By now, those of you who know who he was have probably already heard that guitarist John Goodsall, founder of progressive fusion band Brand X, passed away a couple of weeks ago. I once worked with Goodsall as a keyboardist in 2003, rehearsing for a short Brand X tour that was cancelled at the last minute. I had been a Brand X fan all my life before that, so here are a couple of videos honoring Goodsall and his influence and presence in my musical life.
The first video is a compiled selection of those very same, roughly recorded jam sessions and rehearsals in 2003. The video is purely for audio listening. During these sessions we were rusty in some spots but pocket hitting in others. Most of it was either fully improvised or they were first takes on pre-composed material, so try to be forgiving of any rough edges. Rusty or not, it's high-energy stuff.
The second video is a music-video dedicated to Goodsall and Brand X that I recently chopped together. Some of you know that I make film and video now in addition to music, so I felt this was the least I could do. It is posted on a YT channel that I started primarily for musical dedications just like this. Most of my video dedications to others like this are not intended to be my more-serious video based art, but rather just eye-candy with meaning and sentiment and energy matching. I made this particular video using my phone (insert winky face here); I still take my phone productions seriously though, sitting at my studio desk for hours before putting the ios device back down to focus on my PC-based work again. It is still time invested. For this particular video tribute, I used my favorite Brand X piece entitled Macrocosm (from the album Moroccan Roll [1977]). I put it to surfing footage and many different forms of cosmic-style animation and time-lapse because I simply found the energy apropos. This piece features Brand X's original line-up of players, back in the 70s.
Both videos are significant to me for two obviously different reasons. Check 'em out and enjoy.
I share these videos here as a final gesture in honor of the man. Rest In Peace, John Goodsall.
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