Where are they now? - Jon Anderson

Where are they now? - Jon Anderson

This page last updated: 28 Jan 2011

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

On this page: New recordings online - Solo appearances - Forthcoming DVDs - The Songs of Zamran: The Son of Olias - "Chagall" and other projects - Online collaborators - "Open" and work with the School of Rock All-Stars - "Ritual Path" and Dream Dancing - With California Guitar Trio - Other Appearances - The Lost Tapes - Other archival releases - Other media

On other pages: Anderson Wakeman Project - Jon Anderson writing with Trevor Rabin - 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
As this Aug 2010 article puts it, Anderson nearly died three times in 2008. On 1 Jan, he nearly drowned while swimming in the sea, an event that fortunately appears to have had no long-term health impact. On 13 May, he suffered a very serious asthma attack and was hospitalised in intensive care for some days. Later that year, liver/pancreas issues led to multiple operations.

Anderson has been suffering from asthma for some time, with problems dating back to at least Yes's touring in 2004. In a 2008 interview, Anderson said he has reactive airway disease (RAD), which is akin to asthma. He returned to live work in summer 2009. A 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":

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 [...] 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 [...] My father recovered and was home before the weeks end.

Anderson's liver problems occurred around Sep 2008. In a Nov 2008 article, White said, "He's had four or five operations". In a Jul 2009 interview, Anderson said he had had 6 operations in 2008. In a 2010 interview, he talks "of being in a hospital for four or five months". In an Apr 2009 radio interview, R. Wakeman said, "Jon's been really quite ill [...] He's had pancreatitis and other quite severe problems". Anderson himself gives this account in an Aug 2011 interview:

I’[d] been coughing on and off pretty badly for three years and doctors couldn’t figure it out. So when I had this real bad one [in 2008] I just stopped breathing and my wife held me in her arms while the paramedics came and they just sort of jumped started me and it put me in a coma for three days. [...] A couple of months later the real infection took over and that’s when I had to have these operations. You know you have a problem and the infection goes into the pancreas and then the liver and you have to be very careful so they had to do these very delicate operations. And I couldn’t sing for six months and couldn’t speak hardly

In a Polish radio interview in Jun 2009, 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]". However, in a 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.”

[...] “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.”

In 2009, 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 suggested he was still ill at his 15 Nov 2009 show in Santa Barbara, CA.

In a Mar 2010 article, Anderson says:

"Those guys [Howe/Squire/White] like to be on the road, they're like journeymen. I'm not like that. My body would never be able to do what they do. I can't do four or five shows a week, or all this hotel travelling. My body just wouldn't take it."

He made similar comments in another interview that month:

Prior to being very ill a couple of years ago I was [...] slowing down from the crazy rock and roll world. Because when you reach your sixties, you can’t do the same things you did in your thirties and forties. [...] I just decided that life’s going to change, I’m going to change with it. I am going to get more invested in working with different musicians around the world via the internet. So I’ve started doing that quite a lot.

Getting sick is a very powerful experience. When you get close to death and mortality, it kind of starts ringing in your head, “are you going to be alive tomorrow?” And so you take every day as it comes. The incredible experience of being in a hospital for four or five months, you see what people go through in those circumstances and still do. [...] I’m very interested in expanding my musical horizons. And I had to let the past go. I had to just let go of the band. Let go of that energy that I’ve been working with for many, many years. Now I’m working on a new sort of energy – a very intense, musically speaking, but not the sort of crazy trying do deal with, you know, the business. You know music is pretty easy, but the business is crazy.

On tour that month, Anderson described having nearly died twice in recent years.

Reports from his 24 May 2010 orchestral show again raised concerns about his health, with one participant describing him as "very frail". He's been seen using an asthma inhaler regularly during 2010 live shows. However, asked whether any permanent damage had been done to his vocal chords in May 2010, Anderson replied: "No, no. Erm... No. But I have to be very wary and careful about over singing, which I sometimes tend to do. [...] I spend every day in the studio, singing". In an XM Radio appearance on 28 May 2010, asked about why he had decided to do a solo, acoustic tour, Anderson explained:

When you get sort of close to death, you start to re-evaluate everything you're doing. And you realise that, er… The whole idea of rock'n'roll touring is one thing when you're 30 or 20 or 40 even, but 50, y'know... Your body starts to react against it. By the time I was 60, I was really not in a good place physically, so the whole idea of touring as a rock'n'roll band, it takes on a helluva lot of... emotion, physical energy to do, and I just knew I couldn't do that. […] Not that I didn't want to; you want to be young forever, but it don't work that way.

Asked then about is health now, he said it was "very good".

In a Jan 2011 interview, Anderson said of his health:

I'm great now. I had two years... one year of really going through difficult times. Thankfully I'm born again, and I'm stronger than ever. I have to watch over myself. I'm not a thirty-year-old rock and roller, on tour forever like Yes. I can't do that. I can tour, actually. [...] I've been on tour with my solo show, and I sing probably twice as much as I ever did with Yes. I do a show that's nearly two hours, and I'm talking and singing all the time. [...] I don't have to contend with, "Turn the bass down!". And the constant problems of, why doesn't everyone get on?

In a 19 Apr 2011 radio interview, Anderson said, "I'm on more drugs than I've ever been, but they're keeping me going!" And in a 2 May 2011 radio interview, Anderson said, "I feel like I'm singing better than ever". In a Jul 2011 interview, Anderson said that he is feeling "really, really healthy. I've never been happier or healthier in my life. I just feel really good about everything I'm doing." And in an interview conducted by Winston Arntz in Nov 2011, when asked about how his health is, Anderson said, "Very good, I'm very healthy and happy in love, my life and my wife, haha…Jane (wife) is always travelling with me".

Overview of the direction of Anderson's career, recent studio releases & an overview of forthcoming ones
In the Oct 2010 issue of Classic Rock Presents... Prog, Anderson said:

I haven't stopped creating Yes music in my heart. One of the things I realised was that all the solo albums that I ever did had nothing to do with Yes; I didn't want to 'pretend' to be Yes, because I don't want to do that.

But now I feel like that it is part of my DNA, and I can't stop wanting to create large-scale pieces of music that obviously have a very strong connection with Yes, because that's what I did with the band. I helped to create these larger pieces of music.

Asked whether he means to form an alternative group, Anderson replied:

It won't be a band. It's just a collection of musicians that want to do it. [...] [describes Amharica project] That's one of the things I've learnt over the last five or six years — to work with people via the internet. I'm working with a dozen people round the world, constantly writing songs. They're just fun songs, crazy songs, sad songs, hope-for-peace songs. As well as doing the big pieces I'm still writing [...] short songs, because I still love doing that kind of work as well.

In a Jun 2011 interview, he said:

I’ve had enough of bands. I’m 67 years old this year. I’m not 40 years old looking for a band. I’ve done my thing with bands. I’ll probably tour with some groups of musicians, yeah. I’ve done shows with youth orchestras. [...] I do different things. I did a concert with a group of musicians two years ago in Slovakia and we made a DVD. It’s going to come out this summer, I think. I do “Close To The Edge” and some Yes songs. So, I’m doing other things with different bands. I’ve worked with the young School Of Rock musicians last year, and I’ve just been mixing the work that we did together. It’s beautiful.

He continued: "The doors are opening on so many levels for me. I reckon in the next 10, 20 years I'll be doing my best work." In a 19 Apr 2011 radio interview, Anderson said, "I've got lots and lots of music to come out over the next few years."

Asked why Yes is touring without him in a 2 May 2011 radio interview, Anderson said:

Well, that's a good question, y'know, I got very sick in 2008 [...] they wanted to go on the road and do their thing. And I just thought, well, as long as they tell everybody who's in the band [...] and I'm not there and Rick's not there [...] for me, it's just a question of getting on with my life […] in fact, I’ve started writing Yes music, which I never thought I would do, because when I was in the band, I would always save writing Yes music to... working in the band, but now I’m writing some beautiful new music and, er, it’s very long-form ideas that Yes fans will love, and I’m hoping to get a piece out maybe by summer time

In a Mar 2010 interview (alternate link), Anderson says, "Now I'm developing my talents. I think that the best music I'm going to create is still coming. You can't think that the best music I ever made was in 1972." Anderson has talked about current and future plans in multiple interviews, and it is difficult to sort out conflicting reports. In some cases, Anderson has used the same project name to describe distinct, different projects. However, the key releases we have seen or expect are: 2010's album with Rick Wakeman called The Living Tree and a 2011 live album (described on the main page); and a series of albums drawn from multiple online collaborations, beginning with Survival and Other Stories. The latest release is "Open", which is related to plans for an album with the School of Rock All-Stars, previously known as Amharica (see below). Expected for some while is Zamran—Son of Olias, a sequel to Olias of Sunhillow. The name "Zamran" has come up over and over. An album or multi-album project called Zamran or The Songs of Zamran, a sequel to Olias of Sunhillow, is covered in more detail in its own section below. However, exactly what Zamran will be is very unclear, with some evidence to suggest the name has been associated with several different plans and projects: what was initially to be an entirely solo project, like Olias, then came to involve several of Anderson's online collaborators, with one early 2010 report suggesting the core will now be the collaboration with Fritz Heede previously known as Dream Dancing.

As well as music, Anderson is also working in a number of other creative contexts, including writing and painting: see below. He's also talked about additional multimedia components complementing his music. For example, there's this from the Jun 2011 interview:

Everything I’m doing from this moment on is being visualized, and that’s what I’m really into. I think it’s the way to go, because in the old days we used to have - what was it called - “album covers.” The idea is, you get not so much album covers anymore, so why not create visual art to go with your work. That’s what I’m thinking. More or less, people want to “see” the music like they used to in the old days with a big album cover. So, that’s what I’m working on at the moment.

A Jul 2011 interview had this: "I think people should be able to have at their behest, like, four hours of music, entertainment, visual knowledge, different pathways[.] That's what I'm trying to do with modern technology, not just another song and another song."

Digital releases
Some further new recordings have appeared online, on digital download or as bonus tracks. He released a 1-track single, "Music is God" (Mi5 Recordings), in digital form, co-written with Alessandro De Rosa (worked with Ennio Morricone). Anderson 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 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". Late 2010 saw the digital release of "Unbroken Spirit" by Anderson and Jann Castor; there is also a YouTube video. The song is now on Survival and Other Stories.

Anderson has made a number of MP3s available for free on his MySpace page and elsewhere. Late Dec 2010 saw two instrumental, solo piano pieces added to his Facebook page, "Fluresent" and "Slowly Flying". 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" (since released) 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. Anderson's Ted Kurland Associates page includes a studio version of "This is (Buddha Song)" (as "Big Buddha Song") and a piece entitled "Earth and Peace" on streaming audio.

In an interview on WGBH (Boston) TV in Apr 2011, Anderson explained: "I put songs up there [on Facebook] [...] I don't think they will be released, er, commercially, but I put them up there because I like them".

Survival and Other Stories
Anderson has embarked on a large number of collaborations, largely conducted online. 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 have taken many different forms, but have typically involved both the collaborators working on Anderson's demos (including, in particular, multiple people working on orchestrations) and Anderson adding to material from the collaborators. Anderson has, in many cases, sent the same demos out and thus had multiple people working on the same material. Anderson appears to have common plans for many of these collaborations.

Survival and Other Stories is a new album compiling material from across many of these online collaborations. The album (as Opio Media, OPIOCD1) was initially only available on sale at Anderson Wakeman Project 360 dates in the UK in Oct/Nov 2010. Anderson's former PR company said 500 "demo copies" were available on the tour and these appear to have sold out. (Be warned that pirate copies of this version are circulating.) The merchandise agent at the last Anderson Wakeman show said the album would not be available in the UK beyond the tour. However, the album has now been released by Gonzo (HST079CD).

In a mid-Apr 2011 Facebook message, Anderson said the general release would be "with some remixing here and there". Anderson's PR had said in mid-Jan 2011 that, "The final album to be released will include additional material." However, the track listing is unchanged, there are no additional pieces and it appears any changes from the first release are very minor. In a 16 Apr 2011 interview, Anderson said:

I finished them, the last…six months ago…four months ago…I remixed them just the other week. [...] So I’ve been working with these people [online] and creating…I think at the moment I have…about five albums worth of music that I could release tomorrow, but I just got to find a way of getting them out there at the right time, you know? Because they’re all different.

Anderson has talked of Survival and Other Stories being only the first of a series of albums made in the same way. In the Apr 2011 interview, he said, "It's part of maybe three albums of music I plan to release. The next one should be ready for the summer." In two other interviews that month, he talked of three albums, in one interview, saying "This album is #1 of 3 albums I will release over the next 2 years." In an interview on WGBH (Boston) TV in the same month, Anderson said: "I think I've got three albums' worth of good songs, so over the next couple of years, I'll put 'em out." And, again, a Jun 2011 interview has this exchange:

Anderson: this album, Survival, is the first compilation. There’s three compilations. [...]

Interviewer: We’re going to get two more discs in the next two years, I understand?

Anderson: Yeah, and more. I’m actually finishing a piece now which I want to put out, probably, later this summer.

Interviewer: You’re going to put that out as a single?

Anderson: No, it’s twenty minutes long. It’s an opus. I call it a hopeless opus. (laughs) It’s sort of structured.

[....]

Interviewer: Will there be a DVD of visuals for the songs on the current Survival and Other Stories CD?

Anderson: Yeah.

A Jul 2011 interview had this:

he received enough submissions from his website ad "for about three albums [...] it worked out to be over 200 [songs]. You pick out the music that really strikes you, and I got in touch with a couple dozen people, working with them on various projects -- a children's musical, a couple of other musicals with a guy in Italy, an opera -- as well as various songs with people." He's also begun soliciting for visual ideas to accompany the new songs.

This Aug 2011 interview has a more specific timetable:

I’ve got another one next year [2012], and another album for the year after that. So, I’ve just got a lot of music that I want to get out of my system. And thankfully, I don’t really have to ask a record company, “Is it okay?” Because I can just put it out on the Internet if I want to.

Subsequent releases will be released differently. Anderson said in a Sep 2011 interview that, "I have a label for this first album, called Voiceprint. I'll be releasing other things through a company called TuneCore [link], which is a very good system for young musicians who want to get their music out there in all the different downloadable placed." Rumours put the second album in the series as due in 2012.

"New New World" is on the cover disc for the Jun 2011 issue of Classic Rock Presents... Prog magazine (with the songwriting credits as Dunlap/Anderson).

In Sep 2010, Anderson put three song extracts on his Facebook page from the album ("Love and Understanding", "Understanding Truth", "New New World") and a piece labelled "nukaka...amazonian...." (with Christophe Lebled), whose connection to the album is unclear. In mid-Aug 2010, Mike Pietrini (worked previously with Anderson, worked with The Syn) described this album on Yesfans.com: "the 11 songs just appeared at my studio today for mastering.....some extremely moving/powerful music". On 15 Sep, he said there, "i sent the final master to the record company last week". On his website, circa Jul 2010, Anderson put up a call for a PR/marketing company to publicise "his new album of songs", seemingly Survival and Other Stories. In a May 2010 XM Radio appearance, Anderson said of Zamran that "it will be ready over the next couple of years" and, when asked about his future plans, said:

Actually, I just finished an album [...] 'Bout five years ago, I decided to start working with musicians... on the Internet. So I put an advert on my website [...] I picked out a dozen or so and started working with them: a guy in Australia, Steve Layton, and Romania, Sorin [Voinea], a guy in Italy, Alessandro [De Rosa], a guy in France, El Christo [Lebled], and many more. And some guys in America that I still haven't met, but we work together on the Internet. And we send MP3s to each other and if the music works, I'll sing, and I'll come up with an idea. And some of the best music I've ever thought about doing, I'm doing now. So I've written quite a lot of music over the last 5 years and I'm releasing them sort of, in, how do you say, chapters or part 1, part 2, part 3. So I've just finished part 1, I mixed it about a month ago. And it sounded pretty good. I'm very excited.

Just got to figure how to get it out there now. […] I believe the doors will open.

Note, however, that neither Sorin Voinea or Alessandro De Rosa appear on the final album.

Tracks on Survival and Other Stories (original version):

"New New World" (4:14) [music Jamie Dunlap (worked with Anderson & Fritz Heede; worked on "South Park"); uncredited hammered dulcimer by Aryeh Frankfurter (worked with Gilli Smyth, Azigza)], previewed on Facebook and on YouTube
"Understanding Truth" (2:24) [music Peter Kiel (Arjan Kiel's brother)], previewed on Facebook
"Unbroken Spirit" (3:57) [music Jann Castor; mixed by Castor], previously released as a digital single and performed live by Anderson on his solo tours
"Love of the Life" (2:49) [music Dan Spollen]
"Big Buddha Song" (5:31) [music Kevin Shima], a new version of "This is (Buddha Song)"
"Incoming" (7:56) [music Spollen; orchestration Stefan Podell; additional, uncredited string parts by Bruce Baldwin]
"Effortlessly" (3:11) [music Dunlap]
"Love and Understanding" (4:13) [music Steve Layton], previewed on Facebook. There was a 2007 demo on Layton's MySpace page entitled "Sacred Balance" (music by Layton; vocals and lyrics by Anderson), which was the basis for an Aug 2009 demo, "All is God in Love and Understanding"; this is an earlier recording of the piece.
"Just One Man" (4:30) [music Jeremy Cubert, soundscape by Christophe Lebled, orchestration by Ryan Fraley, viola by Daniel Reinker], also appears on the Anderson Wakeman album The Living Tree in a different version
"Sharpening the Sword" (3:40) [music Dunlap; uncredited woodwinds by Don Markese (worked with Michael Sherwood, Circe Link, Chris Botti, Neil Diamond)]
"Cloudz" (6:06) [music Paul Quinn]

All song/lyrics by Jon Anderson; co-produced by Jon & Jane Anderson. Mixed with the help of Patrick MacDougall, package design by Jay Nungesser, mastered by Mike Pietrini. The credits for "music" on the album appear to be in the sense of "music performed by". Writing credits are unclear: generally, the pieces were largely composed by those credited, with Anderson coming up with lyrics and vocal melody, although at least one song, "Big Buddha Song", was largely composted by Anderson. Details in the Yescography. Asked to clarify the credits in a Jun 2011 interview, Anderson explained: "they performed in their own studios around the world, and sent me basic music that inspired me to sing a melody and lyric, then we spoke about production". A Jul 2011 review has quotes from Dunlap, Castor, Kiel and Spollen about making the album, extracts below:

JAMIE DUNLAP: [...] I would send sketches to Jon over the past three years and we would bounce ideas back and forth [...] ‘New New World’ is a blend of midi strings enhanced by the real deal. I played guitar and bass with programmed drum loops à la Alan White [...] My bass attempt was to remotely capture the essence of Chris Squire’s style from ‘Close to the Edge.’ … ‘Sharpening the Sword’ was a track inspired by a documentary I worked on about the plight of the people in Uganda. … ‘Effortlessly’ was a very rough guitar track I sent to Jon and he actually used it as is. [...]

JANN CASTOR: I recorded, mixed and produced [...] the music [...] Let it be said that Jon’s input, musically and lyrically, was very crucial. [...]

PETER KIEL: [...] Jon put a melody with lyrics on a piece of music I sent to him some months before [...] Sometime later, Jon mentioned he would like to use it for his new album [...] My contribution was strictly instrumental, because (my) music was there already before the (melody and lyrics) [...]

DAN SPOLLEN: [...] I sent a couple of mp3′s, one of which was an excerpt from a larger work of mine called ‘Moment to Moment.’ Two days later he sent it back with his vocal part. This was to become [...] ‘Incoming.’ … ‘Love of the Life’ also came about after I sent Jon the basic song, which he then added vocals to. It then continued to evolve over a period of time. For both tracks, Jon did all of the vocals, and I wrote and recorded all the music, with a few ideas from Jon. We continue to trade thoughts and ideas, with several songs in various states of completion. I hope to release these at some point in the near future.

Around the same time that Anderson was uploading extracts from the album to Facebook, he also uploaded some other tracks. In most cases, their provenance, destination or connection to Survival and Other Stories is unclear, but they do not seem to be on the final album. The piece labelled as "nukaka...amazonian....", with Lebled, was mentioned above; it is subtitled "Songs from the Next World". Anderson describes it as being about indigenous peoples. There was a full piece (7:50 duration) entitled "Spirit Grounding" by Anderson, Lebled and Rich Goodhart (MySpace; Facebook page). (An earlier version credited to Anderson and Goodhart appeared on Anderson's Facebook in Jan 2010. An instrumental version is on Goodhart's Shaman Mirror Medicine Tree.) Another piece uploaded around the same time was "Out of the Sky", credited to Anderson alone, but this also does not appear to be connected. Yet another piece uploaded around the same time, "Born Again", is definitely for another project, a new album by Jonathan Elias—see below.

On the back of the CD, Anderson thanks a long list of people who appear to be his many online collaborators, i.e. Sorin Voinea, Fritz Heede, Alessandro De Rosa (name mispelt on the liner notes), Christophe Lebled, Jann Castor, Stephan Layton, Stefan Podell, Bill Kilpatrick, Tom Curiano, David Bramfitt, Neil Cambell, Jonathan Elias, Dan Spollen, Austin Haynes and Jamie Dunlap, Ryan Fraley, Rich Goodhart, Dennis Haklar, Kevin Shima, Chris Audren, Jeremy Cubert, John Young, Enrico, Max Hunt, JPR, Mr Todd, Jim Reiske, Zach [Tenorio] "and my 'all star' buddies" (a reference to the School of Rock All-Stars).

Anderson has now (Jan 2011) uploaded another piece with Dunlap, "Sing to Me", on his Facebook: music by Dunlap, Aryeh Frankfurter on nykelharpa and viola, Don Markese on woodwind. He also uploaded an alternate version of "Music is God" with Alessandro De Rosa and additional vocals by his wife Jane.

In a Feb 2011 interview, Anderson said of the album:

It's a very strong, emotional album. My wife saved my life twice. She helped produce the album. I had been working with many musicians around the world via the internet and I still have lots and lots of songs from over the last four or five years. She just helped pick out the ones that really resonated to the healing process.

Further projects
Illustrating the difficulty in interpreting all that Anderson has said is 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. The 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. However, what further albums Anderson meant is unknown. 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 has been going about this in a number of ways, including The Lost Tapes and other archival releases, re-visiting his "Chagall" musical and Zamran. He has also talked of enjoying having multiple projects on the go: this from a Mar 2010 interview, "I'm just working on [a specific project] along with a dozen other projects at the same time. I like to be doing many things at the same time. Like baking a few cakes at the same time and watching them get better and better and tastier musically speaking." This period of activity since leaving Yes in 2004 was being loosely referred to as 'The Big If'. Some earlier references were to an album to go by that name, and 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". This language hasn't continued and there doesn't seem to have been any recent reference to the 'Big If'. However, an Aug 2010 article has this from Anderson:

It [the health issues] makes you want to get stuff done before you go. I must have about 10 projects that are still unfinished, and now you're like, 'I've got to get these finished now!' It really makes the work feel that much more important.

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." Anderson has more generally talked about visuals, saying in one Apr 2011 interview that he is working with one person in Poland and another in New York, NY on visual art to accompany his 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 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."

Reports in more recent years have spoken much less of "The Big If", with the focus having moved to Zamran and various collaborations.

Anderson has been 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.

In a May 2010 interview, before a concert with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland (see below), Anderson said, "I'm very interested in doing symphonic work. I don't know why. It's just something inside of me. I just want to compose symphonic music. I've done rock and roll. I've done sort of progressive music. I've done... lots of different kinds of music, world music and stuff. But now I'm really interested in, for some reason interested in symphonic, working with large scale, sort of groups of musicians".

In an Apr 2011 interview, Anderson said, "I am also very interested in Ethiopian music. I am thinking of recording something in that style. It's very free form, like ska meets reggae meets country. Very happening." And then, asked about pieces based on vocals like "We Have Heaven" and "Leave It", Anderson goes on:

I’m working on one of those projects right now, called Earth Dancing. I’m putting together a whole album of that type of vocalizing, to come out later this year or next.

In a Jun 2011 interview, Anderson said, "I'm working with a sort of African/North African band of musicians that are very talented."

Although the planned context isn't very clear, Anderson has repeatedly talked of late of writing Yes-style music. In a May 2011 interview, he said: "now I'm writing a piece that's in that sort of classic Yes style. It'll be ready for the summer and I'll put it out there on the internet. [...] It should be done next month when I come off this [solo] tour [which ends 25 May]." He has also talked about re-visiting older Yes material. A Jul 2011 interview describes how:

Anderson has "over an hour's worth of music from Yes from the old days that I'm revising and looking at," primarily in acoustic versions. "I think modern musicians do that," Anderson explains. "Music is very flexible." A possible outlet for these new treatments of the songs, he adds, may be online and via special apps.

Solo appearances
Anderson's solo touring continues. His latest tour, described as being to promote the general release of Survival & Other Stories but still entitled 'An Acoustic Evening with Jon Anderson — The Voice of Yes', covered 16 US dates in Apr/May. There were then scattered further North American dates in subsequent months: 4 in Canada, 5 in the US, with one forthcoming 1 in Mexico (25 Nov). He was on a short Latin American tour of Mexico (1 date), Brazil (4) and Chile (1) in Nov/Dec 2011. The 13 Dec Brazilian date sold 526 tickets, grossing $59,364. He has now announced further US dates from 2 Feb-15 Mar 2012. The 2 May show had an audience of ~400; the 4 May show appeared to have sold out. The 12 Jul show had an audience of ~200. In an Apr 2011 interview, Anderson described the set:

it’s songs that they know which is Yes songs that I wrote for the band. Plus songs that I wrote with Vangelis and two or three new songs from the new album and storytelling and I think I have two jokes.…It’s about an hour and forty minutes. [...] I play guitar, I play dulcimer, I play ukulele, I play the piano…and sing songs that people remember.

But asked about doing songs from The Living Tree (his recent album with R. Wakeman), Anderson replied:

No, I’m doing songs from my new album [...] called Survival and Other Stories. You know, I can’t play piano like Rick plays, it’s impossible so I wouldn’t try, you know. I was going to try one song, but he plays so many beautiful chords, it never sounds right on guitar.

Although notionally in support of Survival & Other Stories, the set is unchanged from touring in recent years. The set on the opening night (23 Apr) was: [SPOILERS—highlight to read] intro song, "Yours is No Disgrace", "Sweet Dreams", "Long Distance Runaround", "Time and a Word" (reggae arrangement), "Under Heaven's Door (Never Ever)", "Count Your Blessings", "I'll Find My Way Home", "Starship Trooper", "Unbroken Spirit", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Piano Medley", "You Got the Light" (a.k.a. "The Light of Love"), "And You and I", "Music is God", "Turn of the Century", "Tony and Me", "Show Me", "Flight of the Moorglade", "To the Runner", "I've Seen All Good People", "State of Independence", "Roundabout", "Soon", "O'er". The 5 Aug set was almost the same: intro, "Yours is No Disgrace", "Sweet Dreams", "Long Distance Runaround", "Time and a Word", "Under Heaven's Door (Never Ever)" (played twice), "Flight of the Moorglade", "I'll Find My Way Home", "Starship Trooper", "Unbroken Spirit", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Piano Medley", "You Got the Light", "And You and I", "Wonderous Stories", "Tony and Me", "Turn of the Century", "Show Me", "To the Runner", "I've Seen All Good People", "Roundabout", "State of Independence", "Soon". Likewise, here's the 11 Aug set: intro, "Yours is No Disgrace", "Sweet Dreams", "Long Distance Runaround", "Time and a Word", "Under Heaven's Door (Never Ever)", "Flight of the Moorglade", "I'll Find My Way Home", "Starship Trooper", "Unbroken Spirit", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Piano Medley", "You Got the Light", "And You and I", "Wonderous Stories", "Tony and Me", "Turn of the Century", "Show Me", "I've Seen All Good People", "Roundabout", "State of Independence", "Soon", "O'er". Anderson appeared on WGBH (Boston) TV in Apr 2011 to promote the tour and performed "Time and a Word". He next appeared on NBC10 (Philadelphia) TV and performed "Time and a Word" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart".

Anderson signed a guitar for a charity auction for charity at the 13th Annual "Evening in the Yard", in May in Philadelphia, PA, raising money for the Cancer Support Community of Philadelphia (CSCP). The signing was organised by Scott Bluebond, marketing and communications director at the CSCP and a long-time friend of this webpage. Scott has also been helping to promote Anderson's solo tour. (See more details here.) Anderson was also performing at the Hollywood Helps Alabama Tornado Relief Live fundraising webcast on 17 May.

In another interview published in Jun 2011, but conducted in Apr, asked if he uses MIDI on tour Anderson indicated touring plans for 2012 when he said: "I used to, and I will do next year [2012], but this time I'm just acoustic guitar, acoustic mountain dulcimer, ukulele, piano and that's my show."

A short Dec 2010 US tour featured a 1.5 hour set on the opening night, 1 Dec, was similar to previous tour legs; attendance was ~900. The 3 Dec set was: intro song/"Yours is No Disgrace", "Sweet Dreams", "Time and a Word", "Long Distance Runaround", "Under Heaven's Door (Never Ever)", "Count Your Blessings", "I'll Find My Way Home", "Starship Trooper", "Unbroken Spirit", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Piano Medley", "You Got the Light" (a.k.a. "The Light of Love"), "And You and I", "Wonderous Stories", "Your Move", "Tony and Me", "Show Me", "To the Runner", "Nous Sommes du Soleil", intro song (reprise)/"State of Independence"; encore: "Roundabout", "Soon", "O'er" (a capella). The 10 Dec show had an audience of ~300; the 12 Dec show sold 549 tickets, grossing $26,375.

Anderson has also talked of doing further orchestral shows (see below for past such shows). He played with the San Antonio Youth Orchestra on 14 Mar 2011, with the set including "Polonaise", "Starship Trooper", "Long Distance Runaround", "State of Independence" and "Show Me". In a Jun 2011 interview, Anderson said he is:

playing at the Kennedy Center in two weeks with full orchestra [...] [including] a special song written for the warriors, y'know, the guys that are out there, the wounded warriors that have been wounded in the wars of the last ten years, there's a special trust charity for them. [...] I'm an American [...] what we're doing, even though it's a very silly thing to be doing, they've got to get out of there

This show, "A Tribute to the Wounded Warriors" at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, was in Jun and was by the Beethoven Found Philharmonic, with Anderson one of two vocal soloists, with Julia Nixon. The program did not indicate any pieces by Anderson, but a piece entitled "Warrior Hymn" has appeared on YouTube.

Touring had continued in Aug/Sep 2010 with 12 US solo dates and 1 in Finland. These were under the label "An Acoustic Evening with Jon Anderson (The Voice of YES)". An additional date (4 Sep, Easton, MD) was "A Conversation with Jon Anderson", a high-price, intimate, speaking event/Q&A with Anderson, including some singing. The 16 Aug show had an audience of ~475-550, the 23 Aug and 1 Sep shows had ~350-400. The 8 Sep show sold 327 tickets, grossing $16,967. The 21 Aug set was: [SPOILERS—highlight to read] "Yours is No Disgrace", "Long Distance Runaround", "Sweet Dreams", "Time and a Word", "Under Heaven's Door (Never Ever)", "Count Your Blessings", "I'll Find My Way Home", "Starship Trooper", "Unbroken Spirit", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Piano Medley", "You Got the Light", "Music is God", new song fragment, "And You and I", "Tony and Me", "Your Move", "To the Runner", "Show Me", "State of Independence", "Roundabout", "Soon". Sets have been 1.5 hours long. There have been some other promotional appearances, e.g. this.

In the Oct 2010 issue of Classic Rock Presents... Prog, Anderson talks of "going to Bethlehem to sing with a full orchestra at a peace concert" before the Anderson Wakeman tour (starts 9 Oct). He continues: "I'm working with a guy in Slovakia [possibly a reference to Peter Machajdík]. He's doing the score for a song that I will perform in Bethlehem [...] Polonaise [...] he emailed me this morning saying he's finished". It appears this concert did not go ahead.

Anderson played a 7-show tour in Mar/Apr of Canada and the US east coast. The set showed minor variations over the tour; 11 Apr set: intro music: from From Me to You or something similar; "Yours is No Disgrace" (first three pieces on guitar), "Sweet Dreams", "Long Distance Runaround", "Time and a Word" (reggae version, also quoting "She Loves You" and "What the World Needs Now"; this and next two pieces on McNally Strumstick), "Under Heaven's Door", "Count Your Blessings", "I'll Find My Way Home" (back to guitar), "Starship Trooper", "Unbroken Spirit", "Nous Sommes du Soleil", "Music is God (Have Guitar will Travel)", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Piano Medley" (including "Close to the Edge", "Set Sail", "The Revealing Science of God"; on keys), "You Got the Light" (a.k.a. "The Light of Love"; on ukulele), "And You and I" (back to guitar), "Your Move", "Tony and Me" (including "She Loves You", "Wake Up Little Susie", "Help Me Rhonda"), "To the Runner" (on Strumstick), "Show Me" (back to guitar), "State of Independence"; encore: "Roundabout", "Soon", "O'er" (a capella). The McNally Strumstick is an electric 3-stringed instrument compared to the Chinese sanxian. The 31 Mar 2010 show had an audience of ~700. Sometimes billed as 'Jon Anderson - The Voice of Yes', future tour dates are booking through Ted Kurland Associates for 2011. They also advertise the "Symphonic Jon Anderson", playing solo and Yes material ("Owner of a Lonely Heart", "And You and I", "Starship Trooper", "Your Move", "Roundabout", "Show Me", "Time and a Word", "Soon", "Give Love Each Day" and "Long Distance Runaround" are listed): I presume these are concerts along the lines that Anderson has done with Contemporary Youth Orchestra (see below). In a Mar 2010 interview, Anderson says he will be "doing some concerts with the Cleveland Youth Orchestra and the Vermont Youth Orchestra [...] two or three orchestras I'm going to be performing with this year [2010] and next year [2011]".

In an appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in May 2010, Anderson said he will be performing "Awaken" with orchestra "somewhere" in 2011, although this seemed more like an aspiration than a concrete plan. During the rehearsal period with CYO, Anderson appeared at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Anderson played acoustic guitar and sang in between conversation with Director of Education Jason Hanley; songs: "Tony and Me", "Starship Trooper" (abbreviated), "Music is God". He also did a solo show for XM Radio, broadcast 29 May, playing "Tony and Me", "Starship Trooper: Life Seeker", "Roundabout", "Time and a Word" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart".

Anderson returned to live performance in summer 2009. Touring has included 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". Other new songs include "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".

Live DVDs
Anderson has talked about "his DVD projects currently underway (including performances with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra of Cleveland and the Tribute To Freedom Concert in Slovakia)." Anderson performed with the 100-piece Contemporary Youth Orchestra plus a 60-piece choir in a sold out show entitled 'State of Independence' in May 2010 in Cleveland, OH, following a week's rehearsal together; set: first piece, "Starship Trooper", "Long Distance Runaround", "Music is God", "Show Me", "Give Love Each Day/Earth & Peace", "Big Buddha" (a.k.a. "This is (Buddha Song)"), "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "Children Yet to Come" (4 movements: "Children Yet to Come", "Earth Singing", "Breathing", "Love is All"; world premiere); intermission; "And You and I" (abbreviated), "I've Seen All Good People", "Change We Must", "State of Independence", "Roundabout", "Soon"; encore: "Starship Trooper", "State of Independence", outro jam. Anderson played acoustic guitar as well as singing. Stefan Podell (worked on Survival and Other Stories) was one of the arrangers of "Children Yet to Come" and he also co-wrote and arranged the opening piece. There is an ASCAP entry for a piece entitled "Opening" by Anderson/Kardush-Podell, which may be this piece. Another report has this piece as an extract of the forthcoming "Open" (see below). The show was filmed in HD for broadcast on HDNet on 28 Nov and subsequently (see trailer here and promo video here); a release is also expected. In a 13 Jul 2010 Facebook message, Anderson said, "the Cleveland DVD is looking reaaly good....just finished mixing 12 songs...hope to get them to you asap..." In an interview circa Dec 2010, he said the DVD would be released spring 2011. The broadcast set omitted a few pieces: "Starship Trooper", "Long Distance Runaround", "Music is God", "Show Me", "Earth and Peace", "Big Buddah", "Owner of a Lonely Heart", "And You and I", "I've Seen All Good People", "Change We Must", "Roundabout", "Soon", "State of Independence". In May 2004, Anderson did a previous show with the CYO, which was announced as forthcoming on DVD, but never appeared.

Anderson appeared at the Tribute to Freedom Concert in Bratislava, Slovak Rep., in Aug 2009. 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). In a Jun 2011 interview, Anderson said they have made a DVD of this show and that, "It's going to come out this summer [2011], I think." It has yet to appear.

In Jul/Aug 2009, Anderson played 3 UK dates. The 2 Aug Liverpool show was filmed, although it is unclear to what end; 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". Northampton 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".

"Open" / Paul Green's School of Rock
On 25 Oct (his 67th birthday), Anderson released a 21-minute piece with 4 movements entitled "Open" as a digital download through Amazon (US, Japan, Germany, UK and France), iTunes (US iTunes link) and eMusic. iTunes, but not Amazon, has an accompanying digital booklet. Amazon has a short sample, as does orchestrator Stefan Podell on his Facebook page. It will only be available digitally, although Anderson said, in a late Sep 2011 article, "After that, if people really like it, I'll put it out with other songs next spring or something like that[.] That's what I was thinking." He also said he was "just finishing" the piece, and hoped to complete mixing in early Oct. He was reportedly still mixing on 14 Oct. Publicist/backing vocalist Billy James described on Yesfans.com in Oct 2011: "then in the spring release OPEN (with possibly a different mix) with other tracks that fit the theme on CD." He continued on 22 Nov: "on the CD planned for Spring release a diff mix of OPEN and other tracks like Sing To Me and Surfing With God". Podell said on Facebook in Nov that he was not aware of any plans for a CD release. The Sep interview with Anderson described the making of the piece:

Anderson says he composed the song in 2010 and since then has had neighbors, friends, colleagues and musicians from just about everywhere help him construct the piece.

“Last summer I was with the young teenagers from the Paul Green School of Rock on Long Island, and they just did a tweak here, a piano part there, and this and that and that was sounding great, so they helped. And then I brought in other people a couple months ago. Then I started singing it and I thought, ‘OK, I think it’s getting ready to be finished now.’”

[...]

The song “Open,” he says, is in “what you would call the Yes classic style of music. That’s what I did for 35 years. And I would always go in with these crazy and wild ideas with Yes [to] try big pieces of music [...]”

[...]

Anderson allows a brief description about what “Open” is about.

“It’s about being open,” he says without a trace of humor, “and how if you open the doors of your heart that you will be fulfilled in all things that surround you, all the beautiful goodness of the world. Because if you close up, and remain all closed up, and do too many drugs, or do this or that, or eat too much food, shopping, whatever, you [wind up] meeting the same kind of people and everybody drags everybody down to a very unhealthy place.

“So you got to be open about life, and very open about things because there are people out there who are very, very joyful and helpful and beautiful. So, the more that we open up, the more that we will understand how beautiful life is and that we’re all born on this planet and that we [need to] look after Mother Earth, because Mother Earth is ours. And if we’re messing with the planet then we’re messing with [ourselves] [...]”

The Nov 2011 interview had similar comments:

I started the song just me and my guitar and I might be performing parts of it next year on my next tour, I played it yesterday and it sounded really good, the original version, the way I wrote it on guitar. [...] I worked on ‘Open’ on and off for a couple of years. You do some work and come back to it two months later and then I put it all together in three days as a first shape. Then I asked Stefan Podell to come over and we did a demo. He took that and two months later he had finished the orchestration. [...] After that I got a few other people come in, some of the School Of Rock youth band and had them record parts. And after that I still kept busy with it, rearranged certain parts, adding percussion and so on. And then I got to that point to finalize it and that was in September [2011], suddenly I had just two weeks to mix it. [...] We went to Jonathan Elias’s studio, had it all organized and then I took it back to my studio and finished the vocals there.

Jon and his wife Jane co-produced. Orchestrations and additional music are by Stefan Podell (worked on Survival and Other Stories). A piece played at the beginning of the concert with the CYO, co-written by Podell, was an extract from "Open" (see above). "Open" also quotes Yes's "New Language". Details in Yescography. The digital booklet reads:

["Open"] started last spring 2010…….while playing my 19th century classical guitar, I started creating this long form work. After 3 days I had all the songs and music intertwined, I made a recording, and called my friend Stefan
Podell. [...] He lives nearby, and we had talked many times about the long form works of YES. [...] In the spring/summer of 2010 the orchestration took shape, as did the lyrics. I was able to get Zach
Miller (piano) and Zach Page (electric guitar) to perform on the track that summer , as well as a string trio led by Alexandra Cutler-Fetkewicz, who did the string arrangements for the 'Who Better than Love' section, It gave me a rudimental understanding of what was needed to develop and finish the work. Earlier this year 2011, I asked Kevin Shima to sing parts and play some acoustic guitar; later he came to my studio with Brian Hobart the percussionist, and things started to gel. This summer, I asked Stephan Junca to play drum parts, and later Charles Scott added his drums to the scenic musical world that was OPEN. In addition to the orchestration, Stefan Podell added guitar parts and bass, and eventually some added percussion…..
This Autumn became the focus point to get other singers to come and sing parts. I asked the local Cal Poly 'A Cappella' group led by Robert Foster to come and help, then my wife Janee came in and sang like an angel…even my PR dude Billy James sang some parts

In the UK, the release has been as high as #123 on Amazon's MP3 album chart (#30 in Indie & Alternative; #38 in Rock; 25 Oct). It has made #257 on the US Amazon (#62 in Alternative Rock; #69 in Rock; 26 Oct).

In a Nov 2011 interview, Anderson was asked about future projects similar to "Open" and replied: "I'm working on the next 'opus' now, I love the idea of music without time..." In an interview conducted the same month, he said: "And so I'm working on the next one now…and very excited about that. Yesterday I met up with Stefan again and have the idea together by January so he can work on the orchestration in the Springtime and then we'll see how long it takes to formulate it." In Jan 2012, Anderson said the new opus would be called "Ever".

Anderson has worked with the School of Rock on several occasions in the last decade, including some US touring with various of the School's All Stars bands. In May 2010, Anderson said: "Next month I'm actually recording with the same group [the All Stars]. We're going to do an album. We've got two weeks to do an album and I've sent some of the music I want to try out with them because it helps to give them a structure of where I want to go, but at the same time I want them to experience it and evolve through that two week experience". This proposed album has been referred to as Amharica. In a Jun 2010 Facebook post, Anderson said: "just finished an amazing 2 weeks with a dozen teen musicians here on Long Island...It felt like it was the 70's again, everyone listening to each other ..'happy', and thankful, there will be a 20 minute work called 'OPEN'...classic YES style music..plus very exciting ideas......it was meant to be". It is unclear whether these sessions yielded anything more than "Open".

In the Oct 2010 issue of Classic Rock Presents... Prog, Anderson said:

Asked whether he means to form an alternative group, Anderson replies, "It won't be a band. It's just a collection of musicians that want to do it." He then goes on to describe what appears to be the same project:

the orchestration on the new piece is done by a guy who lives five miles away [presumably this is a reference to Podell] and the guitar work is being done by a guy who lives in LA. Then the kids who live in New York and Philadelphia [part of the Paul Green School of Rock Music] they do drums, keyboards and piano

Zamran—Son of Olias and other Olias-related projects
The Songs of Zamran or Zamran—Son of Olias (the precise name is unclear) is a long-running project that has encompassed several ideas, including multiple CDs, a videogame and possibly DVDs. It is a sequel to Anderson's debut solo album, Olias of Sunhillow. Work on the project dates back to at least 2001 and the original conception appears to have been for Anderson to record the album solo, as with the original Olias. However, more recently, various previously separate projects seem to have been re-directed into Zamran, including various online collaborations and Dream Dancing. How these different sources of material will be used is unknown; there is clearly more than one album's worth of ingredients involved. There is a YouTube preview of the album, entitled "Zamran (coming soon)", with music to paintings by Anderson. Some reports suggest a release is imminent, but others point to more work being required and it is unclear how to reconcile these (see further discussion above). In Mar 2010, Steven Kelso, who is doing artwork for the project, said, "Zamran is done. Just need to find a viable distributor other than the digital medium. It is a work in progress seen hardly no one buys physical media anymore. Zamran deserves the full quality package." The most recent reference to the project was a Facebook post by Anderson on 25 Jan 2012 in which he said, "writing more of the Zamran story...'it's taking it's time''."

"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 [2009], maybe next year [2010], 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. 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. In a Mar 2010 interview, Anderson says, "About four years ago I just put in an ad on my website: "Musicians Wanted" because I wasn't getting much feedback from my close people [...] I got lots and lots of people sending in a minute of their ideas and I connected with a couple dozen of them and we've been working on many different things every since. [...] I think basically I want to put it to some form of literature or something to do with the world around us. That's why I invested in what I call the "Zamran experience"". 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!" However, in late Apr 2010, Layton said, "I have been pushing Jon to bring something to fruition but to no avail." And the month after: "Even I'm not totally clear on [what is happening with] Zamran." 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 his 28 May 2010 XM Radio appearance, Anderson said the album is "lot to do about the ley lines that surround the Earth".

Fritz Heede and Anderson had been collaborating on an album entitled Dream Dancing (see below), but in late Apr 2010, Heede said: "We had finished the album but Jon has had a new vision for it (which I love!) so we are restructuring the entire album as a sequel to Olias. It will take some time! sorry, should be worth the wait... if that helps." Two short pieces (or possibly extracts of longer pieces) by Anderson and Heede appeared on Anderson's Facebook page in Sep 2010: "Song of Zamran part 5..2..2...9" and "Be that Rythm..." [sic].

An interview published in Jun 2011, but conducted in Apr, had this exchange:

Interviewer: I've heard you're working on a sequel to that album [Olias of Sunhillow], part two to the story?

Anderson: Oh yeah! Part two is Zamran. It's very exciting because it's a large-scale project and large-scale ideas but the technology isn't ready for what I want to do. I have the music and it's slowly cooking in the oven and it's coming along. It's about three hours of it now and it's going to be probably a five-hour project. People will be able to go into the realm of Zamran and they can choose their path every time they go in there. They don't have to take the same pathway so they can choose different pathways and hear different versions and different styles of music relating to the same theme that carries on all the way through. It's about the discovery of how the earth works. That's all.

Interviewer: Is that going to be CD?

Anderson: It's going to be an app. At each juncture you find about more about the mysteries of the planet earth and then more about the mysteries of the human condition, and then more about the inter-dimensional condition of this planet and how many inter-dimensional beings are out there that we don't see. And then of course, the extension of that is the inter-galactic people that we don't see. But they're here, don't worry. They're here. They've always been here.

Interviewer: The app will incorporate visuals?

Anderson: I'm working with three people at the moment—one guy in Poland, one guy in Canada, one in Brazil—and we're just creating slowly these projects and visual arts. It's looking really good. It takes time. It's something that's so different and so revolutionary. Because gone are the days of records, CDs, etc. etc. In five years' time, we will be using “mind drive”, don't you know.

Interviewer: This will be an app for smartphones and iPads?

Anderson: It's an app for everything—an app for your computer, to your wristwatch, whatever you want to do. Because you'll have an implant and you can actually watch it in virtual reality with your Ray-Ban virtual reality glasses, when they actually make them. So that's the way it works.

And an Aug 2011 interview had this:

Interviewer: [...] I’d read something about The Songs of Zamran.

Anderson: Yeah, I’m working on it now. It’s a large-scale…large project. It’s going to take a couple years to get it to that point of finishing some of the music. I’ve written most of the music—but it’s three hours long at the moment, and I’m trying to figure out how to recreate it correctly. Modern technology is going to help a lot. Because I want to create an app that allows people to go on a journey. They can choose a new journey every time they open it up, and they can hear it in a different way every time. That’s the whole concept.

Interviewer: Ah, so an interactive album. Like a Choose-Your-Own Adventure album.

Anderson: Yeah. So I’m working on it.

In Jul 2009, Anderson unveiled a logo for the project: see here. Working on designs and art for the album are Steven Kelso and Juan Carlos Baez (see an example of Baez's preliminary work for the project here). Kelso's 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.

Kelso and Baez held a series of exhibition of Zamran and "Fiefdom of Angels" (see below) art. There was also a small exhibition of art by Kelso at Anderson's show with the Contemporary Youth Orchestra (see above), covered by a short documentary available here. In that video, Kelso says, "Jon has a lot of work coming out from many different people, so... er... we've got the website coming up soon, we have the music, new album".

Back 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."

On tour in Mar 2010, Anderson said he is looking into playing the whole of Olias at some point in the future. In Apr 2010 on Facebook, Anderson said, "I also met a guy called Stefan , he wants to perform 'Olias' with a full orchestra and choir next year [2011], amazing thoughts...I met him, and he is very talented..." Stefan is a classical pianist based in South America. At a show in Sep 2010, he hinted at "next year [2011], or maybe the year after [2012]" playing Olias with live a group of musicians. In the Jun 2011-published interview, Anderson said: "I'm actually going to perform it [Olias of Sunhillow] next year [2012] with an ensemble, a group of people [...] and an orchestrator out of San Francisco. They want to do a production of it and I think, "Go ahead. I'll get up and sing it." And ... poof!" Stefan has now joined forces with this rock group led by Thomas Deis as Project Moorglade to work on live shows in 2012 with Anderson. In May 2011 on Facebook, Anderson talked about what seems to be a different possible collaboration along similar lines, working with classical pianist Stephen Prutsman (who performs a version of "Sound Chaser" in recitals). He said:

Stephen Prutsman, quite amazing work....we have become friends l, he came to our home a month agao, and suggested OLIAS as a possible concert with Orchestra and Choir and visuals.., I heard him play songs from Olias...I was truly excited about the idea

In the Aug 2011 interview, Anderson said: "there's a group of musicians out of Philadelphia who are working on Olias. And they sent me five of the songs yesterday, and they're sounding so amazing. They want me to perform them with them when they finish the whole album. So maybe late next year [2012] I'll be performing Olias for Christmas!" He then adds:

My dream next year [2012] is to perform “Awaken” in three different places. In London, I’ll be doing it with those people who are doing Olias.

A Sep 2011 interview has this exchange:

Interviewer: Have you given any thought to doing an electric, full band tour, with music from your solo catalogue?

Anderson: Not really. If I did it, it would be a totally new piece of music. If I was going to do an ensemble, electric especially, I would jump into a whole new piece of music. I wouldn’t try to recreate my albums. [...] I’ve actually been asked to do my first album, which is Olias of Sunhillow, and I’m thinking seriously about performing that sometime next year [2012], or the year after. I’d like to perform it, I just have to get a group of musicians that understand it, and there is a group near Philadelphia interested in it, and they are working on it, so we’ll see what happens.

I have a friend in Paris, France that plays perfect keyboards for the Olias sound, so he’ll be part of the idea, but it’s a question of timing more than anything. [...] Then, you know, if I have the musicians, maybe I’ll try songs from all my albums, you never know.

In Oct 2011, Anderson announced a re-creation of the entirety of Olias for 2012 in collaboration with Christophe Lebled (worked on Survival and Other Stories). In an interview for Dutch website Lords of Metal, conducted Nov 2011, interviewer Winston Arntz and Anderson had this exchange:

Arntz: [Olias of Sunhillow] is being recreated by a couple of guys on line as ‘Project Moorglade’ and I hear you are charmed by that…

Anderson: Yes [...] I am in touch with the[m] and I hope to do a few concerts with them some time too [...] I have a friend in France who’s helping with the chants and vocal stuff. I’m trying to figure out the best way to do it live. I think I have an idea on how to do it but it’s also a question of time, hopefully next year [2012]…

Anderson was in contact with author Willow Polson about turning Olias of Sunhillow into a full-length fantasy novel. They were 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". She continued, "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.) However, the project is no longer going forward.

Anderson has also launched Olias-themed jewellery, available here.

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 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."

None of these plans have come to fruition. It is unclear whether the new material described has been diverted to some other project, such as Zamran.

Other solo projects
A Mar 2010 interview says of Anderson, "Among the works he has on the go are two operas and three musicals."

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. Could it have been Survival & Other Stories?

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" [see below]; 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". There is now a Facebook page about the Anderson/Kirkpatrick collaboration with all seven movements of an orchestral ballet suite entitled "Violin Stories" completed. The piece was composed by Anderson and orchestrated by Kirkpatrick.

Anderson has been working on other material with Kirkpatrick, including this song, "Surfing with God", available on YouTube. Anderson and Kirkpatrick have also been working on some songs with Nic Caciappo (worked with Rick Wakeman, Peter Banks).

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". A 23 Nov 2010 press release describes Anderson as "composing [...] a Rap Opera". In an Apr 2011 interview, Anderson says, "I'd [...] written a Rap-Opera some 20 years ago. It might come to the stage in a couple of years . . . who knows."

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.

In May 2010, Anderson explained that the collaboration did not pan out, but this project, called "For Children Yet to Come", re-emerged. The orchestral/choral piece, as "Children Yet to Come", was premiered live at Anderson's 24 May 2010 orchestral show (see above), consisting of 4 movements: "Children Yet to Come", "Earth Singing", "Breathing", "Love is All" (adagio, about Anderson's two recent near-death experiences and how his wife's love brought him through).

Chinese music project(s)
Over many years, Anderson has talked about doing Chinese music and/or recording with a Chinese orchestra, although it is unclear how various plans and projects interrelate. There had been talk of Anderson being involved with music for 2008's Beijing Olympics, but 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. Arjan Kiel (Peter Kiel's brother), 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..." (In a Mar 2010 interview, Anderson talks further about an Austin, presumably the same person, saying, "I had this piece of music with a guy called "Austin", who came up to install something for me [...] I said, "send me some MP3s of your work," and he sent[ ]me this music and he called it "The Garden". So [my] first line [...] It just came out: "If we don't tend the garden now…" Because I've been reading this book about our real connection to Mother Earth as being the caretakers, like the indigenous people say. We are the caretakers of the Earth.")

Some music appears to have already been written or recorded. A recording done in a cave in China has been mentioned—see below. In the Mar 2010 interview, Anderson says:

There was a find of a tomb in central China [...] where they found the terracotta soldiers. [...] two years later they found another tomb full of musical instruments – a full orchestra. This was two and a half thousand years old. [...] you just wonder what kind of music they were creating. So, when I read about that in 1992, I spent two months writing music as though I were living two and a half thousand years ago. And I still have the music. I am still developing that music into an idea for a visual event. I’m not sure where, when and how it will happen.

Chagall and First Born
Anderson was 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]

In the Lords of Metal interview conducted Nov 2011, Anderson said: "for Chagall I am still waiting to make a theater production out of it."

Further projects
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 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 an unreleased Anderson/Crow project from 2000/1 (see below). 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. Anderson, Wakeman and Rabin are planning a joint project too. See details on main page. A few years ago, Anderson and Peter Banks were writing some new material together. The collaboration was abandoned, but contact was re-established in 2011—details again on the 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 co-wrote an album called 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 announced for 2009 on Voiceprint, billed as by 'Jon Anderson with music by Fritz Heede', with an accompanying DVD in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound 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". ASCAP and BMI have registrations for four pieces entitled "Trance Singing 1" to "Trance Singing 4" by Anderson/Heede, which may have been from this project, possibly suggesting it was close to release. However, in Apr 2010, Heede said that the finished album was now being re-structured as a sequel to Olias of Sunhillow. How this relates to other work on the Zamran album is unclear, but see above for details.

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".

With son Damion
A Jun 2011 interview had this exchange:

Anderson: Me and my son, Damion, we’re writing songs together as we speak.

Interviewer: [...] Will the writing that you’re doing with Damion be on the next two albums [following Survival & Other Stories].

Anderson: More than likely, yeah. I think so.

And in a Sep 2011 interview, Anderson says, "I'm working with my son on a couple of new songs."

The Alchemist opera
Anderson has talked about an opera based on "The Alchemist". This was written by Italian composer/arranger/guitarist/promoter Alessandro De Rosa (worked with Ennio Morricone), who co-wrote "Music is God" with Anderson. De Rosa describes the piece as a "a symphonic – theatr[ic]al poem"; he composed the music with Anderson contributing vocal melodies and lyrics. De Rosa continues on his webpage, which includes a 5 minute sample of the music (see under "projects"):

The work began in the years 2006-2007 when De Rosa, following a shared delineated idea and some Anderson's themes, composes a drafting of almost the entire opera. Then Anderson enthusiastically joined the project, enriching it with fascinating and unimitable lyrics and voice melodies. In March 2009, with the insertion of the last missing songs, the two musicians completed a musical demo of the opera which they are currently proposing.

The entire opera consists of approximately two hours of music, meant to be functional to a theatrical and multimedial show involving several disciplines, from ballet to modern theater, from animated projections to symphonic concert.

The Alchemist, a tale set to music, has undoubdetly got the chance to become a very valid cultural and commercial product: the book, a contemporary novel addressed to a varied audience; the music, refined and modern, built with concern thought as a support to the show; the voice, unmistakable and unimitable [...] an ambitious and extremely fascinating work in which many expressive arts merge in one great event.

At the moment this project is searching for a production and opened to every ‘active’ proposal.

Internet 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 a Mar 2010 interview, Anderson says, "every week I'm working with at least five or six people from around the world – different people working on different projects. [...] the Internet is a very available source of energy for musicians everywhere. About four years ago I just put in an ad on my website: "Musicians Wanted" because I wasn't getting much feedback from my close people, which was the band. So I thought, "hey I'll just reach out to people who want to work with me." [...] I got lots and lots of people sending in a minute of their ideas and I connected with a couple dozen of them and we've been working on many different things every since. [...] I think basically I want to put it to some form of literature or something to do with the world around us. That's why I invested in what I call the "Zamran experience"". Anderson has now released an album with material from his various collaborations, called Survival and Other Stories: see above for more.

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." Baldwin's work appears on Survival and Other Stories, although Anderson forgot to credit him in the liner notes. Baldwin explained:

I recently got confirmation from Jon that my string parts are on "Incoming." I hadn't heard the final version, or any of the rest of the CD, and I was confused after seeing the album credits online. Anyway, I finally got around to asking Jon about it, and he sent me the final version.... It's not mixed anything like what I thought it would be when I was doing it, but my part comes in at 3:29, after the words "better by far." It's actually a really huge, rich sounding part on its own (sounds great loud!) but it's quiet in the mix. Stefan's part comes in a couple minutes later in the song. Anyway, Jon was apologetic for forgetting to include me on the credits. It's a lovely song, and I'm happy to have been able to contribute to it. I'm hopeful that the credits will be right, when and if it gets a proper release.

On another note, I asked Jon if he would contribute some backing vocals to a couple of songs by my band, Ascent, and he agreed to give it a try! I will let you all know what happens....

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: Jann C Castor (Castorius Films; did soundtracks for "Red Express" and "The Happy Hooker"), with whom he has written "Unbroken Spirit" (about Anderson's period of ill-health), and someone called Chris from the south of Poland who is working on visuals.

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. In Nov 2009, he said:

my most captivating, fun, inspirational, organic, challenging experience has been working with Jon Anderson [...] collaborating, writing, arranging, orchestrating, etc., considerable amounts of music ongoing. The material includes symphonic, prog rock, ambient, new age, and a genre I can only best label as "Andersonesque" compositions.

He is a wonderful man, heart and soul, and I have learned so much from him. We often "shoot the sh*t" on the phone, and have text/audio/video chats. I have hooked Jon up with several of my other musical collaborator friends from all over the world, from which they are also working with him steadily.

In Dec 2009, he said online:

Today I was informed that a large musical project that Jon Anderson and I are diligently working on will be performed at a cultural center in San Luis Obispo, CA [...]

I have been orchestrating the entire musical backing for this project based on Jon's original sketches.

At almost an hour long, the suite of music and singing will include a choir, with interaction between performers and children of the audience. The projected timeframe will be late Spring 2010.

In May 2010, he said:

I have orchestrated several of Jon's works, having worked with him for the past few years now on so many new projects, its amazing the conversations we've had about music and "life." His outlook on life is so great.

[...] we've talked often on the [phone] [...] bouncing ideas back and forth; new as well as old concepts... and will be releasing brand new collaborative material. He has sung on a few of my songs [...]

Hear's a link to a short birthday song he did for a music community I belong to (one of the first things he sang after his eight months of silence). I asked if he'd do a simple voiceover... and he said, "Send some backing music and I'll sing it." He even asked if I thought it was OK... He could sing ANYTHING, and it'd be OK!
Link: http://www.macjams.com/song/50317

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"" (possibly an alternate name for Survival and Other Stories, on which Voinea was announced as appearing, but did not in the end).

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. A piece with Lebled is on Anderson's Survival and Other Stories (see above). Lebled told a fan in May 2011 that he has done over 20 tracks with Anderson.

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 was 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." Further samples are now available and a piece with Spollen appears on Survival and Other Stories.

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 (MySpace; Facebook page); 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 2009, 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. Goodhart's 2CD solo release Shaman Mirror Medicine Tree, available from his website, includes a piece with Anderson entitled "Good Love Coming". Goodhart said of the track: "When I sent him the track I suggested the idea of a "We Have Heaven" type of multi-voice chant, and as far as I am concerned he delivered wonderfully." He's also said: "It's another acoustic world music instrumentation backing, with the primary instruments being the west African dousongoni and the Brazilian berimbau, plus hand drums and percussion." The song also includes a live cover (with Anderson) of "Moon Ra" from Olias of Sunhillow. Daevid Allen (Gong; glissando guitar on several tracks), John Ragusa (flute, additional vocals), Jim Ballard and David Macejka also guests on the album. Goodhart provides vocals and performs various instruments, including bouzouki, and did the cover art.

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". Anderson was previously collaborating with producer/multi-instrumentalist Tom Curiano.

In a Mar 2010 interview, Anderson describes a project with a male collaborator in Slovakia:

I’m just working on a musical dance piece about heraldry. I’ve always loved heraldry, since I was a kid. [...] I think there should be new heraldry. I think that cities and countries, places should use their flags of heraldry and rejuvenate our conscious knowledge of totem – worldwide totem knowledge - not just American Indian totems. There is indigenous totem everywhere, which is knowledge of the eagle, the coyote, the wolf, the bear, the dragonfly, the ant [...] to rejoice in that and to use it in a dance mode, using it in an artistic mode, by banners or flags or things – which is basically heraldry. So, that’s something I started doing just last month actually.

Dave Burks, a neighbour of Anderson's, has done a song called "Beautiful Shoes" with him, available on YouTube.

In a mid-2011 interview, Anderson said he is writing music with someone for a children's story he thought of about gremlins who steal stars.

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 Stephen Layton & with Mark Trueack
Anderson has been working with keyboardist Stephen Layton (ex-The Expression, ex-Like Oxygen), with their song "Love and Understanding" appearing on Survival and Other Stories (see above). Layton initially worked on Anderson's rap opera, then they wrote material together 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" (music by Layton; vocals and lyrics by Anderson), "The Day Before", "Lights Out", "After Today" and "Only"—and subsequent recordings 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". Layton is one of the collaborators on material on Anderson's new album, Survival and Other Stories: see above for more. In early 2011, Layton talked of working on an acoustic version of "The Remembering" with Anderson.

Vocalist Mark "Truey" Trueack of the Australian progressive rock band Unitopia is working on a solo project called The Hope, on which both Anderson and Nikki Squire will guest. Stephen Layton is co-director on the project and leads on the production, with assistance from Matt Williams and Sean Timms, both also in Unitopia. Unitopia are also releasing a covers album including a Yes medley: see here.

The Hope is in early production, with Anderson already having recorded some vocals. A 15 song album is planned exploring "the meaning of hope as well as where we can find hope in a world torn by economic, political, and ecological strife", and incorporating world, ambient, acoustic, jazz and rock elements in the music. The tentative release date for the project is Nov 2012. Tracks:

"Home"
"Real World", with Pascal Gregory
"Hope"
"Reality Breaks Through"
"Broken World", with Toivo Pilt (keys), Steve Layton (keys), Matt Williams (guitar)
    a. "In a State of Purity"
    b. "Broken World"
    c. "The Cleansing"
    d. "The Rebirth"
"Water", with Jon Anderson (lead & backing vocals), Colin Forster (bass)
"Balanced Time", with Pascal Gregory
"In the Palm of Your Hands", with Nikki Squire (lead vocals)
"Dreaming the Truth", with Michel St-Père (Mystery; guitar)
"Follow Me", with Hasse Froberg (lead vocals), Tomas Bodin (keys)
"Leading Me On", with Arjen Luccasen (guitar)
"Cruel Times", with Redzen
"Free the People", with Chris Audren
"Where are We Going?"
"Southern Waves", with Guy Manning (guitar)

Further performers include Mark Trueack (lead & backing vocals), Mary Katheryn (lead vocals), Brittany Trueack (backing vocals), Holly Trueack (lead & backing vocals), Claire Vezina (lead & backing vocals), Paul Fisher (guitar), Gregory J Bachman (guitar), Shireen Khemlani (bass), Simon Slee (bass), Craig Kelly (bass), David Hopgood (drums & percussion), Tim Irrgang (Unitopia; drums & percussion), Colin Leijennar (drums & percussion), Sean Timms (keys), Jimmy Bax (keys), Carolyn Lamb (strings) and Guillermo Cides (Stick). Artwork with be by Ed Unitsky.

Layton has made available a remake of "Time and a Word" with himself, Trueack and Anderson on vocals and Franky Valentyn on keys: see Layton's ReverbNation page.

With composer Peter Machajdík
Anderson guested on "Sadness of Flowing" on Peter Machajdík's album Namah (Music Fund Bratislava/Musica Slovaca, MAMAH SF 00542131). 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.

In 2009, Anderson appeared live with a band led by Machajdík (see details above), the show subsequently broadcast on the Slovak national TV channel. A DVD release is expected. 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 Jonathan Elias
Anderson guested on Jonathan Elias' (produced and performed on Union) Prayer Cycle: Path to Zero, a sequel to 1999's The Prayer Cycle. He recorded his parts in 2008. Further details under Elias. In an interview conducted Nov 2011, he described further work with Elias: "Yesterday I was singing on a new piece with Jonathan Elias and we're writing some songs."

With Glass Hammer
Anderson previously guested on Culture of Ascent from Glass Hammer and is collaborating further with the band. The band is led by Fred Schendel (keys, programming, acoustic guitar, string arrangements, backing vocals) and Steve Babb (bass guitar, keys, percussion, harp, programming, backing vocals). 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" Culture of Ascent. 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.

However, there hasn't been any more recent news on this collaboration.

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.

In an appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in May 2010, Anderson explained that "It's a four-movement guitar concerto idea", but that his ill health curtailed the project. He said: "I still have dreams of developing the piece: I have four movements now [...] we kept in touch [...] I think we might just connect again and develop it and finish it."

In a Jan 2011 interview, Anderson said: "I might even be working with the California [Guitar] Trio and Tony Levin. We talked about maybe getting a run of some shows together".

Fiefdom of Angels
"Fiefdom of Angels" (Facebook; Twitter) is a novel and graphic novel being written by singer Kevin Max (DC Talk, worked with Adrian Belew, Tony Levin). There is to be an accompanying soundtrack album by Max and there was an earlier plan for Anderson to guest. However, Anderson's involvement now is probably not going ahead. Also involved are Douglas Klauba (painting) and possibly Tony Levin and Adrian Belew (both King Crimson).

Other collaborations
Anderson wrote and recorded with guitarist/producer Robin Crow an album's worth of material in sessions finishing mid-Jan 2001. Crow brought in Phil Keaggy to record acoustic guitar parts for either 4 or 6 songs (reports vary) 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. Fast forward to now, and Crow proposed releasing one of the songs on the benefit album, Let It Glow, raising funds for faith-based charity Feed America First. Anderson agreed, but has re-done the vocals. The result is the 10-minute "Heaven Sent", featuring Crow, Anderson and Keaggy. A 4-minute edit can be heard on YouTube. Let It Glow is available from Crow's website and will be available through CDBaby. A digital release through iTunes may follow some time later.

Anderson has been remotely collaborating on a couple of songs with well-known Yes fan Nic Caciappo (worked with Rick Wakeman, Peter Banks) playing bodhran, including on a version of "Never Ever" also with Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings, Agents of Mercy, Transatlantic).

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; it appears to be additional to the original 8 tracks.

Anderson wrote some 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." Nic Caciappo (worked with Rick Wakeman) said in Jan 2012 on Facebook that "The project with Jon never reached any vocal takes. Sherman only did some keyboard tracks and wanted Jon to sing on it. He played some bits for me over the phone. It was okay, but not anything that obviously caught Jon's fancy."

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, although nothing has been heard lately about further releases.

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; available separately as JAVPBX02CD. Album 3 is Searching for the Songs, a collection of pieces recorded in 1986; available separately as JAVPBX03CD. Album 4 is 2 CDs: Jon Anderson with the New Life Band, Live in Sheffield 1980, plus further material from rehearsals; available separately as JAVPBX04CD. Album 5 is Watching the Flags That Fly, a set of studio recordings from 1990 intended as work towards a second ABWH album; available separately as JAVPBX05CD. Album 6 is The Lost Tapes of Opio, an instrumental album recorded in 1989 that had a limited cassette-only release in 1996. Album 20 is Binaural in Boston, a binaural recording of a show from Anderson's 2005 US tour, which will remain exclusive to the box set.

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 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."

Solo re-releases
Olias of Sunhillow and Song of Seven were re-released as SHM CDs in Japan in Oct 2011.

Esoteric have re-released Anderson's solo album In the City of Angels (eclec2246); it has been remastered and includes a bonus track of the single edit of "Hold on to Love".

Voiceprint/Opio Media have given 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 media
As well as music, Anderson is working in other creative contexts, including painting, writing and clothing. Anderson has been negotiating for the release of a book of his paintings and lyrics. Examples of his painting can be viewed on his website. Previously on his website, Anderson said he was looking for a stained glass artist "to help create a large mural". He was already painted 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 [...] 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. In a Mar 2010 interview, he said, "I've been painting this mural – when I got very sick - for a while I started painting a mural. I've finished it – it's about twenty-five feet long. And it's just like those Navi people [from "Avatar"]." He continued:

when I couldn’t sing for six months, I did this mural which takes up twenty-five foot long and three feet deep. And I’m going to donate it to the Children’s Hospital at Stanford where I was going. But, I will be doing some prints and there will be some cards that people are going to be able to buy a few smaller versions of it, because it’s a ginormous piece. And I do some glass work, where I enjoy painting glass and various things like that.

Several short stories by Anderson are now available on his website (select "Writings"). In a Jun 2008 interview with Joe Benson, Anderson said that he has submitted a movie script to Steven Soderbergh (directed "9012Live").

A 23 Nov 2010 press release said that Anderson is "even venturing into clothing design."

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

King Crimson's Lizard (KCSP3 CD/DVD-A), on which Anderson guested, has been re-released in a special CD/DVD-A edition. 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 provided his song "Give Hope" (from the re-release of 3 Ships) to the Cancer Support Community of Philadelphia (CSCP) for their 2011 holiday e-card.

Vocalist Andrea Corr (The Corrs) covers "State of Independence" as the opening track on her forthcoming covers album Lifelines, due 30 May. It can be heard through her SoundCloud account. Tracks: "State of Independence", "I'll be Seeing You", "No 9 Dream", "Blue Bayou", "Pale Blue Eyes", "From the Morning", "They don't Know", "Lifeline", "Tomorrow in Your Eyes", "Some Things Last a Long Time", "Tinsletown in the Rain". The album is produced by John Reynolds, with some tracks co-produced by Brian Eno (ex-Roxy Music, worked with Robert Fripp, Genesis).

The song "In High Places" from Mike Oldfield's 1983 album Crises (and released as a single in 1987) was co-written and sung by Anderson. It has now been sampled by Kanye West (worked with Jay-Z, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Ludacris) for "Dark Fantasy", the opening song of his new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Roc-A-Fella Records). (The song also features backing vocals from Nicki Minaj, whose own recent song "Check It Out" samples "Video Killed the Radio Star".) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy entered the US album chart at #1, selling 496,000 copies in its first week there. It has been nominated for the Best Rap Album Grammy. (Another song on the album, "Power", samples King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man".)

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album chart performance

Country/chart Peak chart position

US
1

US rap
1

US R&B/hip-hop
1

UK
16

Germany
19

Canada
1

Australia
6

Netherlands
17

Belgium 21

Switzerland
10

Denmark
4

Sweden
19

Norway
11

Ireland
18

New Zealand
10

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 is one of 24 musicians in Anil Prasad's new book "Innerviews – Music Without Borders" of previously unreleased interviews. Included is a 2005 interview with Jon Anderson; here's an extract:

Chris Squire [...] believes you need friction to create the diverse music of Yes. I agree to a certain extent, but I believe there also has to be collective harmony, fun and a genuine appreciation of each other to make the best Yes music. The media always looks at Yes and says "Why do you keep changing musicians? There's always so much friction and bad vibes." Well, I don't believe there's any point in going on with a line-up and making music if two or three of the guys are just jiving away. Everyone has to be in top form, touching the same metal and feeling that spark. I think the best balance is 80 percent having a good time and 20 percent creative friction in which you're bouncing ideas off each other.

The book also contains interviews with Bill Bruford and others artists, including Björk, Béla Fleck and Tangerine Dream. "Innerviews" has now also been released as an e-book, available through Amazon (see links to the right) and iTunes (US link; UK link).

Anderson is no longer managed by HK Management. His solo appearances are booked through Ted Kurland Associates. In Nov 2010, Anderson signed to PR and branding company The Burgett Group, following the signing of his daughter Deborah Anderson a few months before, but that relationship appears to have now ended.

Buy "Innerviews" e-book from Amazon (US):

Buy "Innerviews" e-book from Amazon (UK):

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YES and projects with several Yesmen	Jon Anderson	Chris Squire	Steve Howe	Alan White
Geoff Downes	Trevor Horn	Tony Kaye<

Country/chart	Peak chart position
US	1
US rap	1
US R&B/hip-hop	1
UK	16
Germany	19
Canada	1
Australia	6
Netherlands	17
Belgium	21
Switzerland	10
Denmark	4
Sweden	19
Norway	11
Ireland	18
New Zealand	10