Where are they now? - Steve Howe

This page last updated: 20 Oct 2008
 
YES and projects with several Yesmen
Jon
Anderson
Chris
Squire
Steve
Howe
Alan
White
Rick
Wakeman
Bill
Bruford
Tony
Kaye
Peter
Banks
Patrick
Moraz
Trevor
Horn
Geoff
Downes
Trevor
Rabin
Billy
Sherwood
Igor
Khoroshev
Anderson & Wakeman
Asia
CIRCA: (with White,
Kaye & Sherwood)
Oliver Wakeman
Others associated with the band

On this page: Solo projects - Guest appearances

On other pages: Yes news - Asia - Billy Sherwood's Pink Floyd tribute albums (with Howe) - Where Are They Now? front page

Steve Howe's official site: Homepage - News - MySpace page

Yes & Asia
Howe had significant commitments to a Yes tour this year, but this has been cancelled following Jon Anderson's ill health. Instead, Howe is touring with Chris Squire and Alan White—see details on main news page. He has also been continuing to work in the original Asia reunion with Geoff Downes, John Wetton and Carl Palmer. Asia have been touring and have a new album in Phoenixsee details here.

The Steve Howe Trio
The Steve Howe Trio brings together Steve on electric guitar, son Dylan Howe on drums and Ross Stanley (Dylan Howe Quintet) on Hammond XK3 organ. The band toured the UK in Jun in support of their debut album, The Haunted Melody, now out; tracks: "Kenny's Sound" (originally by Kenny Burrell), "Mood for a Day", "The Haunted Melody" (originally by Roland Kirk), "Siberian Khatru", "Blue Bash" (originally by Jimmy Smith with Burrell), "Momenta" (originally from Quantum Guitar), "Laughing with Larry" (original solo guitar piece dedicated to the cover artist), "Travelin'" (originally by Burrell with Smith), "Dream River", "Close to the Edge" (based on the opening section of the piece), "Sweet Thunder" (originally from Pulling Strings). Pieces are arranged for the trio format, so some depart significantly in form from the originals. On the UK tour, performances began with a solo set by Howe (largely playing material from Motif Vol. 1see below), with the Trio's set being close to their album and to last year's shows. The 15 Jun set, to a capacity crowd at Ronnie Scott's, was: Howe solo set—"Intersection Blues", "Masquerade", "The Golden Mean", "Concerto in D 2nd Movement", "Ram", "Sketches in the Sun", "Laughing with Larry", "Trambone", "Clap"; trio set—"Sweet Thunder", "Dream River", "Travelin'", "Siberian Khatru", "The Haunted Melody", "Blue Bash", "Momenta", "Kenny's Sound"(?), "Mood for a Day", encore: "Close to the Edge" (opening section).

Eastern Canadian dates followed in Sep/Oct, with 4 solo shows in Quebec and Ontario (2 Oct show sold out), then 5 Trio shows in Ontario (7 Oct show sold out with audience of ~130). The set was again most of the album; on 7 Oct, the first encore was a solo piece by Steve.

The band played their debut UK tour in May 2007. The set list varied slightly over the tour, but on 17 May was: first set"Travelin'", "Dream River", "Chitlins con Carne" (originally by Burrell), "Distant Seas" (originally on Natural Timbre), "Mood for a Day", "Blue Bash!", "Close to the Edge" opening section; second set, acoustic section"Bareback" (Not Necessarily Acoustic), medley "Smile/Whispering/Trambone" ("Smile" originally by Charlie Chaplin; "Whispering" is a 1920s piece but Howe referenced Les Paul's version as how he first heard it; "Trambone" originally by Chet Atkins), "Cactus Boogie" (The Steve Howe Album), "Sketches in the Sun", "Intersection Blues"; second set, trio format"Kenny's Sound", "Momenta", "The Haunted Melody", "Sweet Thunder", "Clap"; encore"Siberian Khatru". The London show had an audience of ~200, while the Birmingham show had an audience of ~50. Read my review of the 2007 London show.

Solo
Howe did four recent Canadian solo dates before touring with his Trio, as described above. The Toronto date was sold out. The first set was all on Spanish guitar and the second set all on acoustic, with encores on dobro steel and lap-steel. Pieces included his version of "To be Over", "Leaves of Green", "Australia", "Distant Seas", "Masquerade" and "Soon" (with vocals).

Howe's newest solo album is Motif Volume 1 (Howe Sounds), now out. This solo guitar album consists of existing pieces plus four new compositions. These are all solo performances recorded in 2005 and 2007, without overdubs, played on a variety of guitars (electric, folk, Spanish, 12-string and dobro slide). Tracks: "The Golden Mean" (new piece, premièred as the opening number at the Steve Howe Appreciation Society evening in Feb 2008), "Intersection Blues", "Corkscrew", "Trambone" (Howe's version of the Chet Atkins piece), "Devon Blue", "Clap" (on electric guitar), "Australia", "Part & Parcel", "Sketches in the Sun", "Second Initial", "Concerto in D 2nd Movement", "Diary of a Man Who Vanished", "Cat Napping", "Ram", "Provence", "Winter 2nd Mov' 4 Seasons", "Meadow Rag", "Heritage", "Bareback", "Dorothy". Howe explained that the album:

is the first part of a collection that will cover all my solo "one man" guitar tunes. Several solos have premiered on group CDs, or live CDs. There seemed no one place to go to reference this most enjoyable aspect of my work. These tunes have become my exclusive repertoire, allowing my writing a long leash, arranging opportunities, and the pick of any tune that I want to interpret.

[...] This was to build up a complete overview of my solo guitar music, afresh in the studio. I've occasionally changed the style of guitar used on previously released tunes, and recorded the first studio versions of others.

[Support this website by buying through Amazon (US or UK): go to the Where Are They Now? Amazon listings page.]

So Far is the name given to a planned 3CD anthology of Steve Howe's career to date with accompanying DVD which was originally due in 2001. This appears to be the same project earlier tentatively entitled Headstock, being compiled by Howe for Rhino. At least at some point, So Far was to include "Traveller" (written by Currie/Howe—Currie: keyboards, viola; Howe: guitar, bass; Toby Anderson: synth) from Billy Currie's 1988 Transportation. Comments from Howe suggest So Far may also include some Yes or Yes-related material. It has been many months since anything was heard of this project. Howe has also previously talked about a documentary of his career, concentrating on his solo work from 1975-1994, which may be somehow related to So Far, and two new books, one called "The Guitarist's Survival Kit", the second a collaboration. Most recently, at the Steve Howe Appreciation Society workshop in Jun 2005, Howe read a chapter from an autobiography that he is writing (which I guess may be related to some of these other projects).

There are long-standing reports of plans for a guitar and orchestra project. In a Nov 2002 interview, Howe referred to "an orchestral project that would likely turn some ears".

Guest appearances
Howe appears on two Pink Floyd tribute albums organised by Billy Sherwood: Back Against the Wall, based on The Wall, and Return to the Dark Side of the Moon, based on Dark Side of the Moon. He also appears on a cover of "Starship Trooper" by Sherwood et al. on Jim Ladd's Headsets album From Here to Infinitysee details for all three here.

Woman Transcending is a 16-track rarities compilation from Annie Haslam including "Lily's in the Field", co-written and performed by Howe and only previously released as a limited single. David Biglin plays keys on the piece, while other guests on the album include Tony Visconti (ex-Rick Wakeman) and Stan Perkins.

Other news
Steve Howe guests on his son, Virgil's album Geniac (released under the moniker of DJ Sparo), seemingly in the sense that he's been sampled on the album rather than any new recording.

Jonathan Mover, drums in GTR, is planning a "a two volume collection of works from various artists that I've played with over the past twenty or so years. Mainly, a variety of tracks that are dear to me in one way or another and have not had the chance to see the light of day." On his website, he refers to "unreleased GTR (1985)". As GTR was released in 1986, presuming this is not a typo, Mover would appear to be referring to material before the first album.

As well as playing with Yes, Howe joined Frankie Goes to Hollywood for "Welcome to the Pleasure Dome" at the Produced by Trevor Horn concert in 2004. A DVD is out—details under Horn.

Howe appears to have formed his own record label, Howe Sounds, who released Motif Volume 1 and the Steve Howe Trio's The Haunted Melody.



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

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