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There were certainly players who used clusters before Little Richard. Monk certainly did. But the way that he used them in rock 'n roll really defined a rock 'n roll piano style in the same was Chuck Berry's two-string solos and pulls did for guitar.

I think Jerry Lee Lewis was the most important of the early Rock n Roll Piano players, but Little Richard is a sad loss. Certainly vocally his influence was huge. I discovered him through Deep Purple who used to play Lucille as an encore.

That means of course that Jerry Lee is the last of the original 1950s Rock n Roll greats alive. I'd never have predicted that!

Cheers

I'd agree with that, although if I was being pedantic, I'd say that Fats Domino just inches in there as the most important rock and roll player. I know his genre was slightly different, but if you're going to argue something like "The Fat Man" was the first rock and roll record, like a lot of people do, then I'd have him as the most influential player as far as rock and roll is concerned.

If you don't buy in to that, then I guess Jerry Lee was the best technically, if only he would have cut back a little on the glissandos for my taste.

Little Richard in my opinion was the best singer full stop from both the rock and roll and the pop genres from the fifties to the current day, and that includes people like Freddie Mercury. There is a clip somewhere on YouTube that I've seen that shows him doing something very rare for him - singing softly. And it is quite arresting. He wasn't a one trick pony, as often stated.

His piano playing was good, but sometimes a bit sloppy. But in a funny way, I prefer it to Jerry Lee - it's more fun and musical. Jerry Lee can come off a bit mechanical sometimes to me, although I think technically, apart from Fats Domino, he was the best from the genre.

Just my personal opinions there.

Anyway, 87 - not bad. I guess we can't complain, but it's still very sad.

Jerry Lee Lewis is totally overrated.
Little Richard was better any day of the week.
He was one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century.