Ben Folds Picks His 10 Favorite Piano Albums

Crate Digging is a recurring feature in which we consider a deep dive into a style and flip up various albums all music fans ought to know about. In this version, singer, songwriter, and bandleader Ben Folds shares his most loved piano albums.

Ben Folds undoubtedly appreciates his way close to the piano. It is been his instrument of choice for more than 40 years, and his mastery of the keys is obvious in each individual notice he performs.

But exactly where just did his wide-ranging expertise start out? What motivated him to preserve producing his abilities as the two a piano participant and songwriter? For a person, like hundreds of musicians, it arrived from jazz. In excess of Zoom, Folds tells Consequence that he played Ramsey Lewis’ Goin’ Latin “until the grooves were practically white, until finally they ended up crusted up and ruined” and that he determined early on that Duke Ellington’s Masterpieces album was indeed a masterpiece.

Of training course, Folds discovered inspiration in in the same way iconic piano gamers like Randy Newman and Elton John, but grew far more fond of their are living albums around their studio recordings. “It’s just a second in time, so you are having an function,” says Folds of Randy Newman’s 1971 stay album, Randy Newman Are living. “It’s just truly honest… you’re getting a glimpse into not only the creative imagination, but an occasion. And I think that is missing really generally in recordings.”

The songs of Ben Folds’ everyday living has performed a important component in his identification, and his new album, What Issues Most (out June 2nd), looks to acknowledge these vintage artists in a heartfelt way. Despite it remaining his first solo album in 8 many years, Folds is self-assured about the purity of the task and the extensive street of touring ahead (get Ben Folds tickets in this article). “I have an album coming out that I actually really do not dislike,” he tells Consequence somewhat sarcastically, “Which is awesome, mainly because commonly, by this time I have identified a good deal to have a challenge with!”

When talking about each of the 10 records, Folds is passionate as at any time, and seems to prioritize a legitimate, unwavering perception of resourceful independence. He may possibly delight in classical interpretations of composers like Mozart and Beethoven, but he also finds himself drawn to the rambunctious freak outs in albums like James Booker’s Junco Companion (“It’s rabid,” Folds states about the LP). For Folds, these albums are defining piano data, all with contrasting models, but all beneficial paperwork of songwriters extracting the most out of their instrument.

Browse on for Ben Folds’ listing of the 10 piano albums that anyone must have.