John Roy Anderson (born 25 October 1944), known professionally as Jon Anderson, is an English-American singer and songwriter best known as the former lead singer of the progressive rock band Yes, which he formed in 1968 with bassist Chris Squire. He was a member of the band across three tenures until 2008. Anderson was also a member of Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman…
This double-disc set assembles Jon Anderson's own tapes from the New Life Band Song of Seven tour of 1980 on their Sheffield stop (December 3 for those who document such things). The nonet band includes Morris Pert, Ronnie Leahy, Lee Davidson, Jo Partridge, and Barry DeSouza…
Recorded live on the final night of the 1989 Anderson/Bruford/Wakeman/Howe tour, this two-CD set offers both oldies and improvements upon their new material. You'll probably find yourself listening only to the second CD, as the first CD largely consists of shaky solo medleys. Howe fares the best with delicate renditions of "Mood for a Day" and "The Clap." Anderson's guitar and vocal turn comes off like a coffeehouse gig - not bad, especially when he samples "Teakbois," but not riveting. Wakeman's "Merlin" and "Catherine Parr" solo trades speed for precision, and the crowd is unaccountably thrilled when he wrenches unimpressive blow-bottle sounds out of a keyboard. Bruford blows his solo yet again, just as in Yessongs; infatuated with electronic percussion, he produces a grating assortment of clanks and conks…
11/14/2011 - London, UK - As a follow-up to their critically acclaimed CD 'The Living Tree' from 2010, YES legends Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman prepare to release 'Anderson / Wakeman - The Living Tree In Concert Part One' on Gonzo Multimedia on November 28th. The CD was recorded during the duo's British tour in 2010 and comes housed in a sleeve design by Mark Wilkinson who was also responsible for the design of the artwork for 'The Living Tree'…
This seeks to be a good-time record while maintaining the musical intelligence that listeners should expect from Anderson. "Putting the cookies on a lower shelf" can be dangerous if the artists are too busy worrying about public taste to do any real cooking, but it's obvious from the start that the players (Amina Claudine Myers, organ, piano; Jerome Harris, guitar; Lonnie Plaxico, bass; Tommy Campbell, drums) are having a blast themselves. I can't imagine any complaints about anyone's contributions instrumentally. The rhythm team swings, Anderson sounds just great, Myers and Harris shine throughout, and the trombone-organ-guitar ensembles are downright dangerous. The four vocal tracks feature Myers and Anderson solo and in tandem: gutsy, extroverted performances of intelligent lyrics by Jackie Raven. This music is hard to describe but it's natural and infectious, somewhat comparable to Mose Allison, but hotter.
The show begins with an abbreviated version of "Long Distance Runaround," with just Anderson and his acoustic guitar. "Yours is No Disgrace" is unrecognizable, as Anderson turns it into an alternative acoustic rock song, which has its own sense of urgency and takes a classic Yes song that he's done who knows how many times, and turns it on its head- a very interesting cover of his own work…
New album from Shakatak bassist recorded during lockdown and featuring Guitars: Dave Ital , Jerome Hol, Gianfranco Mascayano; Keyboards: Dimitris Dimopoulos; Trumpets: Sid Gauld Saxes: Mat Sibley, Sean Freeman; Trombones: Pat Hartley Percussion: Luis R. Dias; Vocalist: Debby Bracknell, Liane Caroll, Chy-Kira Mezas , Fannah Palmer, Noel McCalla.