Patrick Philippe Moraz (born 24 June 1948) is a Swiss musician, film composer and songwriter, best known for his tenures as keyboardist in the rock bands Yes and the Moody Blues.
Born into a musical family, Moraz learned music at a young age and studied at the Lausanne Conservatory. He began a music career in the 1960s as a jazz musician, performing with his quartet and quintet, groups that performed across Europe and won several awards. He formed the short-lived progressive rock group Mainhorse in 1969, and began work scoring films. In 1974, he formed another band, Refugee, and recorded one album before he joined Yes later the same year. Moraz was a member of Yes until 1976, and during this time he also started a solo career.
Moraz was a member of the Moody Blues from 1978 to 1991. Since then, he has worked on various solo projects.
Moraz was born on 24 June 1948 on an aeroplane, though Morges, Switzerland, has been cited as his hometown. He was born in to a musical family; his father used to work for Polish pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski. He has a sister, Patricia. As a child, Moraz played the violin, piano, and percussion and wrote compositions for the piano at the age of five. He studied jazz and classical music until his development came to an abrupt halt at thirteen after he broke four fingers in a roller skating accident. He recalled, "I was told I could never play classical music again". Following a course of therapy and a considerable amount of practice with his left hand playing, Moraz was able to regain his technique, becoming ambidextrous in the process. Initially, Moraz wished to be an anthropologist and learned to speak Greek and Latin. Instead he chose to pursue music and studied in Lausanne at the Lausanne Conservatory, where he studied with Clara Haskil and, while in Paris, Nadia Boulanger. At sixteen, Moraz became the youngest person to receive the Best Soloist award at the Zürich jazz festival. Moraz went on to win awards at the festival, as a solo artist or in his jazz groups, for five consecutive years. In 1964, Moraz spent his summer in Cadaqués, Spain as a scuba diving instructor and spent time with Salvador Dalí at his property in Portlligat where he organised and performed at several gatherings for his guests.
At seventeen, Moraz's playing as a jazz soloist at a music festival earned him a prize of a collection of albums and some lessons with French jazz soloist Stéphane Grappelli who taught him "all I needed to know about jazz and rock". Moraz also spent time performing in several countries in Africa. In November 1964, Moraz left Switzerland for England, a place he always wanted to visit and perform. Not knowing the English language, he arrived in Bournemouth where he stayed for six months. Prior to his travels, Moraz's father offered him work as a chef in Switzerland in one of his kitchens that he managed, with the hope of using the skill to work in England. Moraz cooked at a school for a £2.88/hr salary, calling it "one of the hardest jobs I ever had". He played the piano in a local pub and tea room for more money. However, he was kicked out of the Musicians' Union because he took up employment as a bar pianist with an incorrect type of work visa. The director of the union then spotted him playing in a restaurant, causing Moraz to leave the country and cancel proposals to jam with a Bournemouth group, the Night People. He also worked by selling encyclopaedias in Geneva. In 1965, Moraz's quartet won an award at the Zürich jazz festival, and was soon invited to be the opening act for a European tour headlined by American saxophonist John Coltrane.
1969–1974: Mainhorse and Refugee
Moraz returned to England in 1969 when he auditioned potential players for a new progressive rock band, Mainhorse. He wished for a drummer who could play like John Bonham, Buddy Rich, odd time signatures and the blues, and tried out "like 250 drummers" in the process. He settled with a line-up of Jean Ristori on vocals and bass, Bryson Graham on drums, and Peter Lockett on vocals and guitar. They signed with Polydor Records and recorded their only studio album, Mainhorse (1971), at De Lane Lea Studios, later purchased by Ian Gillan of Deep Purple in Kingsway, London. The album was not a commercial success, but the group secured work by performing at gigs in Germany. Moraz took up further work as a film composer on The Salamander (1971).
After touring Japan and Hong Kong as a musical director for a Brazilian ballet, Moraz returned to Switzerland in 1973. He recorded further film music for The Invitation (1973) and The Middle of the World (1974). In the summer, Moraz received a call from Lee Jackson, guitarist and singer of Jackson Heights, asking him if he was interested in joining Jackson Heights. Moraz had jammed with Jackson's previous band, The Nice, in 1969 when they played in Switzerland. Moraz refused, and counter-offered that they form a new band with former Nice member Brian Davison on drums. The band, Refugee, signed with Charisma Records and released Refugee (1974), written and arranged by Moraz and Jackson. The group developed a tight sound by practising for at least eight hours each day. Refugee supported the album with a tour.
1974–1978: Yes and start of solo career
Upon his arrival from Geneva working on a film score for Gerard Depardieu, Moraz was asked to join Yes, following the departure of Rick Wakeman in May 1974. The band had begun work on Relayer (1974), their seventh album, in Virginia Water, Surrey, and sought potential replacements. Moraz had seen the band perform during their tour of Switzerland in 1969. After a try-out with Greek musician Vangelis, which proved unsuccessful following musical union issues and his unwillingness to travel, music reporter Chris Welch suggested to the band's manager, Brian Lane, that they ask Moraz. Though he regretted splitting with his Refugee bandmates, Moraz accepted the position as it was an opportunity that he thought would benefit his career, though he once said, "I felt it was time to leave". Moraz's audition occurred in the first week of August 1974 with Vangelis's keyboards, which were still set up in the rehearsal room. After tuning up, Moraz watched the band play the middle section of "Sound Chaser", which he said was "Absolutely unbelievable. To experience that – the truest surround experience I had ever encountered as an observer and listener". He was then asked to come up with an opening to it, and what he played ended up on the album.
After his successful audition, Moraz learned their repertoire across seven albums for the Relayer tour, which began in November 1974. When the tour ended in August 1975, Yes took an extended break so each member could produce a solo album. Charisma Records released Moraz's first album as a solo artist, which, due to its title consisting of a symbol which does not appear on standard keyboards, has since become commonly known as The Story of I (1976). Since working with the Brazilian ballet, he became interested in percussion and travelled to Colombia, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina for inspiration, and arrived in Brazil where he gathered "a very, very strong unit of 16 percussionists" to play on his album. Moraz invited synthesizer inventor Bob Moog to contribute sounds on the album; Moog accepted the task, and worked with him for several weeks. During this time Moraz also played on Steve Howe's album Beginnings (1975) and Chris Squire's album Fish Out of Water (1975). Moraz travelled to Brazil and incorporated Brazilian rhythms and musicians on The Story of I, giving it a world music flavour. Afterward he reconvened with Yes for their 1976 North American tour, where the band headlined several large concerts.
After the 1976 tour, Yes retreated from UK tax collectors to Montreux, Switzerland, to record their next album, Going for the One (1977). Some of the material had already been worked out by the time of their arrival; this included contributions to "Awaken", "Wonderous Stories" and "Parallels" from Moraz. However, during the early sessions, Moraz was told to leave in order to allow Wakeman to return to the band. Moraz spoke about his departure: "Even though, at the time, the split 'was not made to appear acrimonious', I suffered extremely and extensively. To be 'asked to leave' so suddenly put me in a lot of turmoil and disturbance ... I was never compensated for anything. I never ever got paid for any of my tour participation in the ... tour of 1976 ... I was entitled to a 20% cut from what the band was getting." In 2014, Chris Squire would suggest that a lack of a musical bond between Moraz and Steve Howe was the main artistic reason for Moraz and Yes parting company.