Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy: Cappadocia

Cappadocia.
Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy
Genre: Ambi-coustic (New Age) with touches of Art-rock
Release 2/2019



Quick Spin:

Cappadocia, the third joint-instrumental work by ambience-keyman Jeff Johnson -- and guitarist Phil Keaggy, showcases both artists at their collaborative best. In keeping with the recipe of their earlier ventures, Cappadocia is at at once impressionistic and precise, hypnotic and varied, melancholy and sublime. “Volume-III” flows naturally from their earlier works, but gives greater space to bold Keaggy licks, a touch of the middle east, and the feeling of soaring. This is the kind of music I lean into, savoring every delicious sound. Those who listen loud will discover all kinds of subterranean textures, and sounds inside of sounds. Emotionally rich, Cappadocia traffics in in both solemnity and full-on joy.



Cappadocia (the album) draws its name and from a weirdly weathered region in central Turkey. Video footage highlights a drip-castle collage, a valley of soft rock dunes. The dunes,in turn are studded with caves, tunnels and man made chambers. Cappadocia (the place) played a vital role in the expansion of the early church, providing place for refuge and worship. (The CD art features pictures of primitive churches hollowed inside the the soft stone dunes)

The music reflects the typography of land and spirit. On the physical: drips, echoes and doves. On the spiritual: that which envelopes and fills. Cappadocia (the album) suggests the very presence of God in mind and place.
 
This  is the language of Sanctuary. 

Beyond that, modern day Cappadocia is a favored land for hot air ballooning. And so we soar on multiple levels.

I might have worked longer to describe the music, but figure you can just listen here.  (Bandcamp)


But if you want to better hear what you are hearing, return here!

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Long Play



IF I corner you in a room, or drive you in my car, it’s not long until I have introduced you to the music of Jeff Johnson or Phil Keaggy. Or better yet, a two-fer.

These two men have gone as far as anyone to shape my ear, or provide a significant background for key events in my life. I still remember where I was the first time I ever heard Phil Keaggy. The year was 79 or 80. I was palling around with friends from the Baptist Student Union. It was night, We were headed to the lake and someone threw Keaggys seminal work, Master and the Musician into the tape deck. I was in a moment, transfixed and transported. Keaggy’s classical guitar riffs swelled and turned, or exploded in high volume rock riffs, only to return to the understated and sublime. I felt pulled into the very throne room of God. The music gave me the holy willies...and I have never quite recovered.

A year or two later, I discovered Jeff. This time a wacked out prog rock offering, that sounded at times like the band Styx mixed with melancholy piano and anchored in the fantasy writings of George McDonald. I was like nothing I had ever heard before. I became a lifelong fan. Johnson is the king of collaboration. His recordings over the years are shaped by the many talented people he has befriended. I am in love with both his variety… and minor hues.


Put the two together and we have peanut butter and jam.

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Cappadocia is Jeff and Phil's third collaborative work. I read one review where Phil called this their best. I am not convinced that it is better...though it may be more intricate and lush. All three live in me.



I have a theory. While each of these projects bear a name that unleash its own set of images, I surmise that Jeff and Phil are secretly working on a four-season collection. Naming each work after seasons would be so 1723 (Vivaldi) ... and my theory is not without holes, but still I see a pattern.



Frio suite: With its deep ambience and echoes, reminds me of Texas Creek in late September or October, which is still pretty warm but colored in the stuff of copper, trickle and reflection.   

Water/Sky: with its darker hues, stark minimalism, and gnarly guitar runs winterish. (Not without exceptions) but I can imagine the churning chill and warm of complex February.

As for Cappadocia. It soars. There is quite-joy in each of these recordings, but I hear in Cappadocia, tones that bespeak unbridled joy...a bountiful flowing. Listen to the closing section of That Which is Hidden and see if hear the hidden brilliance of May following a freshing shower. And when I hear the closing sounds of Chapel of Stone, I hear nothing short of radiance... the sun pushing out over a gilded valley with the very city of God descending!)

While the idea of “sacred” - or Christian instrumental music is largely uncontroversial, I remember when, in the days of the Jesus Music revolution, some people questioned the utility of music without words. They wondered whether music alone could serve a missional function. The answer we came to collectively is that music need not be missional; there is great freedom in Christ to engage in all sorts of things with or without sacred utility. That said, I DO hear Holy Spirit lessons all through this music.

Paul, in the book of Galatians says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, (and) self-control.

So...What do I hear when I listen to Cappadocia?  A:  A basket, filled with the fruit.

The gentleness, peace and joy are pretty much direct readings of the sound. The patience and kindness, together with self control are suggested by the process. Both men exercise musical restraint. Rather than make Cappadocia a show-off session, Jeff and Phil embrace musical discipline, sublimating their gifts to each other, even working to make each other shine. I think too of Jeff’s many hours on the tweaking side, with the long-suffering required to execute the blend.

Within Cappadocia I hear a few primal Keaggy tunes.  (The final track plays delightful nods to Master and the Musician, while other tracks mirror sounds I associate with the Streets of Madrid, Phantasmagorical, or Wind and the Wheat. What makes them new is the setting, which so expertly frames Keaggy's guitar pearls. Then, both men manifest restraint, so as not to tear the larger musical fabric. Cappadocia is cohesive in its Holy Ghost discipline.

Finally, I fully believe that this music represents embodied love.  I imagine there is a certain amount of trust that each man gives to each other in abandoning himself to the other's gifts. (including pushing out an unbridled vocal that will be, given the magic of machine, turned into angel song.) Join all that, to the Love of God shed abroad in the hearts of those who call upon Him,  and this is testament to love-filled craftsmanship.


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I would be curious to learn more about the recording process. These sessions are peculiar in that Jeff and Phil recorded (as I understand it) each of their many tracks in separate places, then shared files. Both musicians have a home studio.

Many - but not all of the songs begin with Jeff Johnson piano. I can imagine that Phil responded to - or improvised on top of a musical bed. But did it always work that way? Some songs seem more Jeff, some more Phil.  The sound blend is so smooth that it is hard to believe that these could have been recorded in separate spaces. Each is playing off each other… Or responding to their own earlier work, in second or third layers. There are times too, where I am hearing notes inside of Keaggy's guitar, almost as if Jeff came in and dropped little chime bells inside each brush of the strings. (Forgive me for my non techy language.) Cappadocia is a work of studio magic.





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Closing note -- I have a wish: That Jeff and Phil will find another work yet left in them. Cappadocia dishes Joy, Rev, and peace of mind, but I’ve still got a hankering for all the rock’n heat Jeff and Phil could throw at a summer thunderstorm! Bring on the chaos.

Should that never happen, I will yet die a satisfied man:)