Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy
Genre: Ambi-coustic, jazz-age fusion, with touches of Art-rock
Release date: 2/5/2021
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Quick Spin:
The promotional material for the album Ravenna offers this concise description:
Ravenna. A richly textured instrumental journey inspired by the visually spectacular 5th and 6th century mosaics of Ravenna, Italy. Here are eight musical mosaics by the acclaimed duo in their most ambitious recording yet.
Long Play:
If you have arrived at this review and do not yet know the music of Jeff Johnson or Phil Keaggy, shame on the world for hiding her gems. Key-man-composer Jeff Johnson, and guitar virtuoso Phil Keaggy have been at their respective crafts for over a century of combined years. Each in turn, has built a massive catalogue, spanning multiple genres.
Ravenna, following Frio Suite (2009), WaterSky (2012), and Cappadocia (2019) is the duo’s fourth full-length, ambi-cousitic collaboration. Part of Johnson's craft is weaving together his keys (piano, organ, synth) and Phil’s many guitars, inside a layered, percussive sound mountain.
I might loosely compare the duo’s efforts to figure skating-- (No gender implications)--just the idea of two people, flawlessly working with each other, melded and flowing, in a dance that sometimes feels “simple” but is in fact, disciplined and difficult - the product of honing years.
In the promo material for Ravenna, Johnson suggests that this is their most ambitious effort yet. Which strikes me as a high bar--How do you improve on serial excellence? How do you make a better kid? I am not sure all of what is behind that statement, I can, however, tell you what I hear in Ravenna that is both distinctive and reaching.
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Ravenna, like its predecessor Cappadocia, boasts inspiration from a concrete geography with a deep sacred history--this time an Italian city which hosts a number of Byzantine-era churches and buildings, as ubiquitous as white frame churches are to the American south.
In keeping with the Mediterranean motif, Keaggy dips into his wheelhouse (consider his album, The Streets of Madrid) then spices the work --using a borrowed mandolin and mandocello, with distinctively Italian hue.
As for the Churches of inspiration--These are not the flying-buttress rib and glass creations of a later age--They are however, colossal. Think of structures of tremendous heft with high domed ceilings-- many adorned from floor to ceiling in with massive mosaics, each in turn created from shards or rock, glass and gem. That both the structures and their mosaics remain with us these 1500 years later, testifies to astonishing craftsmanship and engineering.
As it is, I hail from a wing of Christendom which is not wholly at ease with sacred imaging. So I put aside my Puritan lens and consider these mosaics from the vantage of a “Middle Aged” pilgrim. I walk my 6th century self through the doors and into a grand expanse. I see above my head, the spangled firmament-an arching rock canvas of gold stars, or another dome heralding the King, Creator, and Redeemer of the world.
The stunning packaging that accompanies the CD features Jeff’s pictures of Ravenna’s interior spaces and mosaics. I see an exotic creature from the book of Revelation, or the Holy Spirit as a dove presiding over the baptism of Jesus. I see sundry saints, Mary, angels, a cosmic cross, or in one, the Lamb of God, lifted high, like the center of the universe. And in looking, my life is given meaning, mystery and scale. (I feel small, but enveloped.)
The man hours behind these works is staggering, the spiritual implications even greater.
We might think of the body of Christ in this present world as made of many parts (people) even as a mosaic is made of many stones.
Indeed, This idea is suggested in verse that illustrates the CD,
Consider this fragment from the poem “Ravenna” by poet Scott Cairns.
Our brokenness, just now suggests
New purpose,
As each sharp edge avails for us
A place to meet.
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And so it goes, even in the creative enterprise, these independent stones play off of each other in part of a larger telling.
All of which brings me to Ravenna’s sound. In what ways do Johnson and Keaggy illustrate the experience of walking into a star encrusted cathedral? How does this music illustrate the idea of Mosaic?
First, there are the titles. Mosaic One, Mosaic Two…on through Mosaic Eight. It is as if we are playing tone-poem Jeopardy. Jeff and Phil create the tune, we fill in the title. The compositions are largely impressionistic and asymmetrical, and range from six-and-half to seven-and-a-half minutes each.--Which makes for a series of long songs, or very short symphonies, replete with movements. And while each of these mosaics are in themselves distinctive, I find them unified. I can imagine, eight frames on a wall, with different content but a shared mind and pallet..
On my very first listen I wrote down words conjured by the music. Consider my first impressions.
Starts with bells and birds… Outside,
Then in.
Simple. Open. Expansive.
Spacious.
Italian Mandolin??
hey-- that's quirky
Warm
Sheltered, protected.
Massive.
Delicate/Masculine
Rest, Rest, Rest
Luxury, layered, but not crowded.
Thematic and aural unity. Rich
Whole
Madrigal?
Season-Summer? But not hot.
Guitar like liquid fish.
Comfort.
This ended soon. I feel refreshed,
enlivened.
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If you take my loose notes and create a unit, you can see what I find distinctive in this recording. There is throughout, a certain muscle, generosity and strength. The parts fit, like a well engineered car. I was surprised when, in impressionistic mode, I used the word “masculine” --not because I hear in the music something that a noble, strong and virtuous woman could not personify… but because. Bass.
Many of the textural dallies build from a bed of low bass notes… Not thudding, but like a solid rock floor. This entire work just exudes quality and cush.
Add to that mix, elements of quirk. I heard at least two or three textural elements that belong to 60s sci-fi.
Add to that, gliding cosmic sound loops that could accompany a movie like Interstellar.
Add to that a touch of Rev. Several tracks feature a third player, drummer Mike Snyder. I even heard in the mix what may be a subliminal rock-organ nod to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Add to that, a required season.
As part of my quest to make Jeff and Phil’s collaborations into a modern four seasons, I assign to Ravenna, July. But not a July of blistering heat. Think of summer in the high mountains, or in the shelter of a stone-cool cathedral washed in the breeze of the Adriatic Sea.
Final thoughts:
If there is one final take away from the themes of Ravenna, it is this: Endurance.
I am blessed to watch two men give themselves to God-centric artistry over many decades. Both men have broken free from the limiting confines of the Christian music industry, Both remain faithful to their calling. They have loved God and loved their neighbors through their craft. (My ears are beyond blessed.)
I have no idea if the music of Phil and Jeff will be played in a hundred years. I will not be surprised, however to find they have commissions in the new Jerusalem, or that their songs echo in the heavenly breeze.
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