This page last updated: 4 May 2021

YES and projects with several Yesmen	Jon Anderson	Chris Squire	Steve Howe	Alan White
Geoff Downes	Trevor Horn	Tony Kaye	Peter Banks	Patrick Moraz
Bill Bruford	Rick Wakeman	Trevor Rabin	Billy Sherwood	Igor Khoroshev Oliver Wakeman Benoît David
Jon Davison	Asia	CIRCA:	Yes ft Anderson Rabin Wakeman	Others associated with the band

Bruford has retired from performance (Oct 2017 interview: "I no longer perform, practice or teach on the instrument."; 2015 interview: "I have not been playing any music. I've not touched the drums for five years."). Instead, he does research, writes and gives talks. His latest lecture series covered Denmark and Norway (Mar 2018) and then the US northeast and midwest in Apr.

He was awarded a PhD from Surrey University in 2016: his thesis, "Making It Work: Creative Music Performance and the Western Kit Drummer", is available here, which was based on interviews with a set of drummers including Dylan Howe (Steve's son, worked with Yes), Cindy Blackman Santana, Chad Wackerman, Ralph Salmins, Martin France, Asaf Sirkis, Mark Guiliana, Thomas Stronen and Peter Erskine. He has also turned this into what he describes as a "less formal" book, out through University of Michigan Press, entitled Uncharted: Creativity and the Expert Drummer.

The thesis abstract reads:

This study synthesises a range of views from cultural psychology, action theory and expert practitioners to illuminate issues of creativity and meaning in the performance of the Western kit drummer. Creativity and cultural psychology models are tested and critiqued, but require extension or adaptation to cast a more focused light on the meaning of creative performance for drummers. Aspects of the work of Csikszentmihalyi, Dewey, and Boesch are drawn together and developed to argue that the construct of ‘significant action in context’ provides the conceptual and methodological tool with which to begin analysis of this relationship of mind to cultural setting.

In seeking understanding of perception rather than objectively-determined facts, a qualitative interpretivist paradigm is adopted. Semi-structured interviews and autobiographical data of expert practitioners are used to generate rich data. Viewed from an action-theoretical perspective, the data are analysed and interpreted using thematic analysis, expanded here to encompass both autoethnographic and phenomenographical components. The agency of the researcher is assumed throughout, and the importance of scholarly self-reflexivity highlighted.

The purpose of the study is to construct a cultural psychology of the Western kit drummer which may reveal aspects of creativity in performance. It emerges organically from an ongoing sense of needing to know, or at least understand better, how drummers’ cultural psychology determines what they do. Such an explanation may not only contribute functionally to drummer practice, but also improve understanding of collaborative and creative interactional processes in music and related artistic spheres.

Some of the early sessions for the Listen Now album [...] involved Bill Bruford + Phil, [Brian] Eno and me (not sure about Eddie [Jobson] though he certainly played on other sessions).  These tracks were never used though I believe Phil still has the 24-track masters somewhere.  Every now and then we talk about what we might do with them.  We haven't come up with an answer yet.

Before the album, they released two digital singles. On 4 Jun 2020, they released "Faraway Friend (for Peter)" (lyric video), written by Perdomo, produced by Murdock/Perdomo and performed by Koss (vocals), Perdomo (6 and 12 string guitars, bass, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron, Hammond organ) and Murdock (drums, keys, orchestral arrangement). Previously, they released a cover of Empire's "Out of Our Hands" through Bandcamp, also with Akiyama (keys, synths), produced by Murdock/Perdomo and mixed/mastered by Zach Ziskin. A Feb 2019 Facebook sampler also covered and sampled "Foundation", with second guitar by Preston Murdock.

I’m [...] planning to do some concerts by myself. More than ever, I’m back in the saddle to record. I have multiple projects in the pipeline, and they will come out as they come out. I also have some classic music in preparation, and some other new stuff that’s going to knock your socks off.

[...]

I have other symphonic works [in development; in addition to A Way to Freedom] as well, including the completion of my “Children’s Concerto” for orchestra. I’ve added some orchestral colors to it…but I like to keep some mystery about what I’m doing!

I have also been expressing myself by writing poems, either in French or in English. And I’ve already recorded some of them. And I’ve almost completed a double CD with my other group in Switzerland [possibly a reference to Random Kingdom]; that’s going to come out..probably not this year [2015] or next year [2016], but after that. I have at least two other albums schedule to come out. But for now, MAP is taking priority

[...]

Because my children are grown up, and because I’m not committed, contracted yet – yet! [laughs] – to tour with a big band with my music, I have more time. And I’ve developed a very interesting studio here in Florida.

Solo shows
Moraz had a solo piano show on 18 Nov 2019 in Sellersville, PA.

Moraz appeared at Moogmentum: Synthesizing Innovation, Music, and Creativity, a 3-day event for the opening of the Moogseum in Asheville, NC, 13-5 Aug 2019. On 13 Aug, he performed and was in conversation with Larry Fast; and he did a demo/Q&A/signing on 14 Aug, with a VIP event in the evening.

The latest Moraz solo show was on 5 Aug 2018 in Sellersville, PA. He had a solo show in Winter Park, FL on 30 May 2018; the set included "Soon" and material from i. He next played at The Iridium, New York, NY on 26 Jul 2018and had another show, I think again The Iridium, on 30 Jul 2018. 30 Jul set: "Light Elements", "Aural Contact", "Soul Eternal", "Rite of Passage", "Temples of Joy", "Galatea", "Cachaça", "Imps Dance", "The Best Years of Our Lives", "Talisman—Caravan", "Isle of View", film scores medley, "For Mom", "Krazy Kapers", poem: "If YOU Think You Can...", "Nights in White Satin", "Soon", Variations and medley on Chopin/Mozart/Beethoven, 3-4-5-notes improvisation, "Modular Symphony". He previously played a solo piano Earth Day concert on 22 Apr 2018 in Sarasota, FL, when pieces included "Aural Contact I: Sacrifices".

Band projects
Moraz and Ronnie Ciago (Facebook) (ex-CIRCA:, Brand X, worked with Bill Ward, Mick Taylor, Jaco Pastorius, Robert Downey Jr.; percussion) have been working on an album together; one piece with Ciago appeared on Moraz's solo album Change of Space. Ciago said on Facebook in late Sep 2011: "there is also 2 Moraz & Ciago cd's due out in the next few months, Patrick Moraz & Ronnie Ciago "Live On The Radio" and The new studio cd ( Moraz & Ciago ) with known guest musicians."

It was a balance between the two [beginning with Moraz' compositions or not]. We played together and jammed and so on. The music was composed, first and foremost. Actually I composed more than nine pieces – at least fourteen pieces – and then I let him choose the ones that felt the most comfortable. [...]

Greg and I and John Avila, we can now play that music with our eyes closed! We can play it the way it is [written], but we can also jam. And that’s what we will do for the next album. We are really, really determined to put out a bunch of albums together. We had so much fun making this album

I want to keep it a surprise. But what I can tell you is that it’s not just one CD, one album. It’s a bunch of different works for myself at the piano, with a band, with a trio, orchestra and choirs. That’s why it’s taking so long. In this kind of work, you can never say exactly when it’s going to be ready.

A WAY TO FREEDOM seems to be taking a long time to come out. It's not the lack of material, but more about the inherent inertia which has surrounded the project from the beginning. I have lots and lots of recorded material already, but I never seem to be able to put the finishing touch to the production as a whole.

In an Aug 2013 interview, asked about the project, Moraz replied:

It’s still on the front burner, it’s just that I’ve got different projects and different productions that take precedence. [...] I’ve got several pieces that I’ve had rendered for a symphony orchestra and percussionists and a jazz brass band. All of the music is written and arranged; it’s on paper. It’s just that it takes time. I could have finished it and released it, but in some way I have been enjoying my right to be a little bit of a perfectionist. (Laughs.)

Asked about the project in the late 2014 interview, Moraz said, "I am in the finishing stages of A Way To Freedom, because I've got some other productions that take precedence. [...] that's going to be my solo album. I've been working on that for several years on and off."

A Jun 2014 interview described it as "due in the very near future". It also describes as upcoming Cantata, a piece for a soprano-alto-tenor-bass choir in 7 movements, "paying homage to 'Our Planet.'" The latter was previously described on Moraz' website as EcoCantata. His site website also said Moraz is "progressing in the compositional development, production and "finition" of a "Futuristic Ballet" and other works featuring electronic arrangements as well as innovative, rhythmic instrumentation and acoustic orchestrations."

Other news
Moraz played "Hoedown" on A Tribute to Keith Emerson & Greg Lake, produced by Billy Sherwood: see on the main page for details. He also played on "Wonderful Christmastime" on A Prog Rock Christmas, produced by Billy Sherwood: see on main page for details. He is also due to guest on Sherwood's third Prog Collective album: see under Sherwood for details.

seven years ago, I had a project [...] “Seven Days a Week: Music on the Road From A to Z,” [...] I was seeing real people in real time, and the idea was to record in one week, in seven days — actually seven different CDs, one CD every day with a different theme every day. I kind of started to prepare production, because it’s a rough animal to do that, but as of yet I haven’t had the chance to complete such the project. But it’s still in the future works, as a future operation.

In the Oct 2010 Classic Rock Presents... Prog, Moraz says:

I am so busy right on many projects. They vary from rock to classical. Right now, I'm working with some extraordinary musicians in Tampa, Florida. Moreover, there are various reissues being planned. And I'm currently writing my autobiography, when I will reveal the truth of what happened with Yes.

Moraz played on sessions for bassist Dave LaRue (The Dixie Dregs, John Petrucci) for a second solo album that has yet to appear.

Longer term plans
Moraz has talked of multiple further projects, but many of these appear to be some way from producing any output. He has plans for a third "Future Memories" show, which he discusses in a new interview on a forthcoming DVD release of the first two "Future Memories" TV programmes (see below). Moraz has also been working on an album with Michel Sanchez (Deep Forest) for some time. A report circa Feb 2005 said that Moraz has two electronic albums close to completion, one of which seemed to be the one with Sanchez. It is unclear whether the other was A Way to Freedom, with Armen or some other project.

Moraz has expanded "Modular Symphony (1st Movement)" from his 1987 Human Interface album into an entire piano conerto, which he intends to release at some point according to a Mar 2005 interview.

Although he has no immediate plans, in his Mar 2005 interview, Moraz talked of his willingness to do a video or film project based on his solo album The Story of i. In his NftE interview (Jan 2001), he said, "I've also been writing and researching some stories. I'd like to do a movie of THE STORY OF I either in 3-D computer graphics, an animated version, or the real thing. I have also written a couple of other movie scripts; one is a science fiction story and the other is about the life and times of a composer who lived three hundred years ago." In an earlier interview (Oct 2000), he said: "I have just about 30 other projects that I have already composed, I've composed hundreds of pieces of music in the last 9 years. [...] I have also, maybe, studying to get a commission for a symphony orchestra perhaps in europe for next year [2001]." At some point, he has been planning to do a charity Christmas album.

In the 2005 interview, Moraz mentioned too his desire to do some live shows with flautist Syrinx to play music from their album Coexistence/Libertate, although again there are no specific plans at present. Moraz has said he may collaborate with Annie Haslam in the future.

Trevor Horn

sorry i've been missing in action,,,.but I have been 24/7 on the new solo album, and it's turning into something pretty cool.
I was hoping i'd be closing in by now.
Ufortunately it'll take a but longer. It's just taking time to let it all happen the right way. But i'm quite excited with where it's going.
I'm about half way through and very happy. Bare with me.

Sorry there's been little on the new album.
I'm had to take some breaks to fulfill some film obligations.
But it's going great, I wish it was happening a little faster.
I would say I'm half way there and will be back at it next week.
speak soon. all the best

I've completed 2 tracks for my next solo album.
I wasn't sure what shape my voice would be in, as singing is something I do little of with scoring (or on Jacaranda), ... but voice exercises and singing a lot,....i'm in good shape.
Happy so far, ...long way to go!

Once this... we [ARW] do Europe […] and then we've got some time off and then we do 9, 10 [dates?]... They wanted to do a hundred dates and I said, 'I'm old. The singer's 10 years older than me.' […] I said, no, […] you can always call me, we can look at things and if I'm not busy, we can do things. But once that tour is finished, I'm actually going to start bookings [for film scoring]. So I've promised [new manager] Rich [Jacobellis] that when I come back, in between now and doing the next tour [26 Aug-9 Sep 2018] […] I'll agree to start taking meetings, speaking to people and I'll phone my friends [like directors Renny Harlin and Jerry Bruckheimer]

It has been suggested that YES(ARW) might be ending due to comments within this interview.
I want to make it very clear that it is not the case.
Rick Jon and I didn’t come into ARW in a vacuum.
We were all very busy. Other career interests don’t just disappear. We all fully intend to carry on doing what we were doing while putting full energy into YES.

I’ve got two solo records which I’m scheduled to do and two scores which I’m not at liberty to mention [...] I pretty much signed on to them now, and so I’m pretty busy right up until the end of 2018 at this point.

I did an instrumental album in 2012 [Jacaranda]. I wanna follow that up with another [instrumental] album, and I also do wanna do a kind of vocal rock album to follow up on [...] Can’t Look Away [...] obviously, a priority goal for us is ARW

I've had something on the burner for a long time, but I've never really got centered on it [...] I have an electric-guitar concerto. I'm calling it that, which might sound a bit posh, but it's just a classical electric guitar. What I have sketched out is for full orchestra and electric guitar. I've also included four bagpipes, which just sounded so great. It's a great combination, these very legato, almost sitar-ish guitars and the drone of the bagpipes, which is an extraordinary sound. I really want to come to terms with this guitar concerto

I'm also very determined to do a rock album, whatever that means, with singing on it.

1. "Frostbite"
2. "The Snowball Fight"
3. "It's Snowing"
4. "Magic Harmonica"
5. "Miss Him Too"
6. "The Cabin"
7. "Goodbye"
8. "The J Shot"
9. "Frost in Medford"
10. "Charlie Boy"
    

1. "Remember the Titans"
2. "Grace"
3. "Banger Sisters"
4. "Prague"
5. "A Beautiful Mind Trailer"
6. "Remembrance"
7. "Friendship"
8. "Sunrise"
9. "Gettysburg"
   

1. "Cover Up"
2. "Sorrow (Your Heart)"
3. "Cry Wolf"
4. "Changes"
5. "Etoile Noir/Eyes of Love"
6. "Solly's Beard"
7. "Something to Hold on to"

1. "Carry On/Promises"
2. "Sludge"
3. "Can't Look Away"
4. "Make It Easy"
5. "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
6. "Love will Find a Way"
7. "Outroduction"
   

1. "Cover Up"
2. "Sorrow (Your Heart)"
3. "Heard You Cry Wolf"
4. "Changes"
5. "Eyes of Love"
6. "Love will Find a Way"
7. "Sludge"
8. "Can't Look Away"
   
9. "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
10. "Something to Hold on to"

1. "Cover Up"
2. "Sorrow (Your Heart)"
3. "Heard You Cry Wolf"
4. "Solly's Beard"
5. "Something to Hold on to"
   
6. "Carry On/Promises"
7. "Sludge"
8. "Can't Look Away"
9. "Make It Easy"
10. "Owner of a Lonely Heart"
11. "Love will Find a Way"
12. "Outroduction"
    

1. "Sorrow (Your Heart) (Edit)"
2. "I Can't Look Away (Edit)"
3. "Something to Hold on to (Demo Version)"
4. "Dan Neer Promotional Interview (Questions and Answers)"
5. "Dan Neer Promotional Interview (Answers Only)"
6. "Changes", live recording from Boston, 13 Dec 1989
   
7. "Etoile Noir/Eyes of Love", live recording from Boston, 13 Dec 1989

The last two tracks are confirmed for the version in the boxset Changes (see below). I am unclear if they are included in the standalone release.

1. Beginnings
2. Face to Face
3. Wolf
4. Can't Look Away
5. Can't Look Away bonus disc
   
6. 90124
7. Live in L.A. and Boston, disc 1
   
8. Live in L.A. and Boston, disc 2
   
9. Lost Soundtracks Vol. 1 – Jack Frost
10. Lost Soundtracks Vol. 2 – Film Music
    

Collaborations, guest appearances & other news Rick Wakeman and Rabin have both mooted the possibility an album together at some point: see here for details. Rabin and Roger Hodgson worked together after Hodgson had turned down the idea of joining Yes, the collaboration yielding "Walls" on Talk. Some of that material is thought to have been recorded with Squire, White and Kaye. Asked in the Sep 2020 SOAL interview whether any of it might see release, Rabin replied that he and Hodgson "always keep in touch". He continued, "we really spent quite some time enjoying writing together and recording stuff. A lot of it just never got finished. [...] That's something that, y'know, maybe, at some point, Roger and I should... y'know, time's getting on, so we should do it sooner than later. [...] There's quite a lot of stuff that wasn't finished and, we've always talked about, we should get this done, finished, and forget about where, how it's gonna be done, let's just do it and get it done." Rabin said in an Aug 2013 interview that he "would love to do an album with my son, Ryan, at some point. However, he is very busy". Gary May (Trevor's brother-in-law) said on Facebook in early 2015 how he had had "Trevor produce, orchestrate and play on one of my songs", with a photo taken in Rabin's Jacaranda studio in Oct 2014.

Busy trying to finish the writing sessions for my new album which will hopefully be out later this year [2020]. Had a breakthrough today writing the middle section for a piece I’ve been working on for some time
Nearly ready to start working on the arrangements. Then comes the recording!

I have continued to work on the collection of instrumental piano pieces based on music I have written for my family or commissions for other people's loved ones.

I have decided to include other musicians on the album (as it was originally going to be just myself on piano) as I feel that, with the way some of the pieces are developing, it feels more like the follow up to 3 Ages of Magick album I recorded in 2003. I think I have all the music now composed but the crafting and arrangement work has started in earnest. I am hoping that this will be out for Spring 2020.

Cultural Vandals is coming along really well. We are currently discussing the options for releasing it which will hopefully be towards the end of the year [2011] or early 2012. I have been working on another project for the last few months and I hadn't listened to it for a while. I mentioned in my last blog that I always like to let albums sit for a while and then revisit them to make sure that I am happy with them. I sat and listened to it in full yesterday to see what other work was required and it felt really good to me. I can't wait to start recording [...] a finished version

Manzi was recording vocals with Wakeman in May 2012, presumably for this project.

In a review of 2016 on his website, Oliver said, "There is my large scale musical project which I have been working on all year [2016] with a well known music producer and my business partner. We are confident that it will see the light of day this year [2017]."  In a May 2018 tweet, he talked of "working on my next album rough mixes".

In a May 2009 interview, Oliver says:

I have a lot of solo material that I'd like to record too – four very different albums' worth. One will be a rock album, another Celtic rock, the third is a rock opera, and the fourth is made up of piano pieces. I really hope to start recording them before the end of the year [2009]. I like to use a studio in Virginia Water, Surrey, where I have a great relationship with the engineer Karl Groom. I produce my own recordings myself.

In the Jun 2008 interview, Oliver also said that he was "a fair way through a solo project on the piano". Oliver had also started work on a singer-songwriter-style album featuring various musicians he has worked with over the years.

On 13 Mar, Oliver tweeted about being, "Back in the studio working on the new @dexibellMI project..." Dexibell are an Italian musical instrument company. Further details as to what this project entails have not been forthcoming so far.

Oliver is available for writing commissions.

Work with Rodney Matthews
Trinity (Rodney Matthews Studios, RMS003CD) was a 10-track, mainly instrumental album from Rodney Matthews and Jeff Scheetz with Oliver Wakeman, released  Dec 2019. Details in Yescography. Matthews (drums, lyrics) is best known as an artist, has worked with Oliver and Rick Wakeman, Asia, Thin Lizzy, Magnum, Michael Moorcock and others, while as a musician, he used to play drums in Squidd, who opened for Yes. Performers included Jeff Scheetz (guitars, bass), Oliver (keys on 9 tracks), Rick Wakeman (harpsichord and church organ, on "Trinity" only), John Payne (ex-Asia; bass, vocals). Tracks:

1. "The Heavy Metal Hero"
2. "Mirador"
3. "The Granite Curtain"
4. "Night on the Bare Mountain", by Mussorgsky; LP1, side 2 starts
   
5. "November Wedding", written by O Wakeman as a wedding gift to Rodney and his wife Sarah; Oliver has recorded another version of this piece for a solo project of his
   
6. "Stop the Slaughter"
7. "The Leavetaking"
8. "The Hop"; LP2, side 1 starts
9. "Rivendell"
10. "Trinity", with Rick Wakeman, recorded Dec 2016
    

Rodney and his wife Sarah have re-done the 1978 children's book "Yendor", originally by Graham Smith and Rodney. (Yendor is Rodney backwards.) The book is now out. There is a CD release forthcoming through Rodney Matthews Studios (approximately 11 May 2020) with narration by Sarah (recorded Mar 2020), some additional voice from Rodney, and a score by Wakeman, largely on '70s style keys (Rhodes etc.), plus some guitar and bass. Mastering was by Karl Groom (worked with Yes). Tracks:

1. "Yendor (Narration with Soundtrack)", by Sarah Matthews and Oliver Wakeman (16:58)
2. "Yendor (Narration)", by Sarah Matthews (16:31)
3. "Yendor (Soundtrack)", by Oliver Wakeman (16:58)
4. "Words from the Illustrator", by Rodney Matthews (1:52)
   

1. "The Overture" [Wakeman/Nolan] (4:07)
   
2. "I'd Give You Everything" [Wakeman] (2:57)
   
3. "The Mirror" [Nolan] (5:17)
   
4. "Elizabeth" [Nolan] (2:01)
   
5. "Why Do You Hate Me?" [Wakeman] (3:51)
   
6. "The Wedding Approaches" [Wakeman] (4:30)
   
7. "Time Passes" [Nolan] (3:23)
   
8. "A Descent into Madness" [Wakeman] (4:47)
   
9. "221B" [Wakeman] (2:00), unused from The Hound of the Baskervilles
   
10. "The Man Called Sherlock" [Wakeman] (7:02), the original version of "Overture" on The Hound of the Baskervilles
    
11. "The Baker Street Irregulars" [Wakeman] (2:39), presumably also unused from The Hound of the Baskervilles
    
12. "The Jabberwocky" [Lewis Carroll] (1:47), a reading of the original poem by R Wakeman, sections of which were used on Jabberwocky, but here presented as a whole
    

I got the rights back to my songs which will see the light at some point. Plans in the pipeline! I also have lots of demos of stuff from the FFH sessions [...] [including] the 2 songs I wrote and the one I co-wrote with Chris - a cool 10 minute piece.

Any news, additions or corrections, please e-mail Henry Potts. Thanks.