John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess
An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess

Review By Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck
Click here to e-mail reviewer

  John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess, members of the progressive rock super group Dream Theater, combined their efforts one evening on June 20^th in the year 2000 before an audience at the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center in Nyack, NY. An Evening With John Petrucci & Jordan Rudess, once only available in limited numbers, is now easily obtainable thanks to Steve Vai's label Favored Nations.

Petrucci and Rudess are two excellent musicians and they show how a lifetime of hard work and perfecting their craft can become a thing of beauty and incredible improvisation. Both men exercise implausible restraint and show the respect they have for the music and each other on this magical evening. Rudess brings forth his classical influences while Petrucci shows flare and style with an acoustic guitar similar to his predecessors Di Meola and McLaughlin.

The opening track "Furia Taurina" starts the proceedings with tasteful piano from Rudess and Petrucci answering the call with beautifully toned Latin influenced picking and strumming. This intense interplay is what makes the recording so entertaining. Those of you that would expect Petrucci to cut loose on the electric guitar do not worry, he does frequently with some stinging yet undemonstrative and effective guitar licks, the unbelievable Celtic inclined "Fife and Drum" and the spellbinding "In The Moment" are perfect examples.

Rudess plays the piano in a way that few ever have, hence he is now one of the most sought after session men in the world. On "From Within," Jordan plays so beautifully that his keyboards sound like a heavenly harp ushering you into the pearly gates. The man sounds like two keyboard players, not one. All of my feelings are once again validated why I want to hear anything any of the members of Dream Theater are involved in, it is guaranteed to be a musical event you will never forget. This CD is necessary for all progressive rock, classical, and in general, music fans, that require music with substance and taste. I listen to hundreds of CDs every year and there are only a handful that are this good, do not miss it.

Enjoyment:

Sound Quality: