Book Jordan Rudess

Jordan Rudess is the American keyboardist and composer who has played with progressive metal band Dream Theater since 1999. Born in Great Neck, New York, in November 1956, he was a piano prodigy who entered the Juilliard pre-college division at nine and trained there for seven years before turning away from classical music toward synthesizers and progressive rock. Early in his career he chose to join the Dixie Dregs rather than Dream Theater, since the Dregs offered a part-time role that suited his young family. Mike Portnoy recruited him in 1997 for the supergroup Liquid Tension Experiment alongside John Petrucci and Tony Levin, and those sessions convinced the Dream Theater pair that he was the keyboardist they needed. His first full album with the band was Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, followed by Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Train of Thought, Octavarium, Systematic Chaos, A View from the Top of the World and Parasomnia in 2025, plus live records such as Live at Budokan. Outside the band he has toured with Blackfield, recorded a duo album with Petrucci, and built music software and apps for performers.