Sir Christopher Lee, the renowned British actor best known for playing Dracula in countless films, Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man With the Golden Gun, and Saruman the White in The Lord of the Rings films, passed away Sunday, June 7, at 93 years old. Although many know him as an actor, we here at Progarchy also appreciate Lee for his musical talent. An imposing man who possessed an extraordinary voice, Lee proved an adept heavy metal singer late in his life, releasing a Christmas song as recently as December 2014. He was a great talent, and he will be sorely missed.

Keith Jarrett is 70 years old, and his best known album — The Köln Concert — is 40.  I still remember the first time I heard Köln.  It was about 1978, in a college radio studio on a good set of JBL monitors.  It was a religious experience for me.  That feels like a lame thing to write, but there are ultimately no words.  Yes, I even love the vocalizations, the grunts, the groans, the stomping.  I probably shouldn’t get started.  For some readers it may be off-putting enough that this is not “prog” in any standard sense.  But I can’t let pass the opportunity to tell Keith happy birthday when I have the platform from which to do it, or to call your attention to his latest solo piano disc.  I’m banking on (my prog guru) Brad Birzer’s championing of a broad tent in these matters.  Jarrett’s solo piano music seems to me genre-defying and epic enough, at any rate, for prog sensibilities.

The title of this latest entry, Creation, is not particularly a surprise from Jarrett, who is primarily known for the lack of distinction in his work between creation and performance.  But there is a surprise here, as Jarrett departs from his whole-concert-uncut approach.  Creation’s movements are selected from several different 2014 concerts, arranged after the fact into a whole.  Jarrett thus “had to become a producer,” as he explains in an interview on NPR.  But it’s still Jarrett as creator, as composer, performing as he produces.

As I listen to Creation, I’m reminded how consistently Jarrett’s work draws my listening beyond what I ordinarily think of as listening.  I hear the music, I drink it in as I do any good music.  But my listening is also pushed to hear itself, to hear in some sense what listening is.  Good listening is an interesting mix between impatience and patience.  Impatience because it needs to be eager, voraciously anticipatory, and open to mystery.  Patience because it wants to trust the artist, to wait for what takes careful preparation and painstaking development.  All of us who listen probably develop comfortable listening styles, familiar ways of moving along the border where impatience and patience meet.  Keith Jarrett has long struck me as one of those artists who play up that border, reminding us that it is a fault-line of a sort, that we can still be knocked over when the ground shifts violently enough.

If you know Jarrett’s work, but have trouble with patience on his longer solo piano outings, I would especially urge you to give Creation a try.  The shorter-time format of his recent solo efforts tends to concentrate the development and give food to the impatient appetite, but (to my ears) without sacrificing any of the artisan’s craft and care.

Kudos to you, Keith, as you celebrate threescore and ten!  May our gift to you be (im)patient listening!

Marco Minnemann, a true Renaissance man in the field of music, will delight listeners with his excellent solo effort Celebration. Minnemann, who plays all the instruments, showcases his talents on bass guitar, keyboards, guitar, and, of course, drums. The album has a metal/hard rock edge to it, but for the most part it sounds as if Frank Zappa himself is playing along. And like a typical Zappa album, Celebration has its quirks and idiosyncrasies, but it is an expression of pure talent and a joy to listen to. From the funky opener Miami to the hard-rocking Better Place, Minneman’s newest effort is a gem.

There are eighteen songs on the album, but the majority are under four minutes in duration. The longest – Print Club – is just under eleven minutes in length, granting Minnemann an opportunity to demonstrate his skill on the keys. If you find yourself craving a Zappa-influenced album by a top-notch musician, then this album is certainly worth a listen. You can purchase it here.