I vote Rod Argent of The Zombies

His keyboards make The Zombies, both with his comping and his sick solos.

I like his playing because he's sophisticated and sloppy at the same time. He's got these great licks that you'd hear from jazz guys but he lays it over a real raw track and rushes just enough to give his solos this frantic feel.

I have yet to hear the combination of complexity and soul from another garage rock keyboardist but tell me what you think. I wanna hear about some more players I can check out.

Listen to his organ work on :

Just Out Of Reach (keyboard solo at 1:00)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7aebYXnArg&feature=related

and then his electric piano work on

She's Not There (solo 1:37)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5IRI4oHKNU&feature=related

oh liar liars key are good too

its not complex but ilike it

dying slowly said:

the organ in the standells some times good guys dont wear white blows me away

I AGREE , Larry Tamblyn, who already gets cool points for being Russ Tamblyn's Brother, did some great keyboard parts with The Standells - I'm partial to the Faux Gypsy /Italian  Guitar - Keyboard combination he and Tony Valentino cooked up on "Why Pick on Me".
 
dying slowly said:

the organ in the standells some times good guys dont wear white blows me away

  I meant to , but I felt I'd have to mention DMZ (Whom I love) , as well as The Lyres (Whom I tried to love.). When Jeff is /was on , he was unstoppable. I saw him once , when he feigned interest , but , just did not care , and , another time where he had his moments , to be sure.
 
Alex said:

Obviously Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.  But I'm also surprised to see that no one has mentioned Jeff "Monoman" Conolly from Lyres/DMZ.

esquerita!

Guys like Rosalie and Conolly are good for their respective overall band sounds, but far from "great" players.

Standouts are Rod Argent, Brian Auger, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Manzarek and vastly underated if somewhat cheesy; Burton Cummings (listen to that live TV stuff Guess Who CD that came out awhile back). Tony Ashton and Graham Bond are pretty dang great too.

Not to mention the Nicky Hopkins of this world, etc. etc.

Soul players are a whole other bag - usually much "tastier" players with more of a groove as the music isn't usually (quite) as frantic. Booker T. and Preston are prime examples (though they could probably play rings around most rock players).

speaking of zombies i just heard this track the other day and cant stop it its great btw im asking for a keyboard for christmas first song im gonna play is 96 tears by question mark and the Mysterians  heres the songs guys 

zombies of love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wCmtuGHseo

96 tears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7uC5m-IRns&feature=related

Daryl Hooper from The Seeds

Anybody mention Jerry Roslie? Or Michael Brown [Left Banke]? Rod Argent HAS to be a contender, surely...I like his piano in 'Remember You', alongside the aforementioned 'Just Out Of Reach'. How 'bout John Cale's work with the Velvets - 'All Tomorrow's Parties' is beyond beautiful, whereas 'Sister Ray' is super-horrid [in a good way, of course!].

You saw Mr. Hunter,you lucky sod!How old is he now...70? That's outrageous and he certainly doesn't look it...Mott are in the top 5 of my all-time fave bands!

I don't know if he's the best, but I recently saw Ian Hunter, and he mostly played piano and acoustic guitar during his concert.  He can still bang out a mean intro to "All The Way From Memphis."

Obviously Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.  But I'm also surprised to see that no one has mentioned Jeff "Monoman" Conolly from Lyres/DMZ.

I like Argent as well as Manzarek (Doors) and Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge).

An early favourite for me was Verden Allen's organ sound in Mott the Hoople...Garth Hudson in  The Band...Ian Maclagan's piano in The Faces...

There'll be repeats , here. It's hard to nail it down to just one.

Rock'n'Roll / R'n'B Piano - Little Richard , Jerry Lee Lewis , Fats Domino , Esquerita , Screamin' Jay Hawkins , Amos Milburn , Ray Charles , Charlie Rich , Paul Revere , etc.

"Garage" - Daryl Hooper (Seeds) , "Little Frank" Rodriguez ( ? and The Mysterians) , Augie Meyer (Sir Douglas Quintet ) , Ned Torney ( Chocolate Watchband , Syndicate of Sound , etc.) , OTHERS , i'M SURE....

None of the above - Alan Price , Ian MacLagan , Jon Lord , Dave Greenfield (Stranglers) , Ian Stewart , Doug Ingle (Iron Butterfly) , The guy(s) from THEM. Forgot their names , sorry  , Kris Cummings (Joe King Carrasco and The Crowns) .

Best Keyboard Player that You May Not Know Ever Played Keyboards.-

Roky Erickson. Listen to the keyboard solo on "Hurricane Fighter Plane" by Red Krayola.

Roky now enjoys playing the organ at home.

...Jon Lord.

...James Taylor,(The Prisoners/J.T.Q).

...Fay Hallam,(Makin' Time/The Prime Movers).

the organ in the standells some times good guys dont wear white blows me away

Interesting that the guy above me said Alan Price when I was thinking of an Animals member when reading the title too (Mickey Gallagher)

Best rock keyboardists:

Jerry Lee Lewis

Little Richard

For punk:

Mick Gallagher

the aforementioned Captain Sensible

There's way more than but right now two for each is all I can think of.

Brian Auger for the Hammond groove.

Alan Price when he was with The Animals.I could listen to the solo in House Of The Rising Sun over and over.

i like Vince Vincent (The Vice Barons)

http://youtu.be/oeADwTT8HtU

THE APEMEN also had a good keyboardist 

http://youtu.be/yAZUeK5A5hA

Billy Preston has the most soul, Rick Wright the best voicings & progressions one could argue.

JW

How about JamesTaylor?

http://youtu.be/3CAP4XERdIc

Also, A best punk keyboardist is Captaine Sencible! ;D