Re: [דיון] ג'ורדן רודס
נשלח: ג' ינואר 20, 2009 6:04 pm
ראיון עם אישתו של רודס, דניאלה.
Please introduce yourself to the members of The Wheel
I am Danielle Rudess. Jordan and I have been together forever and have two daughters. I run a Children's Theater in New York. I am the virtual anchor that keeps Jordan on this planet, barely.
How did you meet Jordan and was it love at first sight?
Our meeting is a story worthy of a film or, at the very least, a tabloid magazine feature. I was in a sheet music store next to Carnegie Hall in New York City. A strange, but very handsome guy (not Jordan) came over to talk to me and he invited me to come over to his apartment to hear his music. When I got there, he had a tape cassette of the most beautiful synthesizer improvisations that I have ever heard. I had a brief relationship with this man, during which he never played that type of music for me live. This is a long and complicated story. But in short, after a few months, I found out that it was not his music at all. It took me years and some crazy luck, but I finally found the true composer, Jordan Rudess. He had been commissioned to make the tape for that con artist.
What do you think of Jordan's career so far?
Jordan's music has always touched my heart so deeply. I hoped that it would affect other people the same way, and I was prepared to work really hard to get his music heard. When we first met, he was a starving artist. We didn't have any contacts in the music industry. We started with grassroots marketing. We would go to concerts and give out tapes of his music. We sent letters to musicians whom we admired. We never gave up and we were a team.
I don't see that Jordan's career had reached its potential yet at all. There are big dreams still. I'd like to sit in the arena in Verona, Italy and listen to his sold-out piano concert. I'd like to listen to a large symphony orchestra play his piano concerto. I'd like to see Dream Theater's music crossover to Billboard's top ten, without their compromising their musical values. And, I'd like to be at the Academy Awards when he wins the Oscar for his film score. Just a few little dreams, that's all.
Which of Jordan's recordings are you the most proud of and why?
When each new recording is created, it is my favorite because the music always represents his current state of mind. His technique is so consistent because he practices every day to maintain his fluidity on the keyboard, but one of the benefits of his success is that he has much better technology toys to create with, so I'm always excited to hear how the technology affects his compositional style. I love to hear the new Dream Theater recordings because collaborating with the band creates so many musical possibilities. I really prefer the gentle ballads and pieces of music where Jordan plays soundscapes leading into or out of the DT songs.
What's your opinion on the 2 keyfests that Jordan organized last year?
The Keyfests were a great first step in the direction of offering a place for talented keyboardists to find each other and share ideas. We will continue this project next year. This year we are doing a big renovation on our house and it is taking up all of our extra time and Jordan is really busy working on the online conservatory.
What's your opinion on The Wheel?
I am blown away that there are people all over the world who want to be part of Jordan's musical life. I can't tell you how much it means to me. Imagine if you had a really happy dream and then you woke up and found out that the dream was your real life. That's my opinion of The Wheel.
Please give a short respond to the next words:
New York:
Home, but not where the heart is. We would do well in San Francisco or Europe, but our business and family is here. But on the plus side, there are great concerts and theater here.
Bert Baldwin:
Bert is a member of our family, a great friend, adopted son, the reason that Jordan can get so much done, and a pain in the ass. He knows all of our family secrets and I'm sure that if you offered him enough $$$, he'd tell it all. (I'm kidding)
Dream Theater:
This band is a family. There is only goodwill between the band members and their families. Jordan gets to play his music with some of the best musicians in the world. There is mutual respect and trust. Those DT web forums are ridiculous because they are always trying to imagine dissonance between the guys or voting on which guy is the weakest link. If they could get inside a recording session or backstage before a show, all that they would see is a group of hardworking super-talented musicians getting their job done. There's next to no drama in Dream Theater. All that matters is the quality of the music.
Europe:
I wish we could travel more, but the kids have their school and I have my theater. I hope that in the future we can spend more time over there.
Jordan Rudess:
As I write this, he is in the living room practicing Bach. He practices the guitar whenever we watch movies together. Whenever we go out to dinner, his fingers do exercises on the table. There are scribbles of music on the back of pieces of paper all over the house. He wakes me up in the middle of the night with the tapping of his feet in his sleep. I can't separate the music from the man, which is fine with me because I love both.
