Where are they now? - Jon Anderson

Where are they now? - Jon Anderson

This page last updated: 7 Mar 2010

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

On this page: New recordings online - Solo appearances - Tour of the Universe & In La La Land - The Songs of Zamran: The Son of Olias - "Chagall" and other projects - Calls for collaborators - With School of Rock All-Stars - "Ritual Path" and Dream Dancing - With California Guitar Trio - Other Appearances - The Lost Tapes - Other archival releases

On other pages: The Anderson Wakeman Project - Jon Anderson writing with Trevor Rabin - Speculation around a project with Wakeman and Rabin

Jon Anderson's official sites: Jon Anderson Online - Jon on MySpace - Jon on Facebook - Jon on YouTube - Jon on Twitter

Health
Anderson has been suffering from asthma for some time, with problems during Yes's last period of touring up to 2004. In a Mar 2008 interview, Anderson said he has reactive airway disease (RAD), which is akin to asthma. He discussed his health problems as they then were in a Feb 2008 interview for Notes from the Edge. On 13 May 2008, he suffered a very serious attack and was hospitalised in intensive care for some days. Yes's summer tour was cancelled. It is unclear what the long-term implications are for Anderson or to what degree his future touring will be curtailed, but he did return to live work in summer 2009. The Jun 2008 press release from Yes said:

Jon Anderson was admitted to the hospital last month after suffering a severe asthma attack. He has now been diagnosed with acute respiratory failure and was told by doctors this weekend that he needs to rest and not work for a period of at least six months or suffer further health complications.

On US radio in Jul 2008, Alan White talked of how Jon's wife Jane told him that Jon was "dead" for two minutes before being revived. Jon's daughter, Deborah, blogged in Jun about what she described as her father's "near death experience":

Months have passed with so many experiences unfolding... the most poignant being the near loss of my father a few months ago. He suffered a huge asthma attack which led to him collapsing and being rushed to the hospital with his wife, Jane, by his side. Within hours my brother flew from London, I from Chicago and My sister drove up from LA to be with him. In the moments of his time in the ICU, my brother, sister, Jane and I would be with him as he slept in an unconscious state for several days, hold his hands and through meditation send him so much healing love and light. [...]

My father recovered and was home before the weeks end. We were all relieved and happy to see him scratch his head in the usual manner. Dad was back.

A late Jun 2008 report said Anderson's health was good other than his respiratory problems, but around Sep 2008 he had surgery for gallbladder/liver problems. In a Nov 2008 article, White said, "Jon is slowly recovering. He's had four or five operations, but he wouldn't be ready to go out for eight or nine months. In a Jul 2009 interview, Anderson said he had had 6 operations in 2008. In a Nov interview, Squire said:

Jon Anderson had a series of health problems, and he’s not out of the woods yet. I really don’t know what his prognosis will be – if he’ll be able to do any lengthy tours. [...] Obviously I’m not really a doctor and I can’t tell how Jon will be in the future, but I imagine it will be more limited to doing maybe some individual shows here and there with him. I don’t know if he’ll ever want to do a full-scale tour again.

A message on Anderson's website in Sep 2008 said: "I'm getting so much better with the help of the doctors at Stanford hospital, my ever present angel Janeee, the love of my children Jade, Deborah, Damion, and the powerful love connection with Divine Mother Audrey along with all my friends and fans around the world. [...] I look forward to 2009 for the "Great Work" to come." In an Oct interview with Classic Rock Forever, Anderson said: "As for my health now, I truly feel reborn, it's gonna take some months before I can do shows, but my dreams are coming true." Reports in Jul said Anderson was back doing some limited work in his studio. R. Wakeman in Sep stressed Anderson's fragile condition. In the Summer 2008 RWCC Newsletter (sent Oct, but seemingly written before Sep), Wakeman said Anderson "is making good progress and not only is he gently exercising his voice again, but is now also very aware that he is not immortal!!" In an Apr 2009 radio interview, Wakeman said, "Jon's been really quite ill [...] He's had pancreatitis and other quite severe problems, but he's well on the road to recovery."

From Oct 2008, while reportedly not yet ready to record final vocals properly, Anderson was recovered enough to record some demos. The first new recordings by Anderson to be aired since May 2008 appeared in the form of an edit of several demos done with Steve Layton; and a demo entitled "Blessings of Water" with Tom Curiano (briefly available on his MySpace page). A report from a collaborator in late Feb 2009 said, "He's looking great, getting fit, feeling good. His voice is still on the mend, but other than that he's feeling fine." He has now returned to live performance with a European tour this summer—see below. In a Jun 2009 interview published in Polish, Anderson is quoted as saying, "Teraz czuję się odświeżony i gotowy na kolejne 30-40 lat pracy." ("Now I feel refreshed and ready for the next 30-40 years of service.") In Polish radio interview the same month, Anderson said, "I was very sick last year [2008]. And I was only singing [i.e. started singing again] two months ago, three months [...] It's very impossible for me to tour on the big scale [with Yes], so that's why I come just for a show here [in Poland]." In another Jul 2009 interview, he said, "Not only am I no longer ailing, but I'm healthier than ever!" The article continues:

“I started singing again in about February or March [2009] and I feel better these days, even younger.”

There came a point when Jon thought he might not perform again.

“I had the feeling that I may do more composing. I can always make music and I was inspired to evolve.”

“I’ve written concertos for guitar and violin.” [...]

“When you go through a serious illness, you need to see if you can perform again, so I’m doing about one show per week. It’s a lot less of a hassle and it’s a kind of rebirth for me.”

[...]

“[...] After my illness, the voice is better than ever.”

[...]

“Everything stopping while I was ill made me realise things, I didn’t even go into my studios for five months, but eventually I went in and started again.”

Anderson withdrew for health reasons from a festival in Brazil over concerns about pandemic influenza, although the festival organisers argued that there was no particular reason for alarm in Brazil. A letter from Anderson's medical team reads:

Most significantly, Mr. Anderson is still recovering from 2 separate rather lengthy hospitalizations. One of these necessitating the need for an assisted breathing device, and both hospital stays have had a negative, taxing affect in his immune system.

[...] I am of the medical opinion that Mr. Anderson should avoid any regions or areas of the world that pose a risk for exposure to the so-called swine flu.

I believe that such exposure could potentially jeopardize his health.

(I presume these two hospital stays refer to events in 2008.)

At Anderson's 7 Nov 2009 Canadian show, he said that he had been in hospital for 2 days before the show, had nearly cancelled the show and was only discharged at 3pm that day. He appeared to be having some ongoing problems during the show. Local, but unconfirmed reports, say he had acute pancreatitis, which he reportedly had previously in 2008. Another report suggests he was still ill at his 15 Nov show in Santa Barbara, CA.

Overview of the direction of Anderson's career
Central to Anderson's future plans has been the question of whether he will have an ongoing relationship with Yes or not. Squire/Howe/White are touring without him. While Anderson and Squire had talked about a reunification in 2010, it now seems that Anderson is unlikely to re-join the band any time soon—see on Yes news page. Anderson appears to be focusing on his solo career and some other collaborations, but it is unclear how his protracted ill health has effected plans.

In a Mar 2006 article, Anderson explained, "When I look back at the some of the artists I've met over the years, they're most creative [later in life]. Whether they're commercial is not the point. They're creative around 60 or 70 years old [...] there is that delicate balance of getting older and wiser and more in tune with your creative self." Anderson has talked about his current and future plans in a number of interviews: while it is hard to join up all the dots, perhaps often reflecting how the plans being described are still in flux, four broad themes had emerged, but it is as yet unclear how what impact his health problems may have:

Anderson has been keen to tackle a substantial backlog of projects and musical ideas. In a Jan 2005 Rockline interview, he said his new year's resolution was "to finish all the songs and projects I've started and not finished for the last twenty years." In a circa May 2004 JamBase interview, he said, "I just got in a trunk full of songs I've written over the years and there must be a thousand songs there. [...] I was wondering what am I doing [with all this music]. And this thought came to me: I better start. I better get on with it." In the Mar 2006 article, Anderson discusses various projects that he has started over the last few decades, saying, "I want to get [those] finished and get ready for the coming next few years because I think these are the best years of my life coming up." In a Mar 2008 interview, Anderson is quoted as saying: "I'm always working on one or two or three things. I've got to finish this stuff, but there's time. I've got another 20 or 30 years left." He is going about this in a number of ways, including The Lost Tapes and other archival releases, re-visiting his "Chagall" musical and what seems to be his main musical project, a sequel to Olias of Sunhillow, The Songs of Zamran: The Son of Olias.
Anderson is keen to use DVD and other technology. For example, in the interview for JamBase, Anderson commented: "DVD is really where we're going, visual music, visual art, visual everything." His first solo DVD release was "Tour of the Universe". His methodology also includes greater use of the Internet and he has been talking about doing live webcasts from his home studio. In an Oct 2005 interview, he said, "The modern way of making music is not the same as it was thirty years ago. There aren't the record companies interested, so you've got to make your own website. And that's what I'm doing, is creating my own broadband system, so that I will do some concerts next year [2006] just straight to broadband and they'll go all over the world. Whoever wants to download them, they can." In a Nov 2005 interview and another in Dec 2005, Anderson describes similar plans, also talking about these live webcasts being interactive with the audience able to send him messages. The aforementioned Mar 2006 article also refers to a CD-ROM "that will incorporate original music and philosophies that have shaped him as an artist." He hopes to start transmitting solo shows from his own studio, presumably over the Internet. He blogged in Jul 2007: "i hope to be transmitting shows from my studio in October [2007] [...] it will be fun , singing YES songs old and new....Jon & Vangelis songs....Andy/Waky [Anderson & Wakeman] songs.....talking about projects....the world news...singing new songs from ZAMRAN [see below]". In an early Feb 2008 NftE interview, Anderson said, "I love to experiment, and I'm working on…I'm doing some podcasting next month, and I got my podcasting system". These projects have yet to start however.
Some of Anderson's recent projects generally involved a solo approach to making music: so, as with how Olias of Sunhillow was made, Anderson performing, recording and producing the material all by himself. However, he generally seems to have moved most recently to collaborative models.
Meanwhile, Anderson has also embarked on a large number of collaborations. In a Mar 2008 interview, he said, "I'm doing a zillion things with the Internet and with a dozen musicians around the world on a dozen projects." In another, he said, "I've got about 20 people around the world I've been working on and off with for over a year now. Your backyard now is the Internet." These typically involve both the collaborators working on Anderson's demos of the various projects described below (including, in particular, multiple people working on orchestrations) and Anderson adding to material from the collaborators.

This period of activity, planned to continue over several years, was being loosely referred to as 'The Big If'. Some earlier references were to an album to go by that name, but subsequent reports suggested multiple releases, probably DVDs, and live shows over a number of years. In comments while on tour in Sep 2005, Anderson talked of four CDs released over a 10-year period. In early Oct 2005, in comments to French fan club Nous Sommes du Soleil, he described 'The Big If' as five DVDs over a 10-year period. There has even been talk of a computer game. In Jun 2009, he said on his Facebook page, "now I can get on with the 'Big If'....which means 'all the dreams I want to realise".

New releases
Anderson has been working on multiple projects (detailed below), but timelines are unclear. Some new recordings have appeared: although there Anderson has not released a new album of late, various new pieces have emerged on online, on digital download or as bonus tracks. He released a 1-track single, "Music is God" (Mi5 Recordings), in digital form. He has been playing live this piece live, where it is known under the longer title "Music is the God of the World (Have Guitar will Travel)". He then released a music video through iTunes called "Never Ever". This is the same piece debuted on his recent solo touring and known as "Under Heaven's Door".

A re-release of 3 Ships (see below) includes two new tracks: "Give Hope" and "Ray of Hope". As "Give Hope 2007", the former was previously to be heard on Anderson's MySpace page. "Give Hope" was also released as a digital-only single in Nov 2009 on Opio Media.

Someone only known by their Yesfans.com username as Revolution9 has been collaborating with Anderson. In Nov 2009, he said on Yesfans.com that, "I'm holding onto a CD that was given to me by a label doing business with Jon. I've been asked to do design work for the CD." He went on to describe the CD as, "it's very cool. Signature Anderson in both concept and execution. Very polished, very ambient." What album this is, I do not know.

In an interview with German magazine Eclipsed in late Nov 2007, Anderson said he would be releasing 6 albums on his own label in 2007 that will be available in selected stores or for download ("Ich habe auf eigenem Label 2007 satte sechs Alben veröffentlicht, die man sich in ausgesuchten Laden kaufen oder downloaden kann."). He goes on to describe these as "Ethno-Music" influenced by different world cultures ("Eine Art Ethno-Musik, die von den unterschiedlichsten Ecken dieser Welt und ihren Kulturen geprägt ist."), but that it is not for classical Yes fans ("Es ist nichts, was dem klassischen Yes-Fan gefällt, dafür ist es zu wenig symphonisch."). I presume he is referring to his Opio label on Voiceprint and is including re-releases: Voiceprint re-released 3 Ships and had two more re-releases in early 2008 (see below) followed by a new release (possibly of archival nature) in From Me to You, part of The Lost Tapes collection, in the middle of 2008.

Anderson has made a number of MP3s available for free on his MySpace page. These have changed over time, but have included new recordings of "Time and a Word" and "Give Love Each Day"; and various new pieces. Recent live material (see below) has also been included. 2007 began with "Give Hope 2007" and an instrumental, "Relaxadagio". Further new pieces in 2007 included "Thirteen", "Third", "Songbirding" and "Three", while currently there is "PEACE". Further pieces are on his Facebook page, including a pieces called "Heaven" (dur. 9:33), "Hey Ride" (2:22) and "Spirit Grounding" (music performed by Rich Goodhart, recorded ~Sep 2009). There is also a collection of pieces under the label "Mystery of Music", some of which are prior releases, but some of which seem to be new.

Buy MP3 from Amazon (US):

Solo appearances
Anderson had talked on Facebook of "maybe some shows on the [US] east coast at the end on August". He has also tweeted about playing Carnegie Hall, New York in Aug, but Carnegie Hall is closed throughout that month. These dates as such did not materialise, but in Jan 2010, Anderson said on his Facebook page:

I will be singing with the Cleveland Youth Symphony and Chorus in May....touring the east coast in April, still trying for Carnigue [sic] Hall, yes, I'm practicing.....

Anderson means the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, with whom he has performed before, and the show, entitled 'State of Independence' is on 24 May with a set of Yes and Anderson solo material.

Anderson plays a 7-show tour in Mar/Apr of Canada and the US east coast. There are rumours of European dates in summer 2010.

Anderson returned to live performance in summer 2009 following his severe asthma attack in May 2008. He played a few new songs. These have been described under a number of different names; I've tried, where possible, to connect the different references. One of the new songs ("No Point", a.k.a. "There are Doors") is based on the chords of "Richard".

His first show back, a warm-up for the Have Guitar Will Travel tour, was in Jun in Grover Beach, CA celebrating his wife Jane's birthday. This was a one-man show, along similar lines to his Tour of the Universe shows (see next section), but with 3 new songs. He played 2 sets, of about 35 and 45 minutes respectively with a 20 minute intermission, using acoustic guitar, a Yamaha electric piano and a three-stringed Chinese instrument (possibly a sanxian). Set list: "Yours is No Disgrace", "Long Distance Runaround" (aborted), "Time and a Word" (reggae style, also incorporating "She Loves You" by The Beatles), "Sweet Dreams", "Never Ever" (a.k.a. "Under Heaven's Door"), "I'll Find My Way Home", "Unbroken Spirit of Mine" (new song; written with Jan Kantor (spelling uncertain) about Anderson's period of ill-health), "Wonderous Stories", "Owner of a Lonely Heart"; intermission; "Piano Medley" ("Set Sail"/"Close to the Edge"/"Marry Me Again"/"The Revealing Science of God" intro), "Long Distance Runaround", "And You and I" (excerpt), "Starship Trooper" (excerpt), "No Point", "This is (Buddha Song)", "I've Seen All Good People", "Roundabout", "Happy Birthday to Jane", "Soon". The audience was about 200 people.

A low-intensity schedule covering a number of European dates followed; Anderson described it on Facebook as "more like a vacation, with one show every week", with he and Jane basing themselves in Paris for a period and then he will "pop out" to play a number of shows. In a Jun 2009, Polish radio interview, asked about Yes, Anderson said, "The Yes group is touring with, er... somebody who looks like me and sings like me when I was 30. [...] I was very sick last year [2008]. And I was only singing two months ago, three months [...] It's very impossible for me to tour on the big scale, so that's why I come just for a show here [in Poland]." The first date was Warsaw, Poland in Jun 2009; attendance ~875. The set appears to have included everything played at the Mongo's show, plus the addition of "Polonaise" and 2 more new songs, "Music is the God of the World (Have Guitar will Travel)" (a studio version of this new song is available here on streaming audio) and "Count Your Blessings". His version of "Roundabout" had an intro, possibly taken from "Concerto Uno". "Under Heaven's Door" and "Count Your Blessings" were played on the three-stringed instrument.

He played the Colours of Ostrava festival (11 Jul) in Ostrava, Czech Rep., with a similar set. Two Italian dates followed, then 3 UK dates: Southend-on-Sea on 25 Jul (attendance ~300-400, including Rick Wakeman), Northampton on 1 Aug and Liverpool on 2 Aug. The Northampton show had an audience of ~600-700; set: "Yours is No Disgrace", "Long Distance Runaround", "Sweet Dreams", "Time and a Word", "Under Heaven's Door", "I'll Find My Way Home", "Show Me", "Music is the God of the World", "Wonderous Stories", "To the Runner" excerpt, "No Point", "Nous Sommes du Soleil", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Sound Out the Galleon" excerpt (on piano), "Set Sail"/"Close to the Edge"/"Marry Me Again"/"The Revealing Science of God" intro, "Starship Trooper" (excerpt), "And You And I" (excerpt), "Count Your Blessings", "Your Move", "Tony and Me", "This is (Buddha Song)", "State of Independence", "Roundabout", "Soon". The Liverpool show was filmed; one fan was told that this was for a documentary about Anderson (see below). The set was 2 hours long, including a 15 min. intermission. The set was very like that in Northampton, but also included "Unbroken Spirit of Mine".

An appearance at hrad Devín (Devín Castle), Bratislava, Slovak Rep., followed on 15 Aug. Anderson performed a solo set (in no particular order): "Yours is no Disgrace", "Long Distance Runaround", "Roundabout", "Your Move", "Starship Trooper" (excerpt). He then performed with a band led by Peter Machajdík (keys); set (in no particular order): "Count Your Blessings", "Nous Sommes du Soleil", "Music is God", "I'll Find my Way Home", "Polonaise", "State of Independence", "And You and I" (abbreviated arrangement), "Close to the Edge" and "Sadness of Flowing" (excerpt; from Machajdík's album, Namah); encore: "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Soon". The band included Machajdík (keys), Miki Skuta (ex-Capella Istropolitana; piano), Juraj Burian (ex-Klobása; guitar), Oskar Rózsa (Marian Varga; bass), Martin Valihora (ex-IMT Smile, ex-Midi, ex-Prúdy; drums), Eugen Prochac ('cello), Jozef Luptak ('cello), Jan Slavik, Marian Varga and Prazsky Vyber II. Three tracks ("Count Your Blessings", "I'll Find My Way Home", "Close to the Edge") were broadcast on the Slovak national TV channel in Nov 2009. In an Aug 2009 interview, Machajdík quotes Anderson as saying he wants to continue working with this line-up of musicians, who he said played at least as well as Yes, and he would like to do a tour with them in 2010. Anderson and Machajdík are planning further collaborations (see below).

'Jon Anderson & Friends' were to appear on 12 Sep at the Festival Música do Mundo (MySpace page) in Três Pontas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. However, Anderson has now withdrawn for health reasons over concerns about pandemic influenza. The organisers hope to invite Anderson to 2010's event. A letter from Anderson's medical team is described in the section on his health above. The festival is partly in honour of Milton Nascimento (MySpace page; ex-Clube da Esquina, worked with Jon Anderson, Wayne Shorter, Peter Gabriel, Duran Duran, Paul Simon) and he and Anderson were expected to perform "Amor Real" and possibly "Estrelada" together. Anderson was to be play some songs with Ritual and Otmaro Ruiz (worked with Jon Anderson, John McLaughlin, Steve Winwood, Chester Thompson; keys). Ritual are Eduardo Del Signore (worked with Nascimento, Trevor Rabin, Vangelis, Dionne Warwick; bass), Freddy Ramos (worked with Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman; guitar), José Luis Pérez (drums), all three of whom have worked with Anderson.

Two Nov Canadian dates followed: Winnipeg, Manitoba on 3 Nov and Edmonton, Alberta on 7 Nov (where the set was ~45 min.s). A Californian date followed: Santa Barbara, 15 Nov. Set: "Yours is No Disgrace", "Long Distance Runaround", "Sweet Dreams", "Time and a Word", "Under Heaven's Door", "I'll Find My Way Home", "I've Seen All Good People", "Nous Sommes du Soleil", "Starship Trooper", "Unbroken Spirit of Mine", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", piano medley: "Set Sail/Close to the Edge/Children of the Light/Marry Me Again/The Revealing Science of God", "And You and I", "Count Your Blessings", "Music is God", "Tony and Me", "State of Independence"; encore: "Roundabout", "Soon".

Tour of the Universe—DVD, live album and tour
Several releases have come from Anderson's solo touring, notably Live from La La Land (OPIOVP02-CD), a 2CD recording of a 2005 US solo show, and "Tour of the Universe" (Region 0, Classic Pictures Entertainment DVD7045X (PAL)/DVD7045XNTSC (NTSC)), a live DVD recorded at XM radio in 2004. Having been originally released in the UK, the latter was released in the US/Canada in Feb 2009.

Anderson has been using visual backdrops on his tours, including material by artist John S Banks. Those visuals appear on "Ritual Path", a new DVD from Banks, including a guest appearance by Anderson—see details below. Further live DVDs are planned. In an interview circa Apr 2006, Anderson said, "By the end of this year [2006] I'll record a new DVD of a totally new show." It's unclear whether this happened as planned. Talking further about the new songs he's played, Anderson continued, "Some of the new songs are based on a project that I am sort of slowly discovering over the next two or three years. I've written about five or six other songs this year [2006] - now I have about a dozen songs for next year [2007]. For the next five or six years I want to put together about four or five DVDs of new songs plus old Yes songs and songs of Vangelis that I've never actually done before and songs of Yes that I've never recorded before, which should be nice to do." As for where these DVDs will be recorded: "I'm going to do it here at home. I have my studio all ready to do it. [...] I'm actually going to try to do it on the Internet LIVE." A Mar 2006 article reported Anderson was archiving performances for future release. Anderson says, "We actually filmed a concert in Poland [probably the 11 Sep 2005 show], a concert in Paris and a concert in Brazil. They're all sitting here, but I haven't looked at them yet because there are so many things I gotta do!"

In a Feb 2004 Delicious Agony interview, Anderson talked about not recording his new songs on a studio album, but continuing to tour the new material and releasing a series of DVDs; he suggested then that it will take about three DVDs. In an interview later that month with Rockline, he spoke of having solo shows for the next five years planned and affirmed plans for DVDs thereof. Comments while on tour in Mar 2004 fit in with these ideas of no studio recordings, concentrating on touring and multiple DVD releases. "I think I'll release five DVDs over the next eight years," Anderson said in a Dec 2005 interview with Anil Prasad of Innerviews. "I have to space them 18 months apart to have the animation be created. The packages may contain both a DVD and a CD of the audio."

Studio solo work
Anderson has described various projects, including The Songs of Zamran, a sequel to Olias of Sunhillow covered in its own section below. The new songs played on Anderson's earlier solo tours were associated with a possible album called The Big If. In the earliest reports, The Big If was called Solo Singing—Songs from the Spirit Game, seeming to be connected with plans for a computer game. By Jun 2003, Anderson had approx. 24 songs partly written for The Big If, including "The Big If", "Summerlight", "Tony and Me", "Those Days", "White Buffalo", "Tiger, Tiger", "This Is (Buddah Song)", "Don't Think Twice" and "Father Sky". ("Show Me", recorded by Yes, was also linked with The Big If.) Anderson has been working on these songs, performing (nearly all on MIDI guitar and keys), recording and producing the material on his own.

Visuals are important to the project(s). To quote Anderson (circa May 2003): "I want to create a very freeform album based entirely on a surround sound concept with video and strong imagery tied directly to the music. Movement is very important to music, and to the future of music." Early reports described an associated computer game with interactive music called "The Spirit Game", for which Anderson has been developing ideas for some years. He was working on the game with Sierra Studios (who did the game "Homeworld"), then put out a call for game developers to work on the project, but nothing more has been heard along those lines. More recent comments have not been clearly linked to discussion of The Big If: in an interview published Jan 2004, Anderson said, "I've also been working on the idea of creating a video game. I want to be in video games because it's the future of our world, in more ways than one". In the Dec 2005 interview by Anil Prasad, Anderson said, "I'm trying to build a framework of a video game because it's a way for young people to connect with what I'm doing." In a 2003 interview for iO Pages, Anderson said there was more to The Big If than just an album and referred to an associated computer game based on Olias's story (so, presumably, related to The Songs of Zamran).

"The Big If" material reportedly has some sort of theme running through what has been written already and future planned material, although the precise nature of that remains unclear. In an interview published in Jan 2004, Anderson described the album as being an hour long song cycle. Anderson has also talked about writing more autobiographical lyrics, like "Tony and Me" about his brother, while an Oct 2003 interview reports a slightly different slant:

His next solo album, Anderson says, will consist of long musical pieces with lyrics based on his observations of and relationship with the natural world.
"I think the lyrics I've been writing have been close to the first albums but more refined," he says. "I think that more than anything, I come from the hippie world of peace, love and forgiveness. [...] I'm working more in the spiritual sense of being."

Zamran—Son of Olias and other Olias-related projects
The Songs of Zamran or Zamran—Son of Olias is a project encompassing several planned releases, including CDs, a videogame and possibly DVDs. It is a sequel to Anderson's debut solo album, Olias of Sunhillow. "I did an album some years ago called Olias of Sunhillow where I locked myself in the garage and learned all these instruments and created a solo album and I'm now back on that journey," Anderson said in a Dec 2005 interview with Anil Prasad of Innerviews. "It's called the Songs of Zamran: The Son of Olias. I've written the story, the concept, I'm working on the music [...] the ammunition is coming through the MIDI guitar plus some of the modern electronic stuff." In Feb 2007, Anderson said to a fan that he has 3 hours of recordings for this project to go through, while at a Mar 2007 show, he said he was working on the project "right now" and that it would span about 5 CDs. In a blog entry in Jul 2007, Anderson wrote about live shows in Oct which would include "singing new songs from ZAMRAN, the videogame, which will be coming to you 2008," although neither the live shows nor a 2008 release happened. At a Jul 2009 show, Anderson talked about "4 albums worth" of material. In a Jul 2009 interview in Czech, Anderson said of new material he was performing live:

The new songs are from my new project, a very extensive one. I have been working on it for five years and it should be a five hour piece. It may be released this year, maybe next year, and it is a monothematic project, which is very spiritual, there is a lot of joy, happiness, and love in it. [Original Czech: Nové písně jsou z mého nového projektu, velmi obsáhlého. Pracuji na něm přes pět let a mělo by jít o čtyřhodinový kus. Možná vyjde letos, možná příští rok a jedná se o monotématický projekt, který je velmi duchovní, najde se v něm mnoho radosti, štěstí, lásky.]

That is, the 4-album project should come to fruition in 2009 or 2010. (If anyone can do a proper translation, please e-mail me—thanks.) In a Jul 2009 interview, Anderson said, "I'm working on a new album and I've been working on the story of Zamran, the son of Olias for three years and it's already three albums long. The potential is enormous and some of it may come out next year [2010]."

What began as very much a solo project, with Anderson doing everything as on Olias..., has now turned into a more collaborative project. In late 2008, Anderson asked Stephen Layton, with whom he has been collaborating on other projects, to be involved in the production of Zamran—Son of Olias. In Aug 2009, Layton said of the project on Yesfans.com: "if you think there's been a lot of light weight material from Jon of late... wait for Zamran...... the prog faithful are going to be over the moon! We're talking one song being an album side again and I'm working on a few of them. This stuff will blow you away!" Several other Zamran collaborators have been identified since: see below. Layton said in Dec 2009: "the Zamran songs we have done run to over 90 minutes material that is quite astonishing and I hope these songs reach the publics ears next year [2010]. These songs will not disappoint!" For a brief period in Dec 2009, a Zamran piece entitled "Ocean Tribe" could be heard on Anderson's Facebook page. In Jan 2010, Anderson talked on Facebook of "realising Zamran asap.....it's lot of music, just tring to find the correct 'order of the universe'."

In Jul 2009, Anderson unveiled a logo for the project: see here. Working on designs and art for the album is Steven Kelso, with his main job to date being the design of Dyerexus: The Zamran Glider. Kelso introduced himself on Yesfans.com in Sep 2009 saying:

Jon has been working on this project for some time now and I am only one part of it. From what he tells me it is still a work in progress with many people involved. There is no set date for official release but, I think when he is ready it will be an awesome package that all of you would love to have in your collection.

In a Jul 2005 interview, asked what he was currently up to, Anderson replied, inter alia, "working with this dude 'Chris at his Polish Animation company and A Canny dude in Scotland, and Brad in South Bend .....and this guy John Banks who is perfect for my stories etc.........all these guys are very happening in the Art world..a lot of this work is based on the next 'OLIAS' saga..." (Anderson has also been working on other projects with John Banks; see below.) In a Dec 2005 interview for Delicious Agony, Anderson said he was working on "the next 40 minutes of new music, which is the beginning of maybe 6 episodes of the return of, not Olias, but the son of Olias, who's Zamran." In that interview, Anderson describes having written a story outline of about 20 pages. He again talked about working with animators on the project. Anderson put out a call on his website for animators: "Jon Anderson is seeking talented animators to help him with one of his upcoming solo projects, which he describes as a "return to Olias". If you are an animator capable of producing professional-quality 3D and graphics animation, this may be an opportunity to gain international exposure for your work." In the Jan 2005 Rockline interview, Anderson said he was working with six animators on a project, presumably the same one.

The relationship between 'The Big If' and The Songs of Zamran is complex. In a post to his MySpace page in Aug 2006, Anderson said: "All this new work has been evolving for many years under the title, "the Big If". Eventually it will be known as, "The songs of Zamran". (Son of Olias)." However, other comments have suggested that 'The Big If' or elements of it have a separate existence to The Songs of Zamran. Anderson has long talked about a sequel to Olias of Sunhillow, both in the sense that Anderson is playing all the instruments again but also in terms of continuing the story. In a Feb 2005 interview, Anderson said he's been working on the project for two months and that it will take "two or three years to finish it". In an Oct 2005 ProgRockRadio.com interview, Anderson said, "I'm starting next year [2006] with the second installment of that idea, so for the next two or three years I'll be doing sort of the Return of Olias and the Songs of Zamran, which is the son of Olias and the next step in the evolvement of the planet." (In reported remarks to a fan in 2004, Anderson described the Olias project as actually a prequel to Olias of Sunhillow, although that seems incompatible with the repeated references to a son for Olias.) In his Aug 2004 MSN Chat, Anderson said: "I'm working on trying very hard to piece together this large jigsaw puzzle of music that I've been working on for the last 10 years. It will become, hopefully, a DVD or a series of DVDs. It's a lot of music, it will happen. It's Olias' Return." In a late 2003 interview in iO Pages, Anderson said the project would not be finished for three years (so, 2006). He has also said that the album is planned as the first in an ongoing series and, in Jun 2003, "If I do it right, this project will just continue, and it'll be the next ten years or so of my life"; "In my head I can see and understand everything about this project and how the stories should be told, but to put it all down in the proper order is a challenge."

Interviews going back some years refer to this/these project(s). In one from around Oct 2001, Anderson said: "I've been working on this piece of music for a year now [...] I did [...] "Olias of Sunhillow" where I performed all the music, and I'm getting back to that place again." Asked whether this would represent a sequel to Olias..., he continued, "Yeah, I'm trying to figure it out as we speak. It has a lot to do with the mysticism that surrounds us. We're going to go through a period now, because of the Lord of the Rings movie coming out. There will be a lot of interest in the mysticism of life and things like that." In a NftE interview seemingly done in 1999, Anderson said: "I've been working on [a] project for a couple of years and that's going to be the next one. It's going to take me another year to fulfill what it is and figure it out and then I think I want to record everything myself, like the Olias album. I want to go back to that point in time and reinvent that whole idea of a pure solo album and do it that way."

Anderson is also collaborating with author Willow Polson to turn Olias of Sunhillow into a full-length fantasy novel. They are also considering the option of a graphic novel. Polson posted to Yesfans.com in Jul 2007 that, "Basically, I'll be the main author, but will be consulting with Jon at length to develop the details of the world and story he created [...] I will also be presenting this project to the major fantasy publishing houses at Comic-Con (San Diego) at the end of the month, so stay tuned for more info." She continued, "This will be a lengthy journey... don't look for an actual book you can hold and buy for probably 2 years. At least a year to write, maybe more, then the whole selling/editing/production process. We're hoping to get either Roger Dean or David Fairbrother Roe for the cover art." (Roe (worked with Anne McCaffrey) did the artwork for the original album.)

Other solo projects
Violin concerto, For Children Yet to Come for choir and orchestra, and a rap project
Anderson has talked about dance music projects. In a Mar 2008 interview, Anderson said he is working on, according to the article, "various solo projects that incorporate trance and dance music." Another article the same month described him as "cooking up some dance music he plans on sending free of charge to clubs; working on an opera based on the Brazilian novel "The Alchemist"; and writing songs for an upcoming Yes album and tour." A third article that month says Anderson is "now creating a concerto for strings with arranger Bill Kirkpatrick" (this is distinct from his guitar concerto) and "a full-length work for choir and orchestra called For Children Yet to Come." Anderson is quoted: "I have some trance-dance music that I'm doing, and rap-hop which I wrote 18 years ago is coming through again." References to dance and trance may be to a collaboration with Fritz Heede (see below). The choral and rap projects are described below.

In an Oct 2009 interview, Anderson said:

I have a violin concerto with my friend, Bill. It's a wonderful story about a street violin player who finds a big case in a dumpster when he was looking for food. Inside it has a crystal violin and when he plays it, it transports him to a different place and time in the world. I have a few things I'm going to finish up in the next year [2010]. One is an opera about The Alchemist. Wonderful book.

At the end of 2009, a piece called "Violin Stories" (6:16) was uploaded to Anderson's Facebook page; Anderson described it, "Part Five of a violin concerto/dance work orchestrated by Bill Kilpatrick", and then went on, "the violin work is from an old 13th century story, about a street musician in Tibet who finds a sacred crystal violin, that acts as a 'time machine', and takes him to the 'seven' tribes".

In a Mar 2008 interview, Anderson said, "I'm very interested in theater and have been writing operas and theatrical pieces over the past 25 years. I'm getting them finished slowly but surely -- they're part of my life experience and they will eventually come through." Another article that month says Anderson is "now creating a concerto for strings with arranger Bill Kirkpatrick [...] and a full-length work for choir and orchestra called For Children Yet to Come." Anderson is quoted: "I have some trance-dance music that I'm doing, and rap-hop which I wrote 18 years ago is coming through again." A Jul 2007 call for collaborators describes choral projects and a "rap opera". As a result of that call, Anderson has been working with Stephen Layton on the rap opera—see below—and many of the projects described in this section and above may be being developed in similar collaborations. Anderson previously referred to a "rap opera" with son Damion. In the 2003 iO Pages interview, he refered to the "rap opera" as something written a decade ago but to be released "soon". Asked in an Apr 2007 interview about other projects, Anderson spoke about choral work:

Over Christmas [2006], the Mormon Tabernacle Choir [link] sang a song of mine from an album called "Change We Must," which I did with the London Chamber Orchestra. The guy that actually conducts and does the orchestration for the choir asked me if I would be interested in writing something, and it turns out I've had this piece of music for about 20 years and it's about singing to the children to come. Singing to the souls of the children in heaven who are gonna come and wake us up and make us realize how beautiful life truly is.

I presume this is the project since called "For Children Yet to Come".

Chinese music project
There had been talk of Anderson being involved with music for 2008's Beijing Olympics. In the Mar 2007 De Telegraaf interview, he talked about singing at the opening ceremony, while at a show the same month, he said he was composing some songs for the occasion. However, these plans came to naught and Anderson was not involved. It was reported that a member of the California Guitar Trio (who have been working with Anderson—see below) said in 2006 that Anderson's next project was going to be Chinese music; and, over many years, Anderson has talked about the possibility of doing Chinese music and/or recording with a Chinese orchestra. Arjan Kiel, one of his many Internet collaborators, has talked about working on a project with Anderson for a worldfair in China in 2010—see below.

In Dec 2009, a piece entitled "Earth & Peace 2010" was briefly available on Anderson's Facebook page; Anderson described it thus: "Earth and Peace was written for the 'Show of Peace' in China 2010 by myself and the music of Austin Haynes [official site; MySpace], with love and new hope for the future..."

Chagall and First Born
Anderson is planning to release "Chagall", his musical about the artist, possibly in a newly recorded version, as well as another piece he wrote around the same time called "First Born" about Daphne Charters' (1910-1991) experiences with fairies. In an Oct 2005 interview with Progressive Rock Radio, he said of "Chagall", "I created a sort of musical interpretation of his life. I should finish it! I know that a demo of the project got [bootlegged] I'm thinking of putting it out as it was originally recorded and finished 18 years ago [...] and then take it on the road as a new version. I'll probably release it next Spring [2006] and then hopefully [in 2007] I'd love to do a one-man show of the idea and that takes a lot of work." In a Dec 2005 interview for Delicious Agony, he talked of working on a "better quality production" of "Chagall" for 2006, but that he was seeking the required permission from Chagall's estate. Prior reports suggested it had undergone significant changes from the version widely bootlegged. In the Dec interview, Anderson talked of "First Born" and then continued, "There's Uzlot. There's about four or five different albums that have never got out there. So over the next couple of years, we're to release them, slowly, so people can build up a sort of library [of his music]." In the Dec 2005 interview with Anil Prasad of Innerviews, Anderson explained:

When I hit 60 I thought "I really gotta get stuff finished." I have the Chagall project which has never been projected onstage. I finished the recording 15 years ago and someone bootlegged it. Now, I'm thinking of putting out the correct version of it in 2006, along with another work I did at the same time which was about the fairy kingdom—the devic world—called First Born. The Fairies of the devic world are the interdimensional light beings that surround us and our world. We live in a world where they say there are eight specific dimensions and we're living in the third dimension, moving into the fourth. The fairies and devic beings are moving from the fourth dimension to the fifth. What's helping us move from the third to the fourth is computer-laser energy

In an interview circa Apr 2006, Anderson said, "I just sent out a CD today to a company about a musical that I've worked on for years, so I've got many different ideas." I presume this is a reference to "Chagall" or "First Born". In an interview in the May issue of Exposé, Anderson said:

I'm going to put that ["Chagall"] out too. I never wanted it to come out, but it's already out there bootlegged. A very bad copy was stolen from my studio so I'm going to put that out along with [...] a sort of children's fairy tale about a musical kingdom. It's kind of beautiful, funny and a little quirky. I'm going to put that out at the same time.

In an Oct 2009 interview, he said:

I got my favorite piece of music of all time- I wrote this musical 20 years ago, all about the life of Mark Chagall. We have been moving forward with getting it to the stage, so you can soon see Mark Chagall: The Musical. [laughs]

Further projects
In May 2004, Anderson did a live orchestral show ('Symphonic Song Cycle - An Evening with Jon Anderson') with Cleveland's 90-piece Contemporary Youth Orchestra, which was announced as forthcoming on DVD. "I did a show with the Cleveland Youth Orchestra [...] and we're going to make it into a DVD," Anderson said in a Dec 2005 interview with Innerviews. "We didn't film it great, but it's not a bad idea to release. They played amazingly and I sang pretty good. The visuals aren't so fantastic, but it'll be a DVD so people can see and hear what was happening—or just hear it if they want to." In Jan 2010, Anderson said he would be singing with "the Cleveland Youth Symphony and Chorus", who I take to be the same group, in May 2010.

In a Mar 2008 interview on Michael Smerconish's Philadelphia radio show, Anderson talks about doing an opera about Hillary and Bill Clinton, although it is unclear how he serious he was.

Anderson wrote and recorded with guitarist/producer Robin Crow an album's worth of material in sessions finishing mid-Jan 2001, but there appear to be no current plans to release the material. Crow brought in Phil Keaggy to record acoustic guitar parts for 6 songs on the project. On a 2004 DVD (Keaggy's "Philly Live"), Crow describes the project as "mostly myself and Jon Anderson... It's mostly just a simple album with acoustic guitar and his vocal." Neal Williams, Keaggy's archivist, wrote in Jan 2002: "I think they are just waiting on Robin and Jon to get it finished! I haven't heard the tracks Philly played on, but he is very pleased with the sessions." In Jul 2002, Anderson said that he hoped to eventually release this album, but that there was so much else that he wanted to work on and put out first. In Dec 2002, someone from robincrow.com reported that there was no release date for the project.

Anderson has been working on a number of other solo projects, but details remain sketchy and it is unclear how different reports and projects interrelate; Record Collector (Jan 2002): "Anderson revealed that he has no fewer than five album projects on the back burner". A late 2003 interview with iO Pages suggested that his next solo album would be a piano and vocals album some time in 2004. Anderson was quoted in Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza in Oct 2001 as saying that he would be releasing a rock solo album in 2002. However, in Record Collector (Jan 2002), he talked of his "next" solo album as being recorded with the London Chamber Orchestra. I remain unclear on how all these relate to each other. As The Big If-related projects are recorded by Anderson alone, they appear to be distinct from the 2002 Record Collector report or the Anderson/Crow project. The rock style reported by Gazeta Wyborcza suggests a different project to Record Collector's with the London Chamber Orchestra. However, the rock album of Gazeta Wyborcza could refer to the Anderson/Crow project. The piano and vocals album might possibly tie in with the London Chamber Orchestra album. Anderson's tendency to talk about projects at early stages of development should be kept in mind. A more recent report describes an unfinished Anderson project from some years back of material in a "rock and roll style", including the song "Sweet Religion", which was performed live in 1993 solo shows.

Collaborations
Anderson and Rick Wakeman have been working together as a duo. 2010 dates are planned and an album has been expected for a while. See details here. A Jun 2006 report said that Anderson had been writing together with Trevor Rabin. Wakeman and Rabin are planning a project together and there is speculation around Anderson's involvement too. See details on main page.

With Fritz Heede and John S Banks
Anderson is collaborating with composer Fritz Heede (MySpace page) and artist John S Banks. Banks has previously worked with Anderson, including visuals for his solo touring, and those visuals appear on a new DVD from Banks and Heede: "Ritual Path" (Artek Images, distr. Koch Entertainment). The DVD, a sequel to their "Illuminated Manuscripts" DVD, is about an hour long. It contains 10 tracks of images to music and an additional 14 environmental loops, all in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. Music is by Heede; Anderson wrote lyrics for and sings on "Come By (Waterfall Ascent/Descent)" (dur. 4:08), used for the short film "Ascent/Descent". An accompanying 14-track soundtrack CD (Aeon of Horus Music/Magical Eye Records) is out. The other vocalists on the project are Heede's wife Nijole Sparkis (singing and co-writing plus loops, on 3 pieces), kaRIN (Collide) and Molly Pasutti (worked with Spock's Beard).

Heede and Anderson have co-written a forthcoming album, Dream Dancing (previously going under the working title of Trance-scendent Dance), with Heede (guitars, piano, sitar, electronics, vocals), Anderson (layered vocal rhythms), Gilbert Levy (ethnic percussion), Suzanne Teng (native flutes), Terry Glenny (violin), Sparkis (choral background singing, vocal arrangements, engineering and possibly some songwriting), Pasutti (choral background singing). Heede described the album to me as "The album will not be traditional trance music (rave) ... it is much more sophisticated. It is groove-based so it will have a natural uninterrupted flow. The songs develop over long arches with Jon sing[ing] a dozen or so layers of pulsing rhythmic chants." The album, with at least four tracks, was expected in 2009 on VoicePrint, billed as by 'Jon Anderson with music by Fritz Heede', but has yet to appear. An accompanying DVD in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound is also planned. This is presumably the project(s) Anderson first mentioned in 2004: in his MSN Chat of Aug that year, he talked about 'trance' music, but seemingly in the context of a Yes project (see under Yes news), while in an interview from circa May 2004, he said:

I was talking to a guy an hour ago about a project I've had in my head all summer [...] I'm getting into trance music [...] Not rave but trance. [...] it's going to be very exotic and it's going to be transforming and transcendental. [...] I heard about this great music from India that lasts seven days. I love that, that it would last so long. And I start thinking, that's what I should do!

Heede, Anderson and an engineer were expected to be mixing the album in Jan 2008. Previously, in Aug 2007, Heede wrote: "Last may I finished mixing my version of the tra[n]ce album. Jon and I then brought in Jamie Dunlap [worked on "South Park"; link] to work on remix versions with more young "hip" dance grooves. Jamie has done some very exciting re[n]ditions".

Anderson has also talked about JS Banks' visuals in connection with his Olias sequel project—see above for details—while in an Aug 2006 post to his website, Heede says, "I'm spending the next few weeks on a little side project with him [Anderson] that I'm not at liberty to discuss right now".

Calls for collaborators
In 2006 and 2007, Anderson's websites requested submissions from people interest in collaborating with him. The first, in Aug 2006, read, "Jon Anderson is looking for fresh talent! Specifically, he seeks Symphonic and World Music keyboard players and orchestrators to contribute to an array of musical projects he is planning." In Jul 2007, Anderson announced on his webpage:

A while back, we posted a message calling on keyboard players to contact us if they were interested in collaborating with Jon. The response was tremendous, and as a result Jon is currently working with a number of excellent musicians on some exciting new musical projects.
Jon [...] is now inviting additional "Symphonic and World Music keyboard players and orchestrators" to submit samples of their work for possible collaboration.

Jon has also started work on three large-scale choral projects and a work he calls a "rap opera", so he has expanded his search to talented choral singers and rap producers as well!

In an interview for the May/Jun 2007 issue of the Classic Rock Society magazine, Anderson talked about the results of the first call:

I was lucky that in November last year I put an advert on my website, 'Keyboard players wanted.' I finished up with 15 really good keyboard players and am now working with somebody in Switzerland, somebody in Italy, somebody in France, somebody in Canada, 3 or 4 guys in the USA, couple of great guys in England. One guy called Neil Campbell [link; MySpace page] and we're writing a large piece of music [...] He's a beautiful musician and we are working on something all about inventions. It's very cosmic music. He's actually playing in Liverpool with a young orchestra and choir; he's just running through it to see how it sounds.

Large numbers of musicians working with Anderson since then have been identified and many more are working outside the public eye. In a Jul 2009 interview in Czech, Anderson talks of working with 25 people around the world (including one in Italy), and I believe the number may be higher. Plans for all these collaborations remain unclear. While some seem to be intended as straightforward bipartite collaborations, Anderson also seems to be working on projects with large numbers of collaborators on each, including an album to be called Piano Works where multiple, different keyboardists interpret Anderson's compositions. Most collaborators identified to date have been keyboardists or orchestrators, but Anderson is also reported to be working on a project with a large number of guitarists (including one in Japan and one in France). Anderson is planning to combine his international collaborations by Internet with his plans for live webcasts: a Dec 2008 article describes a plan where Anderson "is doing this show from his house, where he's doing green screen ... on virtual sets and he's collaborating with musicians all over the world [...] They send in tapes of them playing and then he plays live with those tapes. He's about to launch this."

In many cases, these collaborations have seemed to involve two aspects: the collaborator doing orchestrations/arrangements of demos by Anderson (and, at least in some cases, Anderson appears to be getting different people to arrange the same material); and Anderson contributing lyrics and vocals to music by the collaborator. One example of this is keyboardist Tommy Zvoncheck (MySpace page; ex-Blue Öyster Cult, ex-Public Image Limited). He has re-issued his independent release ZKG with the addition of two bonus tracks (also available digitally on Amazon.com). One of these, "Rain in Florida", is sung and has lyrics by Anderson, a commentary on the Florida ballot controversy in the 2000 US Presidential election. The song can be heard on Zvoncheck's MySpace videos page. Zvoncheck explained: "Our arrangement was for me to orchestrate and arrange a 3 movement orchestral piece for him. In return, he would collaborate with me on a song and said I could do anything I want with it. I completed the task to Jon's satisfaction."

Also working with Anderson via the Internet is Bruce Baldwin (MySpace page) and he sheds further light on the process. Baldwin has orchestrated 7 instrumental pieces for Anderson since Dec 2006 and is continuing work on a vocal piece (as of Jul 2009). Two pieces completed in 2007, "Far Reaching" and "Elizabethan Garden", are arranged for a small ensemble of strings, horns, oboe and percussion, and are available on the collaboration's MySpace page. Baldwin discussed the music on his blog; an extract follows:

[Anderson] told me that he had hundreds of unfinished musical ideas that he wanted a collaborator to help fully realize. [...] the music came, two CDs full. And later on, MP3s in emails. The music was meandering and nebulous like a cloud forming, but there were lovely melodies and intriguing chords lurking in there. Much of it was played on layered-up keyboards.. I had to listen and listen and listen to pick out the individual notes and melodies. Music that Jon sent me later included harp and even vocals. [...]

The final versions include quite a lot of my ideas. [...] I had complete musical freedom to arrange, orchestrate, develop, et cetera. I gave them voice, structure, and harmonic development. But their heart and soul is still Jon's. [...] The majority of the pieces I created using Cakewalk Sonar and Synful Orchestra. A couple of the pieces contain live or electronic percussion [...] and one guitar concerto, on which I played acoustic guitar. [...]

Jon has told me about many ideas he had for this music: films, videogames, webcasts, even a ballet! Jon's a man of many ever--changing ideas. So far I'm not sure what the future of this music is, but [...] I look forward to amazing things.

In a Nov 2009 post to Yesfans.com, he added: "I've worked very hard on a whole lot of music over the last several years, too. I don't know what, if anything, will come of it, but I went into with no expectations. I've done it mainly for the joy of it, and continue to do it, and don't regret a minute of it."

Anderson explained in a Jun 2009 Polish radio interview: "Two years ago [...] I was working with people round the world via the Internet. [...] I had all these people all over the world. And one of these songs, from Zamran, is now five albums of music." He also said he was working with two people from Poland: Jan Kantor (spelling unknown), with whom he has written the piece known as "Unbroken Spirit of Mine" (played live in 2009 and about Anderson's period of ill-health), and someone called Chris from the south of Poland who is working on visuals.

Anderson is working with keyboardist Stephen Layton (ex-The Expression, ex-Like Oxygen). Layton initially worked on Anderson's rap opera, then they wrote material together now planned for a possible band project, and Layton has also been asked to be involved with the production of Zamran—Son of Olias. With respect to the middle project, they have now worked together on over 35 songs, including "Shine Shine Deliverance", which Anderson performed with the School of Rock All-Stars. Several 2007 demos from the collaboration—"Shine Shine Deliverance", "Sacred Balance I-IV", "The Day Before", "Lights Out", "After Today" and "Only"—are or were on streaming audio at Layton's MySpace page. In Nov/Dec 2008, Anderson and Layton wrote at least a further three songs together. On 10 Dec, Layton said "several tracks have been written and guide vocals recorded in the last three weeks" and an edit of these went on Layton's MySpace page as "new jon", among the first recordings aired since his acute respiratory failure. In Jan 2009, Layton briefly put on his MySpace a new song with Anderson, "You Didn't Hear Me". That month, Layton also discussed what material he has made available on MySpace and what he hasn't:

There is a great deal of work I have done for Jon [...] which is distinctly excluded from any publication or promotion at this point. I abide by these conditions and would never use such material for self gain. Then there are the songs that we do "for fun" (Jon's words) and with a song like 'Shine Shine Deliverance' it was Jon's express wish from the moment he finished the song for me to "get it out there!" (Jon's words).

In a late 2008 interview for YesFANZ, Layton talked at length about his work with Anderson. Their collaboration began with Anderson's rap opera:

I received [...] pretty much the content of his entire rap opera [...] I was actually shaking with excitement that day. I thought I’m through, I’ve got the gig, and I’m Jon’s producer. Because, although he has got people working on the orchestrations, they were working off my compositions or expanding my ideas. As the producer I am pretty much expanding the basic ideas. Much of the opera section is Jon’s composition. I was supplying the beats for those [...] I spoke to him over the phone. I said ‘Jon, I think we need the rap section which is kind of a ghetto feel; it is very black, very dark. I think that should be very organic, very dirty sounding, but the opera, I think we should go for a very contemporary electronic beat, very clean, very pristine.’

‘Great idea, perfect’.

So I added very little to the opera except for Kraftwerky kind of simple beat. In some places more like Vangelis where I would add one of those kind of Chariots of Fire ‘duh duh duh’ bass lines. [...] We worked very intensely, very closely probably for about three months.

[...] we got to the end of the assigned work and he said ‘We need six new songs’. He was continuing to elaborate the story. He’d fax me the storyline and he came up with an idea for a bit of comic relief in a character in the story [...] we wrote a song together [...] he is a very funny character, he is one of those recurring light comic relief.

Jon can work extremely quickly [...] I think that is one of the reasons we did work so well together. I work very fast. [...] I could work on maybe three songs a day, send it back to him and he could do a vocal overnight here in his studio and bounce all three back to me the next day with maybe five or six overdubs. This one particular comic character, Jon blew me away because I don’t think anyone in the world would know that Jon Anderson can do one hell of a Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong impersonation. You would not think Jon with that high pitched voice can do that really deep growly voice. [...]

We got to the end of the project and we still needed three or four songs and he said ‘Can you give me some….like we need a love song between this character and that character and it still needs to have this kind of beat.’ So I sent him some basic chord structures, he’d write lyrics to them very quickly, ‘they are just rough but these will do.’ We finished the first draft of the project early this year [2008].

[...]

I am going to have to get some clearance from Jon because I have signed confidentiality agreements on the rap opera so [...] I can’t tell you anything about the nature of the story. Somewhere in between starting and finishing Jon realised that it would make a very good film [...] he seems to be, if not confident, optimistic that he can get this made into a film. Therefore it would be released as a soundtrack rather than as a Jon Anderson solo project. [...] I have probably got maybe three hours of running time just on my computer because some things we’ve let run long. Because at one stage he had a view of just putting it on stage and he said that’s great for choreography. We can extend this section and that can be used for a dance sequence. [...] So which is why as what I think of myself, I might be confabulating my role in the whole thing, as co-producer of the venture, Jon has said that I will want you here when we finish it. Because in its present form, it’s the digital equivalent of two kilometres of unedited tape and none of us are quite sure where to cut and splice

It remains unclear at least in my mind what constitutes a finished product because if it is to be for a stage musical it only needs to be presented in a rough format to be scored [...] He may find that he can’t get the backing for it to go on stage or as a film soundtrack and he might decide to just get fresh vocal performances in because he’s sourced his opera singers, his rappers and he might just bring me in and we’ll tighten the whole thing up and release it either as a double or single CD. Or who knows, the third possibility is that it may fizzle out. I would like to think not

Layton then talks about their subsequent collaborations:

I thought now that is pretty much the end of that. [...] [Then] there was another email [...] ‘Send me some more of those songs with the beats, [...]’ [...] At first I didn’t really know quite what to do. I had a few tracks just lying around which had been discarded by other singers or weren’t to their liking which I thought had potential. And he very quickly wrote some, which were some of the other songs that I had previously [...] on MySpace. There is probably five or six of those which are in a very rough state. [...] none of them had I specifically written for him.

And then [...] I wrote ‘Shine Shine Deliverance’. Now this really grabbed his attention [...] he said ‘You’ve got to release this’. I don’t know where he thinks my connections are, [...] I’m certainly in no position to be releasing anything. But he said, ‘This is a single, we have got to get this out there, but the ending has got to have a gospel choir.’ [...] I don’t know quite where he thought I was going to get a gospel choir from. He obviously was very intent on the idea because I saw on You Tube that when he had the School of Rock together once he had the backing track of Shine Shine Deliverance. He had them singing the backing vocals trying to get them to record it. [...] I think he obviously saw that it wasn’t really happening either because it never went any further than that.

We then had a series of discussions about how would we release this? [...] ‘Are you going to release this as Jon Anderson solo material?’ He said ‘no, no, no no, I don’t see that in my future.’ I don’t know exactly what he meant by that. But I said whatever we call it, it’s your voice and you are the voice of Yes.

[...]

After that point Jon started asking me to write Yes type music. He said ‘Can you give me some lighter, acoustic Yes-flavoured music?’ [...] He said ‘[...] write your music but write the kind of music you would like to see Yes doing now. Pick out everything that’s your favourite and give it to me and I’ll sing.’ Which is what I did with Sacred Balance, I just picked out everything that I felt my perfect Yes song would have [...]

But Jon, before he got a chance to finish it, started having health problems and it’s missing the last vocal section but I’m hoping that it sees its way onto any potential project. [...] We’ve been working on three or four tracks which again he asked me to do them in a Yes style. [...] I kind of reflect on the Time and a Word period as where I see Jon being now. [...] he writes much more rhythmically than melodically. His mind thinks in terms of rhythm first. He places less emphasis on the ebb and flow of the melody than he does on the impact of the beat of what he is singing.

[...] In view of producing Jon in the here and now, I see him more as going back to the simple Jon, the Olias Jon or the Time and a Word Jon where he communicates simple messages in a simple fashion. I don’t think anyone else that he is working with is approaching it like that.

As for progressing to a release of any of this material:

there is my view of it and there is Jon’s view of it. My view is in the realms of the known; Jon’s is in the realms of the unknown. Because Jon just has so many things going on and it causes immense frustration, well it did to me at first and I got used to it, but there are people out there who have worked with Jon who really harbour a good deal of resentment towards him. He has used them for a song and then ignores them for a month or two. And they’ll let him know. [...] I think from what I now know of Jon, when he is very focused on one thing, then that is what he is focused on. When he is on something else you have just got to let him go on to whatever else he is doing. When he is not thinking about me he is not thinking about me and it doesn’t do me any good to email him and chase him because out of the blue he will get in touch with me and I will be the centre of his world for the next two weeks and we will continue working on the material. [...] we probably have sufficient material right now if his voice was up to it that we could finalise. But his voice won’t be anywhere near up to it, I would say probably, and I’m no expert, until mid 2009. [...] I’m not expecting him to place any priority on our project.

Personally I’m pretty sure that the first thing that he’ll want to get finished is the opera project. That’s got, as far as I know, an immense amount of work to do. He has requested for me to be present for future work at his studio. There is only so much we can do via email.

Further material with Anderson appeared for a period on Layton's MySpace page, namely "All is God in Love and Understanding" (a re-working of "Sacred Balance") in Aug 2009 and "We Can Do It". As of Jan 2010, there was a re-worked "Sacred Balance" and "Shine Deliverance".

Anderson was also collaborating with drummer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Tom Curiano. They did 16 songs together in 2007/8 (with "Blessings of Water" and 3 other tracks, Anderson's vocal was recorded circa Nov 2008). Six of these songs are composed by Curiano (including "Lament", "Blessings of Water") with lyrics and vocals from Anderson. Nine are based on demos by Anderson, typically vocals/piano; there is also a piece based on the same demo that Layton (see above) used in "Sacred Balance", but for which Curiano has done a different backing track. In addition, there is a new version of Yes's "Don't Kill the Whale": Curiano also has a MySpace presence as Clearer Companions and that page had his instrumental arrangement to which Anderson is expected to be adding vocals. Anderson was also due to add vocals to a version of "To the Runner" that Curiano describes so: "my "pop" version [...] (with the bridge of "Flight of the Moorglade" inserted, and a Khatru riff here and there), which I call "Run to the Moorglade"."

Various Anderson/Curiano demos have been available for a period at Curiano's MySpace page, a MySpace page dedicated to their collaboration, or on his Facebook page. Pieces have included "Lament", "Animal Life", "Many", "Know Now", "Blessings of Water" and "The Knowing" (parts 1-3), on which Curiano produced and plays all the instruments (except piano on "Animal Life", "Know Now", "The Knowing") and also contributes backing vocals. Another piece on Curiano's MySpace, "Glow", may be used in further collaborative work. Further pieces include "Beginning" (music by Curiano with vocals and lyrics by Anderson), two versions of "How" and "Lover". However, in Sep 2009, asked about progress, Curiano said, "progress has ground to a halt. These are still the same demos from months back. Don't really know what Jon has planned......". In mid-2009, Anderson said of Curiano:

Tom Curiano has been there from the beginning of my quest to reach out to musicians around the world nearly 4 years ago. I just love his enthusiasm for all the music I threw at him over that first year.....I am still working on songs like..'Many'...and 'Know' and 'Knowing',,,'Beginnings',,and many others. He did the best gift for me.....arranging a song 'Raining again'..which eventually I gave to my Son Damion...

In autumn 2007, Alimar did orchestrations of two of Anderson's "musical drafts" for what he described as "a large project [Anderson] was working on". They were then working on a broader collaboration in which Anderson plans to add lyrics and vocals to Alimar's orchestral-style work, including Alimar's piece "Eclipse". In Dec 2009, Alimar uploaded a piece called "Tribal Love", based on his earlier piece "Tribal Wave" to which Anderson has added vocals. Another collaborator is Joe Luca, who describes working on a 40-minute, 9-movement demo of symphonic nature from Anderson. In Jan 2009, he described the work on Yesfans.com:

I started doing symphonic orchestrations for Jon last year [2008] on a multi-movement concept he had. [...]

I'm at the tail end of finishing the 3rd section. [...]

FWIW (and not just because I'm doing it), I honestly feel that when this orchestral suite is done, it would absolutely be worthy of an official recording and release; as well as being performed.

Two further people on Yesfans.com are also collaborating with Anderson: Revolution9 and Glenn (user name composer62). Glenn also talked his collaboration in Jan 2009:

I am also collaborating with Jon. We have been doing so for almost 2 years now. I have been orchestrating some piano pieces he has been sending me and recently (October), he has been providing outstanding vocal lines to songs I am submitting to him. I can only speak for myself, however, I am sure all of "us collaborators" feel priveleged to be working with Jon in whatever capacity it is.

[...] I think it is absolutely fantastic to hear our man sing again at all, considering what he has been through. It seems the themes are almost similar regarding his health and general feelings lately.

French musician Chris Audren (MySpace page) has been working with Anderson since early 2007 on a variety of projects.

Another successful respondents was keyboardist Sorin Voinea (Nicu Alifantis' Zan, ex-Paula Seling, ex-Iris). On his MySpace page, Sorin writes:

In 2006 I was amongst the lucky winners of a web-contest held by Jon, requesting musicians and orchestrators.
So now we're involved together in a vast array of musical projects (it's a long story, really).
I'll post some new tracks when I'll get the approval from Jon & the publishers.
Right now you can listen "The Shape of Things to Come", a track that (for sure) initially had completely other purposes, but Jon kindly co-written and then wrote those beautiful lyrics!
Well... we're both so happy that we can work together and in short time you'll see some "wonderous stories" around!

"The Shape of Things to Come" was an instrumental Voinea had written for Zan, to which Anderson has added lyrics and vocals. Also on his MySpace page, one can hear excerpts from another piece with Anderson called "Aria Sun", which Voinea describes as "a work in progress for the "Love of Earth Mother"" (presumably this is the name of a new album?).

Again from his first call has come a collaboration with composer/producer/orchestrator Marcangelo Perricelli (MySpace page; working with Zoltan Csörsz). Perricelli contacted me in Aug 2008 saying he'd been working with Anderson "for about a year". Perricelli sent Anderson about 20 pieces and Anderson has added vocals to two orchestral pieces that Perricelli composed in Oct/Nov 2007. Perricelli is also orchestrating the first part of an opera of Anderson's; and they are collaborating on some video material. He tweeted in Jul that he was, ""Re-working a song by Jon Anderson. Adding parts." Christophe Lebled (MySpace page) is working on several tracks with Anderson for a future project, again collaborating over the Internet.

Anderson has been writing with John Young (ex-Asia, ex-John Wetton, ex-Fish). Young said in his MySpace blog in Aug 2007:

Jon Anderson and myself are writing together albeit a somewhat long distance affair as Jon has been in Hawaii whilst I soldier on in darkest Bucks. (Isn't e-mail a wunnerful thing).
The results are most enjoyable and I hope that it won't be too long before we can share them with the outside world.

The first fruit of their collaboration is "Sooner", which Anderson sang on his last European solo tour still a work in progress. Young blogged in Nov 2007 that "hopefully other tracks will gradually see the light of day over the coming months." Anderson wrote the lyrics to "Sooner", while the music was a collaboration. Their current studio version of the song can be heard as a streaming audio on Young's MySpace page.

Keyboardist Max Hunt (Awaken, Tantalus, Fish, ex-Fragile) is working with Anderson on a project. On his MySpace blog, Hunt blogged in Nov 2007, "Work is currently continuing on a project with YES frontman Jon Anderson via email." In Sep 2007, Fragile's MySpace blog reported, "Max Hunt has been in touch with Jon Anderson regarding a new project that Jon is planning. Max is currently collaborating with Jon on the early demo stages of the planned project."

"Soldiers of Discipline" is another collaboration with Anderson. It appears on keyboardist Zach Tenorio's MySpace page, recorded with Max Johnson (guitar, bass) and Glenn Johnson (drums). Tenorio previously played with Anderson as part of Paul Green's School of Rock All-Stars. A second song, "Forlolo", followed. Tenorio's band Tin Soldier has also done a song with Anderson, "Time As It Is", available on their MySpace page and on their download-only EP. Tin Soldier are Tenorio (piano, keys, vocals), Manu Laudic (lead vocals, acoustic guitars), Dustin Olyan (lead guitar), Aaron Stern (electric bass), Chris Putt (upright bass, vocals), Curran Mcdowell (drums).

There is a song called "Listen" and sung by Anderson on the MySpace page for The Wychwood Recorder, an Oxfordshire, UK recording studio, from around Dec 2007. This was a collaboration with Andrew Giddings (ex-Jethro Tull), who co-wrote the song and played all the instruments. He explained in Dec 2008:

Jon listened to my instrumental originally called Weightless. He said he'd like to sing on it and sent me audio files of what he sang from California. I then chopped them up in my studio and rearranged them into a new piece based on the original idea, with some time signature changes.
All the music and mixing was done by me in my studio. [...]
Jon has been unwell but we will start work on some more music soon.

Another collaborator is Dan Spollen. He said in May 2009 that, "For the past few months I've been creating music with Jon. We have several tracks, most of which are works in progress and slowly evolving." There is a piece with Anderson entitled "Vocal EXP" on his MySpace page and Spollen said, "Jon has some additional melodic layers for this that will be added eventually." A Yes medley on acoustic guitar by Spollen is on Anderson's Facebook page (as "Going for the One" medley). In Oct 2009, he said, "Jon and I are still working on tunes- one is really coming along well...can't wait to release it."

Ryan Fraley has also been working with Anderson on orchestrations—see on the main page for more on Yes-inspired work by Fraley and the band he co-founded, Wave Mechanics Union. Members of Wave Mechanics Union have produced a big band track for Anderson called "Sweet Jazz". The piece was written "many years ago" by Anderson, and has been arranged by Fraley and performed by Wave Mechanics Union with vocals from Anderson. The recording is for release on an unspecified future Anderson solo album. An excerpt can be heard here. In Nov 2009, Fraley said on Yesfans.com:

I've finished one more arrangement for Jon since this one (not jazz) and discussed at least two other possible ideas with him. As for when / where this jazz tune will be out, I still don't know. Jon seems to take things one day a time.

Another collaborator is Rich Goodhart, whose band Beginner's Mind performed "Soon" live in 2007. To Yesfans.com in early Oct, he said:

All I'll tell you is that I'm collaborating with Jon on some material... some of which may be a part of Zamran... and I've heard things that are intensely deep and inspired... lyrically, melodically, compositionally, spiritually. So much so that I am knocked out by both the power of his voice still, as well as the depth that he can tap into when the elements align.

In Nov, he added: "As one of the many collaborators, I have spoken with Jon directly about his plans, visions, concerns and uncertainty around releasing some of this vast accumulation of music. As with most of us in this business at this time it is nearly impossible to be much sure about anything in regard to releasing music and how best to do it." Goodhart and Anderson's "Spirit Grounding" went up on Anderson's Facebook page in Jan 2010.

Another collaborator is Dennis Haklar, also working with percussionist N. Scott Robinson (MySpace page). Another collaborator is Arjan Kiel in the Netherlands. He blogged in Aug 2009 that, "There are plans that Jon and I will perform next year [2010] in my area called Fryslan. New work and some Yes-classics, all translated into the Frisian language, arranged by me for orchestra and choir." He also says that he and Anderson are "working on an opera for the Chinese worldfair 2010 in Shanghai".

At least one further collaborator is known to be working with Anderson in secret, under a contractual agreement that prevents any discussion of the project. There are multiple further collaborators as yet unknown to the public.

With composer Peter Machajdík
Peter Machajdík's album Namah (Music Fund Bratislava/Musica Slovaca, MAMAH SF 00542131; dur. >70 min.s) is out as a limited edition of 500 copies, and has nearly sold out. Tracks include the 10-minute "Sadness of Flowing", a collaboration with Jon Anderson, who supplied lyrics and vocals. Piano on the track is by Mayuko Kida Takine. (The song is based on a 2002 composition of Machajdík's entitled "Flowing Into the Unknown" from his album Flowing Into the Unknown.) Excerpts from the album, including "Sadness of Flowing", can be heard on Machajdík's MySpace page. The album is available by e-mailing Blue Deep Music at bluedeepmusic@online.de; details also on MySpace. Details in Yescography. Read my interview with Peter Machajdík about the collaboration with Anderson here. Machajdík has done some further work with Anderson, orchestrating some of his songs.

On 15 Aug, Anderson appeared live with a band led by Machajdík (see details above), which will be broadcast on the Slovak national TV channel on 17 Nov 2009. In an Aug 2009 interview, Machajdík quotes Anderson as saying he wants to continue working with this band, who he said played at least as well as Yes, and he would like to do a tour with them in 2010. Machajdík also talked about doing futher work with Anderson: "Budeme spolu robiť niečo s klasickými nástrojmi, ak budú peniaze, tak aj väčšie obsadenie a dlhšie kompozície." That is, something with classical instruments and, finances permitting, larger compositions.

With Glass Hammer
Anderson guests as an additional vocalist on 2 tracks of Culture of Ascent (Arion Records) from Glass Hammer, now out, and is collaborating further with the band. The band is Fred Schendel (keys, programming, acoustic guitar, string arrangements, backing vocals), Steve Babb (bass guitar, keys, percussion, harp, programming, backing vocals), Carl Groves (Salem Hill; lead vocals), Susie Bogdanowicz (lead vocals), Matt Mendians (drums), David Wallimann (electric guitars), Rebecca James (violin), Susan Whitacre (viola) and Rachel Beckmann ('cello), while Eric Parker (acoustic guitar) and the Adonia String Trio (arranged by Schendel) also appearing. Tracks: "South Side of the Sky" (9:24, cover of the Yes song with a new intro by the band; lead vocals by Bogdanowicz, backing vocals by Anderson), "Sun Song" (9:33), "Life by Light" (7:29; lead vocals by Groves, also with Anderson), "Ember Without Name" (16:33; lead vocals by Groves), "Into Thin Air" (19:14), "Rest" (6:30; lead vocals by Groves). The album has a running theme around Mt. Everest and mountaineering. Babb explained to DPRP, "Jon has been sharing musical ideas with us for a couple of years now [...] the first things to come from this exchange will be on our new album!" Glass Hammer collaborator Bethany Warren said in an interview circa Mar 2007:

Fred [Schendel] and Steve [Babb] are BFFs (best friends forever [...]) with Jon Anderson. Well, I'm probably reaching with that statement. But Steve paid a lil' visit to Jon (the two spent plenty of time in the studio talking about music), and the three have been talking for a few years now. Both Steve and Fred are writing with Jon - there are several works they are joint producing as well, from what I've gathered. Jon is something of a big fan of GH work, and the respect is obviously mutual. Both GH guys are huge fans of the work of Yes and Anderson.

In an Oct 2007 interview, Babb was asked how they got in touch with Anderson:

We both, along with Roger Dean, worked with the same promotions company who put us all in touch. From that point forward, it was handled as an exchange of musical ideas via the internet. Last fall I was invited out to Jon’s home and studio in California where we had the chance to talk more in depth about musical ideas. We are currently working with him on some of his newer music, and he was only to gracious to add his talent to our current work.

Glass Hammer have since been playing "South Side of the Sky" live and it appears on their DVD "Live at the Tivoli".

With the California Guitar Trio
"Concerto Uno", also known as "Concerto for Four Guitars and Voice", is a piece by Anderson developed in collaboration with the California Guitar Trio (CGT). The concerto (or concertino) originated as part of Anderson's "Chagall" project, entitled "Paris Dance". It may or may not also be the piece described some while before as "Concerto Tre", following on from "Concerto Uno" (a different piece despite the same name) and "Concerto Due" on Earthmotherearth, but written before them. Paul Richards of the CGT described their first meeting with Anderson in his online diary (8 Dec 2004): "Jon got his classical guitar and began playing through all 3 movements of his guitar concerto. Jon strummed his guitar and sang various melodies, explaining that he wanted the CGT to help him embellish on his basic form. [...] we then listened to a CD that he had recorded of all the basic parts played by Jon on guitar and Synclavier synthesizer." An earlier report said the piece was about 12 minutes long. The California Symphony Orchestra with the CGT premièred an orchestral arrangement of the first movement (arrangement by Stan Funicelli (worked with CGT)) in May 2006 as part of a larger programme; Anderson was not present at the shows. The version with the CSO and more recent CGT performances are in the key of D major, whereas the piece was previously in C# major. The orchestral debut of the first movement (in May 2006) was about 6 minutes long: in the programme notes, Anderson writes that another two movements are "in the works". He was said to be considering adding vocals to the concerto's second movement. In an interview circa Apr 2006, Anderson said the CGT and himself have "three movements done now so we're on the fourth movement." The CGT played the first movement of the concerto live on tour in 2005-6 (some early 2005 dates were with Tony Levin or Levin and Pat Mastelotto (both King Crimson)), as well as their version of "Heart of the Sunrise". Live at the Boulder Theatre (CGT Direct Collectors Series Volume 3) is a live CGT show with Levin including a performance of the first movement, available as a download to buy from the CGT Direct store. In an interview, Richards described the piece thus:

I think it sounds very much like Jon Anderson wrote the music but it does have some Spanish-style influences. If it does eventually become a full-blown concerto I think it will be quite interesting to hear. It’s really in its bare essence, maybe it’s more like a sonata at this point but it has some of those wonderful melodies that Jon is known for.

Anderson had said he would like to write more with the CGT. "Heart of the Sunrise" has been part of the CGT's repetoire since prior to their collaboration with Anderson and, at Anderson's suggestion, they learnt some other Yes pieces and have since played "Long Distance Runaround" live. Bert Lams of the CGT wrote of a Jul 2005 meeting (diary, 13 Jul 2005): "Jon casually played us a few songs and idea's accompanied on his midi guitar; we brought our guitars in and rehearsed the first two movements of Jon's guitar concerto, and an acoustic arrangement of "Long distance runaround" [already by then played live] [...] Tomorrow we will do some recording." Richards' diary (15 Jul 2005) describes developing the guitar concerto and their arrangement of "Long Distance Runaround" and then recording both. It is unclear whether these recordings are for release or demos. At a Mar 2006 live CGT show, Richards said that the CGT and Anderson are planning further live and studio work together. In a Feb 2008 interview, Richards said:

We have been doing some collaboration with [...] Anderson. He has some music he has invited us to work on and thats kind of another project that I hope wi[ll] come to light at some point. Its a bit tricky with his schedule and our schedule. I just spoke to him a few days ago and he invited us to his house in southern California to work in the studio he has at his home.

The CGT with Levin played a set at a previous NAMM convention and Anderson joined them for performances of "Heart of the Sunrise" (Anderson on vocals) and (without Levin) the first movement of his concerto (Anderson on guitar and vocals). Anderson, the California Guitar Trio and Levin performed at the Quebec City Summer Festival in Jul 2006, opening for sets by Jon Anderson & Rick Wakeman and then Wakeman's Return to the Centre of the Earth—details are on the main page, here. The CGT with Levin and Mastelotto were to open for Yes at the 2008 Festival on 12 Jul, but the Yes tour has now been cancelled.

With Messertraum and Deborah Anderson
Messertraum (Messertraum Music) is a song-based electronic EP from Andreas Dietrich Allen (Bloodshot Sounds production company, ROCAsound production company, ex-Outside, worked with Sting, David Sylvian, The Dandy Warhols) and Sebastian Arocha-Morton (ROCAsound, worked with Sting, Counting Crows, Enrique Iglesias, Chaka Khan) featuring several guest vocalists, namely Jon Anderson, his daughter Deborah Anderson, J.B. Eckl (ex-Outside, worked with Santana), Andrew Thomas, Mink and Vikter Duplaix. Jon and Deborah duet on "The Key" (duration 4:27), recorded early 2006. Further tracks include "Run", "Messertraum" and "Tonite"; all four tracks can be heard on the Messertraum MySpace page. "The Key" was written by Allen, Arocha-Morton and the two Andersons. The EP is complete, but seems not to have been released yet.

Older collaborations
Anderson is collaborating with actress Valentina Vargas, who is recording her first album of 10-12 songs co-written by her with others. Vargas guested on Anderson's 1994 album Deseo.

Uzlot is an album project that Anderson has been working on with Brian Chatton (ex-Warriors, ex-Jackson Heights), which has been many years in the making. The music is reportedly composed by Chatton. Sessions took place in the early nineties—with Stuart Hamm (bass), Chris Squire (bass), Alan White (drums), Keith Heffner (ex-Jon Anderson; keys) et al.—and 8 songs were recorded. (Luis Perez (ex-Jon Anderson; percussion) was also reportedly to be involved, but it is unclear whether he actually was.) A piece by Anderson and Chatton entitled "Welcome Touch" is available on Chatton's MySpace page, but it is unclear when it was recorded or whether it is part of Uzlot.

Anderson has written lyrics for Festival of Dreams, a 'funk-rock' opera by actor Sherman Hemsley. In an interview (Mar 2003), Hemsley said, "I write music [...] The show would be a monster, but I can't get anyone to take it seriously, because they only see me as George Jefferson. We're trying to get it going. All we need is one producer." In another that month, he said, "Jon's taking the music I've written and [is] putting it into 15-minute segments. We've been trying to get this thing happening for three years now" and was reported to be trying to get Anderson to Atlantic City for rehearsals in Apr 2003. In comments to a fan in Oct 2005, Hemsley said that he had not talked to Anderson "in a while" and that "not much happening right now," but that he was "still really looking forward to it coming out."

Guest appearances
Anderson guested on Excalibur II: The Celtic Ring (a.k.a. Excalibur II: L'Anneau des Celtes; Babaika Productions/EMI; Excalibur trilogy MySpace page) from Alan Simon (ex-Roger Hodgson). He sang on "Circle of Life" (composed by Simon with minor amendments by Anderson). In all, 120 musicians played on the album, with guests including John Wetton, Martin Barre, Justin Hayward and Richard Palmer-James (ex-King Crimson, ex-Supertramp; mandolin). The album is available in a regular version or an edition with a bonus DVD of "Making of Excalibur II" (Anderson appears in the video, at work and talking about the project). "Circle of Life" was also the debut single from the album.

The Lost Tapes
The Lost Tapes (Voiceprint) is an 8CD box set, now out, and also a planned, future series of releases, largely consisting of previously unreleased (live and studio) recordings from throughout Anderson's solo career, but also including some previously released but rare (out of print) material. As with Rick Wakeman's Treasure Chest, a box set, The Lost Tapes, was released first with the individual albums now being made available separately (except for two CDs that will remain exclusive to the box set). Unlike Treasure Chest, further archival releases in the series have been intended to follow with the initial box having room for 20 albums in all.

The first subsequent release in The Lost Tapes collection was From Me to You (Voiceprint JAVPBX07CD), now out. It consists of 3 tracks of birdsong interspersed with multi-layered vocals by Anderson; tracks (all written by Anderson): "Songbirding" (18:17), "Birdsonging" (11:13), "Singsonging" (11:28). (Some of this material previewed on Anderson's MySpace page a while back, and some was used as ambient music before his solo shows in 2007.) The executive producer on the release is Voiceprint's Rob Ayling, with artwork again by Mark Wilkinson (worked with Marillion, Judas Priest, Rick Wakeman, Geoff Downes). Copies were sent free to The Lost Tapes purchasers. Further Lost Tapes releases have yet to appear and the project appears to have stalled.

The project, with Anderson's full co-operation and endorsement, has been co-ordinated by (long-time friend of this webpage) Daniel Earnshaw. The Lost Tapes box set is only available through a dedicated website. Sound restoration on the box set was by Mike Pietrini (worked with The Syn, Thijs Van Leer) and artwork by Wilkinson. See details in Yescography.

Earnshaw and Anderson were trying to track down further archival material and have made this appeal:

Since 1969, Jon has recorded many music sessions especially for radio stations.
Sadly, these radio stations (even the BBC!) often neglected to archive these unique performances.

Did you record any of Jon's musical radio sessions (playing solo and/or with others) ?

If you still have your off-air recordings (or even masters!) please get in touch here !

(Notes : We have the bootlegs, and its not interviews we're interested in, but the radio studio performances you may have recorded.. Don't presume what you have isn't of interest - please get in touch !)

The initial box contains 7 albums, albums 1-6 and album 20, which makes 8 CDs (album 4 is two CDs). Album 1, Interview, remains exclusive to the box set and is an interview of about 40 minutes in length with Anderson conducted on the Anderson/Wakeman tour by Jon Kirkman. Album 2 is The Mother's Day Concert, a 1996 live show with a 6-piece band. See details in Yescography. The standalone release (JAVPBX02CD) is out. Album 3 is Searching for the Songs, a collection of pieces recorded in 1986. See details in Yescography. The standalone release (JAVPBX03CD) is out.

Album 4 is 2 CDs: Jon Anderson with the New Life Band, Live in Sheffield 1980, taken from the tour in support of Song of Seven plus further material from rehearsals. See details in Yescography. The standalone release (JAVPBX04CD) is out. Album 5 is Watching the Flags That Fly, a set of studio recordings from 1990 intended as work towards a second ABWH album. See details in Yescography. The standalone release (JAVPBX05CD) is out. Album 6 is The Lost Tapes of Opio, an instrumental album recorded in 1989 that had a limited cassette-only release in 1996. All profits from this CD will be donated to UNICEF. Album 20 is Binaural in Boston, a binaural recording of a show from Anderson's 2005 US tour. This disc will remain exclusive to the box set. See details in Yescography.

Both live and studio material was being planned for further releases in the series. Live material from the 1982 Animation tour was not in the initial release because of difficulties in locating a high-quality audio source, but it was planned that a later release in the series would cover that tour. King Biscuit Flower Hour have multitrack recordings of a full show and, in Dec 2006, Earnshaw said he was in negotiation with them. The series may also include a CD and DVD of 1993's The Best of South America. In an interview published in Exposé, Anderson described the content: "a lot of different stuff that was [...] bootlegged. Plus [...] a lot of other stuff that was just sitting around. I have so much unreleased music at home and I'm not sure why. It's just that there is no avenue for certain music."

Anderson revealed more in an interview for the May/Jun 2007 issue of the Classic Rock Society magazine: "I'm designing a piano works. You might remember I had an accident a couple of years ago [...] so I spent a lot of time making piano pieces and got this guy called Jeremy [...] he's transcribing all the music for me and that'll come out next year [2008] as part of the box set." The article continued:

There are 2 or 3 things sent to Jon from South America to consider along with [...] some recordings that Jon did in a cave in Southern China. "I was singing in to the cave and it was so beautiful, I just sang doing Opionian which is my secret language. So that will be on another CD. It's like singing to the Divine out there."

In Mar 2008, in a post to Yesfans.com, Earnshaw said, "I'm 100% commited to future volumes of the box set, and have done some work on future ones. Jon and I spoke about this just before he went on tour, and I'm itching to work more on it." In a subsequent post to Yesfans.com, Earnshaw continued:

I did do work on 2 box set volumes in 2007, hopefully further work will lead to them being released.

Jon is involved in a multitude of ventures, we all know about all the collaborations over the Internet and touring for example, and in 2007 it just worked out that no box set releases happened. Just the way it goes I guess !

In Jun, he added:

Jon and I we[re] talking about box set stuff right before be became ill. I'm holding off until his health, which is more important than anything else, is such that working on it again is appropriate.

There will be future volumes of the box set....

Solo re-releases
Voiceprint are re-releasing some of Anderson's solo albums. 3 Ships (OPIOVP03CD) is out. Billed as a "22nd Anniversay Edition", the album has an altered cover design, has been remastered and comes with 5 bonus songs interspersed within the original running order. Bonus tracks: "Give Hope" (previously unreleased new song, previously on streaming audio as "Give Hope 2007" on Anderson's MySpace page—see above), "Candle Song", "Hurry Home", "Ave Verum", "Ray of Hope". There are a number of errors in the printed lyrics on the CD booklet. The 3 previously released bonus tracks are from other Anderson solo albums: "Candle Song" and "Hurry Home" from Change We Must and "Ave Verum" from Toltec. Anderson contributed the song "O Holy Night" from 3 Ships to Hope for the Holidays—Rockin' Christmas for a Cure, a charity compilation album of Christmas songs, on sale to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Toltec (OPIOVP05CD) is also now out and comes with two bonus tracks: "Longwalker Speaks" (17 minute version, probably the same as on The Lost Tapes of Opio) and "True Horizon" (3:40; remix of "Horizon" on the Jon & Vangelis album Private Collection). The Promise Ring (OPIOVP04CD) is also out, but contains no bonus material. Pietrini did the mastering for 3 Ships and presumably the other two re-releases.

A (much delayed) re-release of Earthmotherearth (OPIOVP07CDMED; dedicated microsite), as by Jon and Jane Anderson, is now out, with three bonus tracks at the end of the album: "Birding Symphonica Uno", "Birding Symphonica Due" and "Birding Symphonica Tree". A limited edition version comes with a T-shirt with a design by Anderson and a signed, Anderson art print. A re-release of Change We Must was announced, but then cancelled.

Voiceprint/Opio Media also gave Animation (originally released in 1982) its first ever release on CD (OPIOVP01CD). It includes two bonus tracks: "The Spell" (11:40; previously unreleased, a.k.a. "Twins" and known on bootlegs as two tracks, "Child of the Lord"/"Two Old Ladies", although the released version is slightly different to the boot) and the b-side "Spider" (2:51). The executive producer for the re-release is Voiceprint's Rob Ayling; mastering and additional audio work on "The Spell" were by Mike Pietrini (worked with The Syn, Thijs Van Leer). Although original master tapes of the album exist, they were not used for this release. The CD (apart from the bonus tracks) was mastered from a vinyl transfer and there have been howls of protest from fans at its poor audio quality. A Japanese paper-sleeve release of the album followed on Arcangelo (ARC7190) using CDs printed by Voiceprint. These appear to be a second printing using a different and improved mastering of the album. If you look at the data side of the CD, on the inside rim, the small print says OPIOVPCD01 01 for the first printing but OPIOVPCD01 02 on the Arcangelo release. This (presumed) second printing is also now being used for stock direct from Voiceprint in the UK, although some distributors may still have 01 stock. The improved second printing is of uncertain source: I believe it is still a vinyl transfer. While there is agreement in reviews that it is an improvement on the first printing, opinion varies as to how much of an improvement. MSI Music seems to have re-released the album in 2008. This seems to be the Voiceprint version again, presumably the second mastering. The story continues with an iTunes version now available. This shows a very significant improvement in sound quality over the original CD release, including a different version of "The Spell" with some additional vocal and guitar parts.

Other news
King Crimson's Lizard (KCSP3 CD/DVD-A), on which Anderson guested, is being re-released in a special CD/DVD-A edition on 26/27 Oct. The CD is in a new stereo mix by Robert Fripp and Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree, Aviv Geffen) from the pre-mix multi-track tapes; there are three bonus tracks: "Lady of the Dancing Water" (alternate take), "Bolero" (alternative version, previously released on Frame by Frame) and a studio run through of "Cirkus" from the original recording sessions. The DVD-A has the 2004 master, 2009 mix and bonus tracks in Hi-Res Stereo and the original album in 5.1 Surround Sound .

Anderson is working on a music video for an unidentified project with Carl B Richetti.

Dan and Tim made a short documentary following Anderson around on his 2008 tour with the School of Rock All-Stars, viewable on YouTube. Their film of the tour is billed as "coming soon". There has been further talk of a longer or another documentary (unclear whether this is the same or a different project), including filming at Anderson's 2 Aug 2009 solo show in Liverpool for a documentary involving interviews and live footage, which may be made available on Anderson's website.

Anderson has been negotiating for the release of a book of his paintings and lyrics. In a Jun 2008 interview with Joe Benson, Anderson said that he has submitted a movie script to Steven Soderbergh (directed "9012Live"). On his website, Anderson says he is looking for a stained glass artist "to help create a large mural". On his Facebook page, he said:

last year [2008] I started a 'mural' [...] it was amazing to create, I couldn't sing for five months..so I painted, and painted [...] [it] is 25 foot long...wow!!, what a trip......it's finished now......and I will be showing the full work soon

In a Jul 2009 interview in Czech, Anderson described doing a painting while ill for a children's hospital. Some of his art was exhibited at the WEHM Rock Art show in Southold, NY in Nov 2009.

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

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