP was perhaps the most audacious, the most bombastic, and, because of those two things, the one I most needed to take long breaks from. I might be down to 2 or 3 ELP albums a year at this point in my listening habits. Surely that will change from now until I get sick of them again. What was unassailable about them was their technical skill and their unabashed sense of scope rivalled only by Yes, which required five people to make as hellacious a gothic din as did the three in ELP. What I respected most about Keith is that like Chick Corea, he remained as fascinated by the possibilities of acoustic music and the acoustic instrument as he was with all the electronic goodies he surrounded himself with. But underneath the inorganic sounds lay a true musicality and a broad appreciation for musical styles, from honky-tonk to classical to jazz. We won't see the likes of him again in rock and roll. RIP.

Jason, I knew nothing about the man or, as far as I recall, the music until you posted this thread. Thanks. My sympathy to you, and

R.I.P., Keith Emerson