Phil Keaggy Appreciation Thread...!!!

[lwpmedia]

GO...

[arabicadabra]

Rule number one - no matter HOW good a Phil Keaggy album is, it will never give an idea of his talent like seeing him live. That said, the double CD called Triple Set that features three complete 70s albums - Ph'Lip Side, Town To Town and Play Thru Me - is my favorite of his. Ignore the low-fi production and listen to the compositional brilliance and the guitar mastery.

[lwpmedia]

Here's a good example of PHIL with the HARP from 2013

[Vic2012]

In the 80s I was into the whole Christian Contemporary Music scene. As is the case with all genre's of music I get into, I always tend to lean toward the best musicians and avoid the cult of personality. Phil Keaggy was the cream of the crop as far as I'm concerned. At one time I had all these albums on vinyl:

Studio albums

What a Day, 1973
Love Broke Thru, 1976
Emerging Phil Keaggy Band, 1977
The Master and the Musician, 1978
Ph'lip Side, 1980
Town to Town, 1981
Play thru Me, 1982
Underground, 1983
Getting Closer!, 1985
The Wind and the Wheat, 1987, instrumental album
Phil Keaggy and Sunday's Child, 1988
Find Me in These Fields, 1990
Crimson and Blue, 1993

I also had a Glass Harp compilation album.

Today I only have 220, 1996, instrumental album on CD.

I saw Phil live 3 times. I only saw one concert where he played with a full band. It wasn't even his band he was just there playing guitar for them. It was a lame, disappointing concert. The other times I've seen Phil was just him alone and his acoustic guitars. U never got a chance to see him rock out.

Great guitarist, musician, songwriter, performer, etc. A class act all the way around. I haven't kept up with anything he's done since the early 90s.

[lwpmedia]

the following article describes one of the most amazing musical evening I've ever seen.... mostly because it was completely unexpected

http://www.soundpress.net/files-feat...eaggy-band.php

[Jubal]

I've seen Phil in concert more than any other artist - 13 shows! Here are a few notables:
Three times with a band- the first was with The Phil Keaggy Band ala the Emerging album. They were at a Southern Baptist church back around 75. They had a HUGE PA and Phil had his blackie Strat and sunburst Les Paul Standard. A bunch of old people walked out, but there were a lot of kids with dropped jaws seeing him play that night.
He also played a JesusFest at the Omni and I belive the Benny Hester Band backed him up. He played a Yamaha 2000 then- didn't like the tone of that axe.
He also had another band when he played once at what is now The Tabernacle. I think he was using the Zion and his trusty LP on that one. I liked his Zion axe better than the Yamaha, but he really got better tones with the big two- the LP and the Strat.
His acoustic shows are also very good, and he does rock out some, but it's just noit quite the same as with a good band.
He primarily plays a very nice Olson, and makes ample use of a looping machine to set up grooves.
One particular show aroung 96 or 97 in at a church in Stone Mountain featured him opening for Twila Paris. His looping skills and playing that night were the best I have ever seen. One mind-blowing performance was when he played Legacy from the the Acoustic Sketches album. He must have had 6 separate loops going with some very Prog alternating time changes. I thought I already knew how talented he truly was until then.
He always does something different at every show. The man loves to play, and many singers complain that he's too good a singer to be such a great guitarist.

[jim1961]

I am a fan of his instrumental releases.

[Vic2012]

the following article describes one of the most amazing musical evening I've ever seen.... mostly because it was completely unexpected

http://www.soundpress.net/files-feat...eaggy-band.php

I read a little bit of that article. Was it the Phil K Band or Glass Harp that was playing?

[Jubal]

That is Glass Harp. Not sure why they were listed as the Phil Keaggy Band except that perhaps the promotions people at BB's club may have thought Phil's name is better known. I know Phil would've been fine with it either way. He has very little ego.
Of course, there is one time that Phil was a "little bad" when someone challenged him.
This happened back in the days of the Phil Keaggy Band when they were touring for their Emerging album. The band went to a bar to get something to eat and Phil and some of the band members were joking around. There happened to be a acoustic guitarist/singer who got annoyed with them and called them out by saying "Hey! You think this is easy? I'd like to see you do better!". Immediately Phil got up on stage , asked the guy for his guitar and told him to take a break. The guy was shocked, but let him do it. Lynn Nichols, the rhythm guitarist for the Phil Keaggy Band, stated that the guy really wished he hadn't done that, because Phil proceeded to mesmerize the audience for the next 45 minutes.
Lynn said Phil was actually very gracious to the guy, "and knowing Phil, they probably struck up a friendship".

[Vic2012]

That is Glass Harp. Not sure why they were listed as the Phil Keaggy Band except that perhaps the promotions people at BB's club may have thought Phil's name is better known. I know Phil would've been fine with it either way. He has very little ego.
Of course, there is one time that Phil was a "little bad" when someone challenged him.
This happened back in the days of the Phil Keaggy Band when they were touring for their Emerging album. The band went to a bar to get something to eat and Phil and some of the band members were joking around. There happened to be a acoustic guitarist/singer who got annoyed with them and called them out by saying "Hey! You think this is easy? I'd like to see you do better!". Immediately Phil got up on stage , asked the guy for his guitar and told him to take a break. The guy was shocked, but let him do it. Lynn Nichols, the rhythm guitarist for the Phil Keaggy Band, stated that the guy really wished he hadn't done that, because Phil proceeded to mesmerize the audience for the next 45 minutes.
Lynn said Phil was actually very gracious to the guy, "and knowing Phil, they probably struck up a friendship".

Cool story. How about that runor that went around that Jimi Hendrix said Phil taught him everything he knew? I know it's bogus but I always wondered how that rumor got started.

[lwpmedia]

Right... the show at BBs in NYC in 2012 was listed on the marquee as the Phil Keaggy Band but in reality it was GLASS HARP -- making it a literal bucket list night for me.

[Jubal]

The Jimi Hendrix rumor is based on Jimi mentioning Phil as one of his favorite guitar players at that time. The main rumor is that Jimi was asked by a major talk show host (maybe Dick Cavett) "How does it feel to be the world's greatest guitarist?" Jimi supposedly said "I don't know- ask Phil Keaggy."
I'm not even sure the comment was even recorded. Phil believes the rumor is not true at all and that Jimi just mentioned him along with several other great guitarists as his favorites at that time. I have heard numerous variations including Jimi saying "Eric Clapton is not God, Phil Keaggy is God". Phil has been asked about that rumor many times, and in one interview, he stated something like "It was very nice of Jimi to mention me, because he was an incredible guitarist, but sometimes I wish that rumor would just go away. It's not that I don't like people liking what I do- it's just embarassing sometimes when people say something about me that is not true and then I have to correct it and hope I don't step on anyone's toes. Suffice it to say that I am humbled when people compliment me, especially a great guitar player like Hendrix."

[JKL2000]

Is Keaggy prog?

[bobg56]

And for Phil's prog connections, check out "Phil Tony Jerry Jam" clips on Youtube. It was a jam with Tony Levin & Jerry Marotta that I was at back in 2007. I have no idea how they know Phil as I don't know of anytime they played on each others albums. Anybody know the connection?

Bob

[Jubal]

And for Phil's prog connections, check out "Phil Tony Jerry Jam" clips on Youtube. It was a jam with Tony Levin & Jerry Marotta that I was at back in 2007. I have no idea how they know Phil as I don't know of anytime they played on each others albums. Anybody know the connection?

Bob

More than likely, they met up at a NAMM convention. Phil has been a product demonstrator for several guitar companies. Phil also has met up with quite a few musicians over the years. He'll jam with just about anybody, and he doesn't try to show other musicians up. For him, it's all for the love of playing.

[Jubal]

Is Keaggy prog?

Phil doesn't try to be Prog, but he certainly can be. He plays, Jazz, Classical, Folk, Blues, and he can definitely Rock out when he wants to.
His album The Master And The Musician was inspired by Anthony Phillips' The Geese and the Ghost. There are definite Prog moments on that one.

[moecurlythanu]

Is Keaggy prog?

The first Glass Harp album is roughly half Prog.

[Jubal]

Try this live instrumental on for size:

[Jubal]

Here a really awesome Blues/Gospel song where he layers numerous parts including BGVs.

[Jubal]

Here's a track he played electric guitar for Paul Clark. It features one of his best studio solos ever. Some Alan Holdsworth influence here.

[FrippWire]

Count me as a fan. I came to Phil's music through Glass Harp. I had always heard good things about them so I was eager to check them out. I picked up one of their discs and that led me to investigate Phil's stuff. His discography is diverse. Some of his discs are acoustic, some instrumental and I think I've even got one that's Beatles-esque.

[Jubal]

Here's a track from The Master And The Musician That is most similar to Anthony Phillips' The Geese and the Ghost. The electric guitar part at around 4:10 is awesome.

[Reid]

^^^
That's when I enjoyed his playing. Before he started sounding like Holdsworth and Michael Hedges. I used to play along with that solo, but couldn't come close to that guitar tone. Agora, from the same album is probably my favorite Keaggy solo on record.

[arabicadabra]

Steve Morse even listed Keaggy as an influence way back when - the only time I've really heard it is the track that opens High Tension Wires called Ghostwind - man, does that sound like a Phil Keaggy song.

[rojon]

some time back there had been talk of a collaboration with Jon Anderson, but nothing ever came of it...

no wait...




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qG6k5OIAVg