Keyboard wizard Jordan Rudess always seems to be involved with creating music and this has lead to a brand new solo album, called ‘Feeding the Wheel’. Rudess is one of those unique talented musicians. Entering the Juilliard School of Music at only the age of nine, he was destined to achieve a musical career. Since 1999 he has been and still is the keyboard player of the famed prog metal band Dream Theater. While Dream Theater was still busy recording their new album, Rudess also found the time to work on his own instrumental record. It can be described as progressive rock filled with classical and jazz arrangements. Rudess isn’t the only talented musician on ‘Feeding the Wheel’ as drumgod Terry Bozzio is behind the drumkit on all the songs. Rudess didn’t have to look far for the guitarists. He asked his fellow bandmember John Petrucci to play on several tracks and he asked Steve Morse (Deep Purple) to do some guitar solo’s as well. If you’re familiar with Dream Theater or the Liquid Tension Experiment albums (the albums that basically brought Rudess into Dream Theater), you don’t have to doubt the great combination between Rudess and Petrucci. Morse also isn’t unknown to Rudess since they played together in the past with the Dixie Dregs. The list doesn’t end here, because bassist Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, David Lee Roth) also makes an appereance during one song. The magic between all these artists is incredible and it shows. Add to that a cello and even a violin and the possibilities are seemingly and obviously endless... The songs are pleasantly diverse; opening track ‘The Voice’ is a 20 second intro where a voice tells you what the concept of the album is. Some other voices can be heard throughout the album, but it’s minor and it doesn’t distract from the music at all. This follows into the first real song ‘Quantum Soup’. Beginning with a nice baseline, Rudess and co. kick in shortly hereafter. His sound is unique and the combination between classical piano, samples and keyboard works out great.

A couple of heavy moments can be found in this song as well, just like a very nice guitar solo by Morse. Great jazz/jamsession in the middle of the song where Jordan lets his fingers lose on the piano! It’s a good choice to begin the album with this long track (11 minutes) since it shows the many different aspects of the rest of the album. ‘Shifting Hands’ is a nice relaxing song whereas ‘Dreaming In Titanium’ is filled with crazy sounds while still grooving. ‘Revolving Doors’ is a 8.5 minute epic filled with orchestral sounds coming from Rudess’ keyboard. With great guitarwork from Petrucci, this track somewhat reminds me of Dream Theater, definitely one of the many highlights on the record. The second last track on the album, ‘Interstices’, is the only track where only Rudess is on. Only classical piano on this one and it shows why he’s one of the best keyboardplayers ever. Gotta love those typical happy tunes from Jordan during this song, truly amazing. In conclustion, it can be said that ‘Feeding the Wheel’ is yet another highlight in Jordan Rudess’ extensive career. He’s able to get so many different tunes and samples from his keyboard, so you never get bored with this record. The wide variety makes this one interesting. The two Liquid Tension Experiment albums concentrated on all the four musicians, while ‘Feeding the Wheel’ of course focusses mainly on Rudess. In that way, it can’t be compared to the LTE albums (although the reference to LTE at the end of the last track ‘Feed the Wheel’ can’t be missed). Still, the musicians on the new solo album are just as great so if you like (progressive) instrumental music, ‘Feeding the Wheel’ is an absolute musthave. I end up rating it a 9. Musically, it’s worth an absolute 10, but instrumental albums aren`t something I put on all the time, even though this one is exceptional…