i have to roll with stu since it was his band after all and nicky close behind

sorry chuck don"t count

Stu's band? Nah!

It has to be Nicky for me due to his stellar work on TSMR and BB.

no love for Billy Preston?

whoops ..yeah billy being the funky-ist

I'm completely torn here as Stu cant be beat for boogie woogie/blues(which after all is the type of band the Stones started out as)and Nicky who created those beautiful late 60s/ 70s licks(on albums and tours!). Sorry-I cant put Billy or Chuck in the same league.Just my opinion. BUT I have to give honorable mention to MAC.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-07-16 20:51 by scottkeef.

Stu,with Billy

BILLY!

Mac.

stones vry smart and wonderful to put stu and mac together for tours...
and of course the ultimate imo: nicky and stu....w very very favorable tribute to Mac....
billy no so much move me w stones. leavell seems vry far away from stones aesthetic to me.

of course jack's studio work w stones when first starting to record in l.a. is very very right IN with the glorious songs of that period...

Nicky Hopkins hands down

nicky, mac

Nicky

Personally, my favorite onstage combo was the two Ians -- Stewart and McLagan, in 1978 and 1981. In the studio, it's Stu and Nicky.

Billy Preston's backup vocals were fine, but he should never have touched the synth. His organ solo on "Angie" in 1973 was beautiful.

As for Chuck Leavell, he does it all, so the long-standing criticism of him on this forum is completely unfounded. Yes, his onstage piano sound, at first, was annoying and plinky, but he worked on it and in recent years it has been excellent.

Billy Preston, mainly for his organ solo on "i got the blues".

Quote
bassplayer617
Personally, my favorite onstage combo was the two Ians -- Stewart and McLagan, in 1978 and 1981. In the studio, it's Stu and Nicky.

Billy Preston's backup vocals were fine, but he should never have touched the synth. His organ solo on "Angie" in 1973 was beautiful.

As for Chuck Leavell, he does it all, so the long-standing criticism of him on this forum is completely unfounded. Yes, his onstage piano sound, at first, was annoying and plinky, but he worked on it and in recent years it has been excellent.

Nice post. I agree totally. I love Billy, but some of his synth stuff was really cheesy. I love Stu and Nicky in the studio and Stu and Mac live! Great!

Ian Stewart - Nicky Hopkins - Mac, In that order.

Mike

All of them are fantastic!

Stu and Nicky was two stunning rockin´ piano players
Billy was soo good on several tunes like Midnight Rambler and Heartbreaker
but totally destroyed a few like Brown Sugar!
Chuck is perfect these days trying to copy all of them !

Tommy

Nicky stands alone - his work on BB / TSMR / Let It Bleed / Exile in many cases were defining compositional contributions: There is no telling how SFTD would have arrived without Nicky's piano ...

His tenure with the band coincided with their crowning moment (67-72) - coincidence - I think not!

Jack who? Nitzsche? Does his minimal work w/Stones merit rank alongside Nicky & Stu?

Nicky by a pube over Stu.

It's so very lonely, you're 2,000 Light Years from home

Nichy

Chuck, hands down; he is an all-around musician who by now fits in perfectly with the Stones...IMO, of course. He also fights with Mick about slipping in songs that are not war horses. If it weren't for Chuck, we'd get 21 tunes, the SAME ONES every night!