This page last updated: 11 Oct 2024

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

Bruford had 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."). However, he started to return to performance in 2023. He played at the Aug 2023 John Wetton memorial concert, drumming on "Let's Stick Together" (originally by Roxy Music) with Chris Difford (Squeeze; vocals, guitar), Phil Manzanera (ex-Roxy Music; guitar, backing vocals), Guy Pratt (worked with Pink Floyd, Madonna, The Orb, Pure Reason Revolution; bass) and a saxophonist, keyboardist and backing vocalist from the Paul Green Rock Academy. In a Feb 2024 interview, Steve Howe described how Bruford "did stop playing" for many years, but that Bruford has spent "two years re-learning".

In Feb 2024, Bruford played a full set in Windsor, UK, with the Pete Roth Trio, i.e. Pete Roth (guitar), Mike Pratt (bass) and Bruford (drums). Ed Percival reported on Facebook, "They did a mix of jazz standards, plus their on take on Dvorak's New World, and some tunes written by the guitarist. They did a Bruford tune called "In a Ghost Garden"." They have further UK shows this year (promo video) with at least 8 dates from 15 Sep-1 Dec 2024, including one as a quartet with Simon Bates. (They may have played more we all missed!) The band are now seeking European dates for 2025 (bookings handled by MoonJune Records). He explained on a YouTube video in Oct 2024:

I’m currently a featured performer in The Pete Roth Trio. Pete is an exciting young guitarist beginning to develop a career as a performer. We’re playing his music locally, when and where he wants. He does the logistics and heavy-lifting that comes with any band starting out. He’s taking on an older, more experienced player who’s along for the ride. I have marginal interest in developing my own career (already developed!) but I do want to further my music skills, which have lain fallow for fourteen years. Pete and I have a balance of needs. I’m low maintenance, and free as a bird.

I’ve been asked many times to explain why I want to play a more reflective, interactive music in small intimate rooms to 150 people rather than a less reflective, less interactive music in enormodromes to thousands of people. Music, for me, now, is not so much about being able to play something, it’s more about being able to think up fresh things to play, in conjunction with others, in a small place, in real time. How best to do that, at my age? Performing in the Trio is a good way.

[...] How about, I’m thinking, downgrading from professional musician to amateur? Could I leave behind the disagreeable bits that the professional has to endure and reconnect with the amateur me who did it, back in the 60s, for the sheer love of it, with barely a care in the world?

The Musician’s Union here in the UK has a ‘professional’ musician as one who earns the majority of her income from music activities. An ‘amateur’ is held to be one who earns less than half her income from music activities. This deals only with finance, and speaks not at all about skill level, success and failure (however measured), time taken, or any pleasure achieved or achievable. Amateurs are frequently more ready, willing and able to perform than their professional colleagues.

So out go the front covers of magazines, the tour bus, the elections to Halls of Fame, the (usually unhelpful) record company attention. Out goes the full panoply of late 20th century record industry awards, incentives and bigger bucks. Been there! In comes meaningful, small scale, improvised human interaction, in a wonderful Earthworks- or Pete Roth- sized place called music. In come the small bucks and the love of doing it for the love of it. Bring it on!

He continues to research, write and give talks, and oversees archival and re-releases. There was a Bill Bruford fan convention in Tokyo, Japan on 16 Jun 2024, which included a Q&A with Bruford and performances by 2 UK tribute bands. Then, on 29 Jun, he was in conversation with Anil Prasad in New York, NY, followed by ProgJect in concert with a set including material from Bruford's back catalogue (Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, UK, Bruford). There was then a second night with the same format on 30 Jun in Philadephia. (One of the nights was filmed.) Bruford also attended the 3rd International MoonJune Festival, Sep 2024 in Spain. He was in conversation with Sid Smith on 22 Sep, and in a roundtable discussion about 1972-4 King Crimson with Smith, David Cross and Markus Reuter on 20 Sep. (The David Cross Band played the music of King Crimson on 21 Sep, with Bruford in the audience.)

Roslyn, NY, 1 Aug 1972:
1. "Black and White"
2. "There No More"
3. "Monday Morning Eyes"
4. "Small Beginnings"
5. "Children of the Universe"
6. "Lifetime"

Burbank, CA, 9 Oct 1973:
17. "Dead Ahead"
18. "Psychosync"

Miami, FL, 26 Oct 1973:
19. "Children of the Universe"
20. "Black and White"

Cape Cod, MA, 24 Aug 1973:
21. "The Bishop"
22. "Manhattan Morning (Christmas '72)"

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.

Live
Moraz was interviewed, but didn't perform, at NAMM 2024 on 26 Jan. The Bob Moog Foundation exhibit about him was also shown.

Moraz performed at ProgStock 2023 on 8 Oct 2023, opening for Utopia. He was also doing an interview session with a film screening on 6 Oct.

Moraz played a benefit show for 5 local musicians affected by Hurricane Ian in Nov 2022 in Florida.

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."

Patrick Moraz and Human Interface toured in 1983, with a set including all of Story of i. The band consisted of Moraz, Tim Franklin (bass, vocals), Paul Parker (drums), Jim Gentry (guitar, vocals) and Michael Franklin (keys, vocals). (Michael and Tim Franklin are currently working with Jon Anderson.) On 11 Dec 2022, M Franklin said on Facebook, "We have a video tape of the whole show. I hope re-master and re-render this year [2022]. [...] Recorded at The Beacham Theater in Orlando in 1983."

Other news
Moraz guested on the 10-track album Not in Kansas Anymore, the posthumous and only solo album by Robby Steinhardt (ex-Kansas, worked with Jon Anderson), released Oct 2021. Steinhardt was working on the album in his final months before his death in May 2021. The album was produced by Michael Franklin (works with Jon Anderson), with many of the players from Jon Anderson's 1000 Hands: Chapter One and the associated touring band. The music was mostly written by Michael and Tim Franklin, with Steinhardt given co-writing credit for his input too.

Moraz covered Jean-Michel Jarre's "Oxygene (Part 4)" on Synthesizer Classics (Cleopatra Records), out Aug 2022: see on main page for details. Moraz appeared on 1 track each of the three latest Prog Collective albums from Billy Sherwood, Dark Encounters (due Mar 2024), Seeking Peace (2022), and Songs We were Taught (2022): see main page for details. Moraz appears on "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" on the Cleopatra Records release, Animals Reimagined – A Tribute to Pink Floyd: see on main page 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.

Moraz was in Refugee and their track "Ritt Mickley" is on the 4CD Round and Round – Progressive Sounds of 1974 (Esoteric Recordings, ECLEC42831), due 30 Jun 2023.

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 concerto, 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.

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!

Bonamassa will perform at least 14 new and extended versions of his songs with this nationally renowned orchestra. Unlike most concerts featuring a rock band and orchestra, this concert will be driven by the orchestral arrangements written by some of the world's leading classical composers as well as Hollywood’s leading movie orchestrators.

Each composer will orchestrate one or two songs of their choice. The direction of the songs will be set by the orchestrator and producer with Bonamassa performing both electric and acoustic guitar, and singing within those confines. You will be able to hear the desperate addiction in "Sloe Gin", the ferocious animated realism of a desperate train journey in "Slow Train", the Rodrigo-like Spanish influences in "The Last Matador" and majestic landscapes to create a spectacular music event for lovers of all kinds of music.

Once [...] we [ARW] do Europe […] 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]

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. Trevor Rabin: "Main Title" (1:41)
2. Trevor Rabin: "Church Heist" (0:44)
3. Paul Linford: "Escape Room" (2:06)
4. Trevor Rabin: "Masonic Temple" (3:08)
5. Paul Linford: "Hidden Artwork" (1:28)
6. Jake Austin Walker: "Be Brave" (3:07)
7. Trevor Rabin: "Duerme Descansa" (1:10)
8. Paul Linford: "Trade Oren for Relic" (2:03)
9. Trevor Rabin: "Puzzle Box" (2:06)
10. Paul Linford: "Gift Shop Trap" (2:44)
11. Trevor Rabin: "Searching Sudusky's Study" (2:25)
12. Jake Austin Walker: "Hey Dreamer" (2:02)
13. Trevor Rabin: "Mom Knew About Treasure" (3:42)
14. Trevor Rabin: "Cracking the Box" (1:29)
15. Paul Linford: "Real Exterminators" (2:18)
16. Paul Linford: "La Paloma Clue" (4:01)
17. Jake Austin Walker: "Suspicious Minds" (3:42)
18. Trevor Rabin: "Oxygen Level 40%" (6:19)
19. Jake Austin Walker: "I Miss That Van" (2:35)
20. Jake Austin Walker: "Shame on Me" (2:53)
21. Trevor Rabin: "Charge!" (2:16)
22. Paul Linford: "Jess Meets Papa Salazar" (3:11)
23. Trevor Rabin: "Organ Clue" (3:59)
24. Jake Austin Walker: "Beside Me, Besides You" (3:05)
25. Trevor Rabin: "Run! – Escape Pt. 3" (2:37)
26. Trevor Rabin & Paul Linford: "Let's Find Out" (3:21)
27. Paul Linford: "Hendricks Is Salazar" (1:55)
28. Trevor Rabin: "Which Way" (2:37)
29. Trevor Rabin: "The Great Treasure" (5:29)
30. Trevor Rabin: "Another Treasure" (1:00)
    

"Talking to Yourself" (2:53; video) was the third single from Carly Rae Jepsen's album The Loneliest Time (604/School Boy/Interscope), out 21 Oct 2022. The single was released 16 Sep 2022, backed with "Beach House" and "Western Wind". All three tracks were then also included on the fourth single, "The Loneliest Time" (with Rufus Wainwright), released 7 Oct. "Talking to Yourself" was co-written and produced by Captain Cuts, who are now Ryan Rabin (Trevor's son) and Benjamin Berger, who also performed on the track. Trevor guests on a guitar solo. Neither of the Rabins appear on any of the other 12 tracks (or 3 digital bonus tracks). The album was recorded 2020-2, largely in lockdown. The album made #16 in the UK, #18 in Canada, #19 in the US, #37 in New Zealand, #52 in Japan (#33 in digital albums), #61 in Ireland, #62 in Australia, #94 in Spain, and #180 in both Flanders and Wallonia (Belgium). It also made #39 on the German digital chart. "Talking to Yourself" made #91 on the UK iTunes chart. The album made #4 on the Canadian iTunes chart, #6 in Brazil, #7 in the US and Australia, #9 in the UK, #21 in Germany, and #26 in France. Rabin guested with Outlanders (alternate website, Twitter), a collaboration between vocalist Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish) and musician/producer Torsten Stenzel (York, worked with Mike Oldfield, Nelly Furtado, Joss Stone). The project, which was mainly recorded in Antigua, mixes electronic music, vocals and (electric and acoustic) guitars. The album uses some texts by Paulo Coelho. Marcelo Cabuli is the executive producer. The first single, "Closer to the Sky" (streaming audio; music video), featured Rabin and was released digitally 26 Nov 2021. There is also a 7" vinyl release, with a b-side of "Closer to the Sky (Dub Mix)". There was also a Scot & Millfield remix and a Beau Chapeau remix of the song, both also released in 2022. The song was written by Turunen and either Erik Nyholm or Stenzel (I've seen different reports), and is performed by Turunen (vocals), Stenzel (programming) and Rabin (guitars). It was recorded and engineered in Antigua by Stenzel, with the vocals recorded by Turunen in Marbella, Spain, and the guitars recorded and co-produced by Rabin. The song was produced and mixed by Stenzel, Turunen and MIC, and mastered by Tom Porcell. The band released 8 singles in total before an album, A Peaceful Place, out 23 Jun 2023, including on CD and curacao blue vinyl 2LP. Tracks: "Outlanders", with Walter Giardino (Rata Blanca) "Closer to the Sky", with Rabin "The Cruellest Goodbye", with Al Di Meola "World in My Eyes", with Vernon Reid) "Mystique Voyage", with Steve Rothery (Marillion) "The Sleeping Indian", with Joe Satriani "Land of Sea and Sun", with Marty Friedman "1971", with Giardino "We Own This Sky", with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (ex-Asia) "Never Too Far", with Mike Oldfield (worked with Jon Anderson, Geoff Downes) "Echoes", with Jennifer Batten "A Peaceful Place (Return to the Oasis)", with Giardino

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Rick Wakeman and Rabin have both mooted the possibility an album together at some point: see here for details. Rabin also appears on a couple of tracks of Wakeman's Unreleased Demos Volume 1, the third Caped Crusader Collector Club release, with demos and more from the 1990s. He then also appeared on one track of the fifth Caped Crusader Collector Club release, Rehearsals and Demos, on another demo: see under Rick Wakeman. Both Rabin and Wakeman are expected to guest on Jon Anderson's 1000 Hands: Chapter Two, expected in 2023: see under Anderson.

Rabin and Roger Hodgson worked together around the time Hodgson turned down the idea of joining Yes, the collaboration yielding "Walls" on Talk. Some of that material was 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." Talking on The Record Player podcast (Sep 2023), it appeared nothing had happened since 2020. Rabin said, "Nothing's finished and mixed," but that he would talk to Hodgson about the material when he saw him in Oct 2023.

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.

Rabbitt reunited as Rabbitt Reloaded for a South African tour with original members Duncan Faure, Ronnie Robot and Neil Cloud, but without Rabin, although Rabin is supportive of the project. The new band was joined by Marius Marais. However, the tour was postponed before starting following Robot suffering a hand injury.

In Aug 2021, Rabin sold his music publishing catalogue of 3528 pieces—including music with Yes, from his solo career and film scores—to private equity firm Round Hill Music Royalty Fund Limited. Round Hill got the writer's and publisher's share of the catalogue and administrative control. Josh Gruss, chairman and CEO of Round Hill, said, "We believe this is a particularly attractive area in which to be increasing our exposure, as film and TV performance revenues continue to increase in value."

1. "The View from Here" (4:01)
   
2. "The Queen's Lament" (5:46), a "story-like song", according to Wakeman, about Catherine Howard (but unrelated to his father's "Catherine Howard") and how she handled her impending execution, written from her perspective; Wakeman plays a harmonium, while his wife provides backing vocals
   
3. "Here in My Heart" (7:26), a song about "inner turmoil"; this started life as a "little Celtic refrain vocally", with Wakeman adding multiple sections to create a long-form piece, but then belatedly deciding he needed to replace the initial vocal melody with a new one
   
4. "1000 Autumns" (4:08), described by Wakeman as "more of a singles type track [...] a sort of relationship song"; it began "much more complicated than it's ended up on the album", but Wakeman "pulled it apart" and re-worked it
   
5. "Marble Arch" (8:44)
   
6. "In the Moonlight" (6:05)
   
7. "Miss You Now" (4:51), video; with Wakeman on electric guitar, keys and backing vocals
   
8. "Instead of My Fear" (3:01), second video
   
9. "Lonely" (5:25)
   
10. "Golden Sun in Grey" (8:26)
    

I was supposed to have delivered the album for mixing by now but I decided at the last minute that 2 songs needed a rewrite (one quite substantially!)
Just finished the second one now so I think I’m finally there. Need to get everything to Karl [Groom] for mixing now!

It it came originally from a project I was doing 20 years ago with a young singer called Rachel, who was a a Welsh singer. And she just sang beautiful, lilting folk songs and she was a harpist. So the project originally started off at that. And I think it was her husband turned around and said to me, oh, if you do a project together, you should call it Anam Cara. And I said, well, what's that? And he said, well, it's Celtic for "soul friend" [...] you musicians, you're all like soul friends together because you don't know anything about each other when you first meet and you just create music together. [...] The project never really got going [...] We did a couple of demos, I think, and then it sort of fell apart. [...] [Later,] my management was saying to me, what, what do you want to do next?And I kept thinking to myself, I want to do that Celtic rock record again because I love [...] that Riverdance stuff. I love Clannad, all that. [...] And also I wanted to work with a female vocalist because I've worked a lot with male vocalists.

I currently have about 3 records in the works but I decided to focus on the one which I have wanted to do for quite a while, Anam Cara. This was an idea for a project I wanted to do many years ago when I started working with the singer Rachel.

However, as that band dissipated and morphed in into the Oliver Wakeman Band and the Mother’s Ruin album, the ideas I had for this album were put on the back burner. So when I was in discussion with the management company about what was coming next, I mentioned this album idea and got the green light

[...] nearly all the music is written and I have David Mark Pearce doing the electric guitars, Steve Amadeo on bass and Scott Higham on drums. [...] There will be more announcements over the coming weeks about the vocalist and other musicians confirmed on the album.

[...] Anne Sudworth will again be providing one of her wonderful pieces of artwork for the sleeve. [...] Karl Groom [...] will be handling the mixing and mastering.

We are currently aiming for an early 2023 release date.

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.

I'm doing that […] with some instrumental pieces. […] I've done some commissioned music in my time, where people write to me and ask me to write a piece of music for their their wife or a special occasion. So I've written music for people's occasions. And I suddenly thought I've done that maybe six or seven times and I thought, you know what, it'd be quite nice to actually put these pieces of music out, and so I started writing some other pieces of music for myself, and they've sort of sort of come together in a little bucket of work, and it's like, OK, that's quite good fun. So I'm doing a few sort of piano shows at the moment, so what I'm tending to do is, I take a lot of these piano pieces with me, and I go and perform them live, and they adapt […] They find their arrangement, when you play them and you perform them, you get a feel as to how a piece of music is going, so that's another little bucket that's sort of going on. And there were some pieces from Anam Cara that I didn't use that I may use next time. But I've also got another bucket full of rock songs, because I want to do another rock album at some point. There's always a good couple of buckets on the go of music.

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.

Live
Oliver Wakeman's Anam Cara were to play the Summer's End Festival on 7 Oct 2023. However, due to a bereavement affecting a band member, they had to postpone to the Winter's End Festival in Chepstow, UK, and performed on 14 Apr 2024. The set was [SPOILERS—highlight to read] "Moneyfacturing", "Dangerous World", "Run for Your Life", "The View from Here", "1000 Autumns", "I Don't Believe in Angels", "Miss You Now", Wakeman solo, "The Forgotten King", "LJW", "Glimmer of Light", "Instead of My Fear", "Mother's Ruin", "Words on a Page", "From the Turn of a Card" (Ravens & Lullabies arrangement), "The Gift of Love", "To the Moment", encore: "Coming to Town". The band was with Hayley Griffiths (vocals), Scott Higham (Pendragon; drums), Oliver Day (guitars, additional keys) and Dan Nelson (Magenta, Cyan; bass). Wakeman said in the Dec 2023 interview, "if that goes well and it and we feel like it's gelled properly, then I'd like to do a little tour with it." To Prog magazine (Mar 2024 issue), he added, "But if we do the whole record, I'm really going to need some whistles and violins and all that stuff." In the Mar 2024 interview, he also said he "would love" to tour and will go "wherever people want to hear it".

Rick Wakeman, Oliver Wakeman, Gordon Giltrap (worked with Rick Wakeman, Oliver Wakeman) and Carrie Martin (worked with Oliver Wakeman) played a charity concert on 6 May 2023 in Tewkesbury, UK, entitled The 'Other' Coronation Concert. Oliver's son, Arthur, also joined Oliver for one song. The event raised money for Milestone and Cleeve Schools and nearly sold out. A second show is planned for 22 Jun 2024, again with the two Wakemans, Giltrap and Martin.

Oliver was also due to play with dad Rick at a proposed Apr 2024 performance of Rick's The New Gospels in an updated form, under the new name of Christus, but I am unclear if that is still going ahead: see under Rick Wakeman for details.

Work with Rodney Matthews
In the Mar 2024 interview, Wakeman described working on 4 projects with illustrator and drummer Rodney Matthews. Wakeman said, "The thing that I'm working on at the moment is for a project called Squidd, which was his band from the seventies", later describing this as "the next thing that will come out from Rodney". Matthews drummed in Squidd, but the band didn't release any material at the time. Wakeman explained how Matthews said to him, "I've got these recordings the band did, back in the seventies, for a radio show." Matthews continued, "I'd really like to do these and write some new stuff into these songs and [...] get them re-done." So, Wakeman has "been working through all these old tapes" and "re-recording a load of these parts [...] and writing new sections". Wakeman continued, "We're writing new music for it, but of course I want to write in the style of how the original band was." This means that Wakeman is just using Hammond, Moog and piano.

Matthews had tweeted about the project in Nov 2023, saying, "A new illustration for a music project that I have just commenced with @OliverWakeman, based upon ideas both musical and image-wise that I worked on in the early 1970s but never recorded as an album!" He had earlier mentioned this same illustration in his newsletter, where he said:

Work has now commenced on a new music project with Oliver Wakeman. This will most likely take the form of an album on vinyl and CD, with tracks influenced by my images. The twist with this one is that it will be retro, incorporating images and musical ideas that I first experimented with during the early 1970s – that definitely makes it “proggy”! Right now I am working on a new illustration for the booklet, titled ‘Armageddon sings as the Toad Conducts the Band’.

Wakeman and guitarist Jeff Scheetz are also working with Matthews on a follow-up to 2019's Trinity. Wakeman said in the Mar 2024 interview that both he and Scheetz "have started writing for that".

Rodney and his wife Sarah re-did the 1978 children's book "Yendor", originally by Graham Smith and Rodney. (Yendor is Rodney backwards.) The book is out. There is a CD release with narration by Sarah, some additional voice from Rodney, and a score by Wakeman. Tracks:

In the Mar 2024 interview, Wakeman said, "There's a chance that there might be another one" (that is, another film score).

Wakeman guests on The Madrigal Project's 11th Hour: see main page for details.

Wakeman guests again on a project by Carrie Martin. He plays on 2 tracks of her album Evergeen (earlier known as Beside the Evergreen; promo), out on Psychotron Records, contributing piano and strings to "End of Story" (based on Louise Swanson's novel of the same name) and also appearing on the 8-minute track "Keep in the Light". Martin wrote on Facebook in Nov 2022 about receiving Wakeman's parts for "End of Story". Tracks:

1. "Beside the Evergreen", with Jim Waltham (bass)
   
2. "Wynter", previously released on the LP version of Martin's Entity
   
3. "Earth Angel", with Waltham (bass), Sarah Dean (harp), Martha & Alice Tregonning (additional vocals)
4. "Keep in the Light", with O Wakeman, Roger Fisher (ex-Heart)
   
5. "Deep Blue Heaven", with John Verity (ex-Argent; electric guitar), Jamie Mallender (bass)
   
6. "End of Story", with Waltham (bass)
7. "She Doesn't Know", with Dan Cassidy (fiddle), Waltham (bass)
8. "Girl with a Feather in Her Hair", with Waltham (bass)
9. "Boxes of Nothing", instrumental
   
10. "The Tempest", with Waltham (bass)
11. "Lost in the Right Time"
12. "Loren", cover of the Gordon Giltrap piece; CD only

Jeremy Richardson (John Hackett band; bass) and Wayne Proctor (drums) also appear. Ben Martin (Carrie's son) produced. Cover art is by Clare Roper-Paris.

Early May 2023, Oliver and dad Rick were both interviewed for a forthcoming documentary film about The Strawbs.

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.