Customer Reviews

Frio Suite

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As a keyboardist/pianist I have admired Jeff Johnson's creative style for decades, especially his "Celtic" side. And Phil Keaggy's music has been on my CD player (tape deck, record player) ever since I was "introduced" to him in the mid 1970s. Well, lo and behold, something miraculous has happened! The two gifted artists got together. Thanks to an awesome God and a common experience at a retreat center in Texas, we get 53:38 of heaven on earth!

I've lived almost thirty years in Texas and had never heard of the River Frio, but if it's as beautiful and inspiring as the music on this project, I need to pack my bags! I can almost hear echoes in a canyon, and streams of water coming together as guitar and keyboard sound and blend. Another track reminds me of a gentle, relaxing ride on a river raft or inner tube. And just when you think Johnson has the upper hand and his myriad of keyboard voices dominate, in comes Keaggy's superb guitar and the music winds on.

I'm still becoming acquainted with this latest addition to my music collection, but so far my favorite pieces on Frio Suite include the melodic "Between Heaven and Earth" and "Dream of the Blue Hole" (for their simple and beautiful piano sections), along with the second half of "Riding the Stone Waves" with Brother Phil's excellent guitar work. Let the river flow . . .

I've been listening to the music of Phil Keaggy and Jeff Johnson for over twenty years, and so I know their respective styles very well. I think the highest praise I can offer this album is that, while on one hand it weaves together melodies and sounds that are distinctively and recognisably "Keaggy" and "Johnson," it also fuses their musical visions together in such a way as to sound fresh and new and different from what they've each done before. They've taken each other, and thus us their listeners, to a new place, for which I'm very grateful. Highly recommended.

Take an outstanding keyboard artist and composer of contemporary music, team him up with one who is widely regarded to be one of the finest guitarists in the world, add the visual art of a world-class photographer, inspire them with some of the most sublime scenery in all creation, and you have Frio Suite. Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy, along with Kathy Hastings, have produced a moving masterpiece. This instrumental album takes you to the banks of the Frio River, where still waters and striking cliffs give rest to the soul. If you can't make it to Laity Lodge, on the banks of the Frio, Frio Suite is the next best thing. Highly recommended!

Two master musicians collaborate and it is even greater than the sum of it's parts. Keaggy's extraordinary riffs and dexterity are amply dislayed, with heavy but soft distortion and texture and acoustic shimmering throughout. Meanwhile, Johnson continues to mine the infinite universe for new sounds and "moods". Just a delight to the ear, but of course this album doesn't pretend to be anything more than ambience; a soundtrack for contemplation, rest, romance and uplift.

"And for all this, nature is never spent; there lives the dearest freshness deep down things." Those words from Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem, "God's Grandeur" drifted through my mind listening to Frio Suite. The music is sparse, itself as undulating as the river that inspired it. The names on the cover of this CD: Phil Keaggy, Jeff Johnson, Luci Shaw, Kathy Hastings, are known to many as guitarist, keyboardist, poet, and visual artist, respectively, and I at first wondered if this collaboration might overwhelm its subject, as with the supergroup status of some rock bands. But no, as with Hopkins, the creative souls gathered here came not to dazzle with their virtuosity, but to listen. Because they created in that meditative state, we're also invited to listen.

The result has an ebb and flow, like the river, alternately lush and barren, splashing and receding. This echoes the controlled pallette of Kathy Hasting' geological art on the cover, and the natural imagery in Luci Shaw's poem, "Frio River" printed inside. Keaggy's signature guitar riffs occasionally ripple through, as do Johnson's effervescent keyboard arpeggios. Both Keaggy and Johnson have extensive catalogs of both vocal and instrumental albums. This album falls into the latter category, and appeared as NPR "Echoes"' CD of the month even before its release.

My favorite piece is probably "An Ancient Continuo", as it most suggests my favorite Johnson instrumental albums: King Raven Vols. 1-3, The Enduring Story - A Retrospective, and Songs From Albion 2. Among his vocal albums, my favorite include: The Memory Tree, Pilgrimage, and Great Romantics.

That said, this album reminds me what a great guitarist Phil Keaggy is, and how much I like it when he rocks out, as on his epic, "Time": Time 1, or with his former band, Glass Harp: Glass Harp: Live at Carnegie Hall. But he's also a great songwriter, as on his debut vocal album, "What a Day" What A Day / Love Broke Thru.

Following a river may take you anywhere, and new adventures may await just around the bend. Frio Suite will be welcomed by those familiar with Keaggy and Johnson, and who eagerly await each new release. But for those new to these artists, following this river may open up a whole new world of listening.

If you want to relax to Jazz that at times is almost New Age-like, this is fantastic. I may have a new favorite with Keaggy's Wind in the Wheat.

best instrumental work from Keaggy since Wind and the Wheat. He and Johnson work wonderfully together and I hope this is the first of several colaborations of these two.

FRIO SUITE, a CD of Phil Keaggy and Jeff Johnson is very interesting to me. There are different approaches to what might seem normal on the part of Mr. Keaggy. He always seems to bring something new to life in his music. I am not really familiar with Mr. Johnson but I really have enjoyed his contribution to this wonderful and different CD. For those who enjoy this type of music it would be a very good addition to your music library.

I already gave my uncle "Frio Suite" for his birthday. The cover art is as beautiful as the music. I am a new Jeff Johnson fan but this sealed the deal. I'm also new to Phil Keaggey. Now I see what the buzz is about. Our family has enjoyed the Frio Canyon with the carved out, 30 foot deep and ice cold even in summer piece of heaven that is Blue Hole. Jeff, Phil, Kathy and Luci captured the essence of this place accurately. I am grateful to these artists for their interpretation of this Texas hill country treasure.