A lot of people say John Lord of Deep Purple is the best Hammond player...I disagree..I think hes' mediocre compared to Garth.
I like Garth and Lord both, although Lord's playing on the first three DP albums was Light Years ahead of what he did later on. Garth is an excellent mood player, more like Richard Wright of Floyd.
Keith Emerson is still the best, IMO. Playing two organs simumtaneoulsy, well...........I've seen them all, Wakeman, Hudson, Wright, Hancock, Oregon, Lord, Fisher, Brubeck, Corea, Manazrek, Banks, Winwood, Kooper, Jobson, Watkins,and Moraz. Emerson would always inspire and amaze.
Here's an interesting list of the top voted rock keyboardsists: I don't agree with some, especially Eddie Jobson being lower than Pigpen? Whew!! I mean, PP was OK, but Jobson played keys and violin with Curved Air at 15 years old, UK, Jethro Tull, and Camel. No mention of Kit Watkins of Camel and Happy the Man! Shame on them!!
www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_keyboard.html 1. Keith Emerson (ELP)
2. Jon Lord (Deep Purple)
3. Rick Wakeman (Yes)
4. Ray Manzarek (The Doors)
5. Tony Banks (Genesis)
6. Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)
7. Ian Underwood (The Mothers Of Invention)
8. Tony Hymas (Jeff Beck)
9. Al Kooper (Blood Sweat & Tears)
10. Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater, The Dregs)
11. Elton John
12. Billy Preston
13. Steve Winwood (Traffic)
14. Nicky Hopkins (Rolling Stones)
15. Kevin Moore (Dream Theater)
16. T. Lavitz (The Dregs)
17. Brian Eno
18. Jens Johansen (Yngwie Malmsteen)
19. Jerry Lee Lewis
20. Billy Joel
21. Steve Walsh (Kansas)
22. Richard Tandy (ELO)
23. Gregg Allman (Allman Brothers Band)
24. Garth Hudson (The Band)
25. Allan Zavod (Frank Zappa)
26. Rod Argent (Zombies, Argent)
27. Steve Nieve (Elvis Costello)
28. David Sancious (Springsteen, Santana, Sting)
29. Ian Mclagan (Rolling Stones, Faces)
30. Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater)
31. Jimmy Greenspoon (Three Dog Night)
32. Ron "Pigpen" McKernan (Grateful Dead)
33. Jon Carin (Pink Floyd, Roger Waters)
34. Klaus Schulze
35. Allen Ravenstine (Pere Ubu)
36. Fats Domino
37. Geoff Downes (Yes, Asia)
38. Gregg Rolie (Santana, Journey)
39. Bob Mayo (Frampton)
40. Leon Russell
41. Ken Hensley (Uriah Heep)
42. Little Richard
43. Professor Longhair
44. Roddy Bottum (Faith No More)
45. Alan Price (The Animals)
46. Bernie Worrell (Talking Heads, Funkadelic)
47. David Rosenthal (Rainbow)
48. Ivory Joe Hunter
49. Dr. John
50. Billy Powell (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
51. Robert Lamm (Chicago)
52. Chuck Leavell (Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones)
53. Roy Bittan (E Street Band)
54. Dennis De Young (Styx)
55. Peter Bardens
56. Booker T Jones
57. Bill Payne (Little Feat)
58. Jools Holland (Squeeze)
59. Jan Hammer
60. Mike Garson (David Bowie)
61. Bruce Hornsby (Grateful Dead)
62. Bobby Whitlock (Derek & The Dominos)
63. Jeff Chimenti (Rat Dog, The Dead)
64. Mark Mancina (Yes)
65. Tony Kaye (Yes)
66. Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefheart)
67. Edgar Winter
68. Roger Powell (Todd Rundgren, David Bowie)
69. Gary Wright
70. Seth Justman (J Geils Band)
71. Alex Argento
72. Eric Troyer (ELO)
73. Don Airey (Rainbow, Ozzy, Deep Purple)
74. Paul Griffin (Bob Dylan, Don Mclean)
75. John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)
76. Steve Davidowski (The Dregs)
77. Matt Guillory (Mullmuzzler)
78. Dizzy Reed (Guns N Roses)
79. Vince Welnick (Grateful Dead)
80. Lale Larson
81. John Cale (Velvet Underground)
82. Doug Ingle (Iron Butterfly)
83. Danny Federici (The E Street Band)
84. Warren Zevon
85. Page McConnell (Phish)
86. Bill Rieflin (Ministry, NIN)
87. George Duke (Frank Zappa)
88. David Bryan (Bon Jovi)
89. Michael Pinella (Symphony X)
90. Rich Vogel (Galactic)
91. Neal Morse (Transatlantic, Spock's Beard)
92. Michael Mcdonald (Doobie Borothers)
93. Patrick Moraz (Refugee, Yes, Moody Blues)
94. Ryo Okumoto (Spock's Beard)
95. Freddie Mercury (Queen)
96. Steve Porcaro (Toto)
97. Eddie Jobson (UK, Roxy Music)
98. Gary Brooker (Procol Harum)
99. Keith Tippett (King Crimson)
100. John "Jojo" Herman (Widespread Panic)
101. Mike Pinder (Moody Blues)
102. Lee Michaels
103. Ian Stewart (Rolling Stones)
104. Pete Townshend (The Who)
105. Mark Parrish (The Dregs)
106. Scott Warren (Dio)
107. Ben Wilson (Blues Traveler)
108. Richard Barbieri (Porcupine Tree)
109. Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac)
110. Geddy Lee (Rush)
111. Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads)
112. Neal Doughty (REO Speedwagon)
113. Benmont Tench(The Heartbreakers)
114. Gene Taylor (Fabulous Thunderbirds)
115. Reese Wynans (Double Trouble)
116. Chris Ingles (Shadow Gallery)
117. Matt Evidon (Under The Sun)
118. Mark Robertson (Cairo, Tony Macalpine)
119. David Palmer (Jethro Tull)
120. John "Rabbit" Bundrick (The Who)
121. Keith Godchaux (Grateful Dead)
122. Tony Macalpine
123. Kerry Livgren (Kansas)
124. Ben Folds
125. John Herndon (Tortoise)
126. Manfred Mann
127. Greg Hawkes (Cars)
128. Brent Mydland (Grateful Dead)
128. Andrew Fletcher (Depeche Mode)
130. Alan Fitzgerald (Night Ranger)
131. Barry Goldberg (Electric Flag)
132. Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge)