The keyboardist David Gilmour said got close to Rick Wright’s level

During his career, Pink Floyd guitarist and singer David Gilmour had the chance to play with many incredible musicians. One of them was the late keyboardist Richard Wright, who was a fundamental part of the band’s sound and sadly passed away in 2008 at the age of 65. Besides being bandmates in Pink Floyd, Wright also contributed to Gilmour’s solo work and even toured as part of his band.

Since Wright’s death, Gilmour has often said he misses the creativity Rick brought to the music. But he recently named a keyboardist who, in his view, was able to come close to that level of creativity.

The keyboardist David Gilmour said got close to Rick Wright’s level

The keyboardist praised by David Gilmour is the British musician Rob Gentry, who was part of his album “Luck & Strange”. Gilmour said that he was able to reach Richard Wright’s level of creativity during the sessions, something he misses very much. “From the first second you hear Rick (Richard Wright) playing his electric piano, you just know there’s something absolutely individual about what he does that no one else does or could do.”

“His level of creativity is something that I’ve missed over the years. But some of the people that Charlie has brought have added creativity of that sort. We have a keyboard player called Rob Gentry, who has done a lot of the keyboards. Some of the things he does take a minute to get used to. They’re very off the wall sometimes, but it’s fantastic,” he said in the documentary of “Luck and Strange“.

Besides being a keyboardist with more than 20 years of experience, Rob Gentry is also a singer, producer and plays other instruments. Besides Gilmour he has already collaborated with names like Quincy Jones and Giorgio Moroder. He was recommended to Gilmour by the drummer Adam Betts and bassist Tom Herbert, who were also part the recent album.

David Gilmour called Rob Gentry a “magician” on keyboards

Since recording his latest album David Gilmour praised the musicians who worked with him a lot. He even said it was the best band he ever played with. Talking to Rolling Stone in 2025, Gilmour called Gentry a “magical” musician. “Rob Gentry on the keyboards has a magical, inspirational, and very unusual touch to everything he does,” Gilmour said.

He used the same definition during a conversation with Q 104.3 in 2025, also praising other new members of his solo band.”(When playing the songs live) there’s a lot of things to cover, I get very fussy. There are little earworm moments within that I want to make sure (they will get it right). But these guys, they nailed all that stuff. The new guys that were introduced to me by Charlie Andrew, my record producer. (One of them is) Rob Gentry, on keyboards, he’s a magician.”

He continued:

“Adam Betts playing the drums, he just couldn’t be more solid, but at the same time solid/sensitive to what’s going on. Ben Worsley, the guitarist/singer, he had never done anything as big as this before, but we couldn’t have made a better choice,” David Gilmour said.

Talking to Virgin radio, David said that Gentry created pieces on the keyboards that are like “little hooks that catch in your ear and you’re singing for days. When they come along in the song you want to sing them loud.”

There were some funny moments on stage during those shows. At one point, after introducing the whole band, he accidentally left Rob out. From then on, he jokingly pretended to forget Rob’s name just to tease him.

What was like to work with Gilmour according to Gentry

Rob Gentry is very experienced and has worked with many famous and important musicians already. But obviously, it was really special to share the studio with Gilmour. Talking with The Keyboard Chronicles, the musician told what it was like to work with the Pink Floyd musician. He also praised the drummer Steve Gadd, who Gilmour said recently was the best drummer in the world.

“To go into the studio with Dave and also Steve Gadd, it’s like what hasn’t he done? Guy (Pratt) as well, has a phenomenal career. So it’s overwhelming but when it kicks in you take your gear like you do to any other studio session (and) just do the thing. My dad is a huge Pink Floyd fan and went to see them back in like early 70s. I’ve grown up with some of those albums.”

“When you’re in the studio and you hear one of David’s demos, (you hear just) one guitar bend and you’re like ‘I know that sound. I remember that!’ It’s a pretty crazy moment but then also you approach it like any other music experience. Like ‘What’s needed here, how can I make this better?’ And also being sensitive to what’s going on around you. It was a very relaxed, welcoming environment,” Rob Gentry said. Rob was part of almost all the tracks of the album, playin the synthesizer, keyboards, piano and the organ.