Alexandria RobbinsHey Geoff! How did you get your start as a musician/keyboardist? Is this what you always envisioned doing with your life or did you dream of doing something else? You are an incredible musician and I can’t imagine the music world without you.Hi there. I started piano lessons when I was 6 years old, then took up classical organ a few years later (my dad was a church organist). I don’t think there was much else I wanted to do other than a career in music. I had a stint as a landscape gardener in the gap year between senior school and music college, but I wasn’t too good at that – I didn’t know my patios from my pools! Hopefully I made the right choice. PS I’m not planning on retiring for the foreseeable future you’ll be pleased to hear ☺
Blair Barbero
I would like to know who Geoff’s musical influences were in his early years. And…Thank you for decades of awesome inspiration!
I was primarily influenced by English church music when I sung in choirs as a boy. Other European composers – Handel’s Chorales, Bach’s organ works, and Haydn along with the likes of William Byrd and Thomas Tallis were all part of my staple diet. When I got introduced to rock music, I was heavily influenced by the wave of British keyboard-based ‘underground’ bands of the late 60s such as Procol Harum, Caravan, The Nice, and even – Yes! Then when I went to Leeds Music College, I really got into avant-garde Jazz and big band arranging. After I had graduated I moved to London and got into a lot of dance and disco music doing session work in that particular field. I think it’s fair to say my influences have been quite diverse over the years.
I would like to know who Geoff’s musical influences were in his early years. And…Thank you for decades of awesome inspiration!
I was primarily influenced by English church music when I sung in choirs as a boy. Other European composers – Handel’s Chorales, Bach’s organ works, and Haydn along with the likes of William Byrd and Thomas Tallis were all part of my staple diet. When I got introduced to rock music, I was heavily influenced by the wave of British keyboard-based ‘underground’ bands of the late 60s such as Procol Harum, Caravan, The Nice, and even – Yes! Then when I went to Leeds Music College, I really got into avant-garde Jazz and big band arranging. After I had graduated I moved to London and got into a lot of dance and disco music doing session work in that particular field. I think it’s fair to say my influences have been quite diverse over the years.
Paul Michael Moon Rogers
When I heard, through our mutual friend Jon Dee, that you were going to be performing Awaken last year I was initially shocked that this lineup could be THAT brazen. “Is _nothing_ sacred” was the thought that went through my mind. I mean that’s a Jon Anderson signature piece. When I heard that you’d performed it excellently and I saw some YouTube videos that backed the glowing reviews up I realised that this lineup could do anything. Now you’re doing CTTE *and* Awaken. What’s next? ‘The Remembering’ and ‘The Gates of Delirium’? Or… ‘That that is’ (one can only hope). My question… Are you enjoying performing Yes epics?
It takes some time get to grips with a piece such as ‘Awaken’. Like many of Yes’s longer epics, it is made up of a number of scene changes and development of motifs which recur during the piece in different guises. I think we do a pretty decent version of this particular song, and it is an uplifting but challenging piece to pull off. I think if I put my mind to it, I would hopefully be able to play many of the other pieces from their vast catalogue – but ‘Gates’? We’ll see. That’s a tough one! Either way, it’s enjoyable to analyse the songs, play this great music and hear what intense detail and ideas went into the original recordings.
When I heard, through our mutual friend Jon Dee, that you were going to be performing Awaken last year I was initially shocked that this lineup could be THAT brazen. “Is _nothing_ sacred” was the thought that went through my mind. I mean that’s a Jon Anderson signature piece. When I heard that you’d performed it excellently and I saw some YouTube videos that backed the glowing reviews up I realised that this lineup could do anything. Now you’re doing CTTE *and* Awaken. What’s next? ‘The Remembering’ and ‘The Gates of Delirium’? Or… ‘That that is’ (one can only hope). My question… Are you enjoying performing Yes epics?
It takes some time get to grips with a piece such as ‘Awaken’. Like many of Yes’s longer epics, it is made up of a number of scene changes and development of motifs which recur during the piece in different guises. I think we do a pretty decent version of this particular song, and it is an uplifting but challenging piece to pull off. I think if I put my mind to it, I would hopefully be able to play many of the other pieces from their vast catalogue – but ‘Gates’? We’ll see. That’s a tough one! Either way, it’s enjoyable to analyse the songs, play this great music and hear what intense detail and ideas went into the original recordings.
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