Cosmic Rumpus by Phil Keaggy & Friends

New liner notes from Phil:

Here are three separate albums we are presenting to you (recorded between 2010 and 2014) ~ I had a blast helping create them with Jack Giering and my oldest friend (since 8th grade)—John Sferra. John, in fact, invited me to participate with him and Jack. I also believe Neal Williams, also a long-time friend, had a hand in introducing me to Jack.
Before we started the 1st of the three trio projects, I played on some of Jack’s vocal songs and songs he produced for others where John did the drumming and also engineered the recordings.
The reason I suggested we call the 2nd and 3rd CDs Jack Giering and John Sferra Trio CDs is simply because we were all so equally balanced in our contributions as players.
The covers turned out very cool too, thanks to Doug Pfeifer.

Since the release of our third Trio project, our dear friend Jack passed into Glory. God bless him and his dear wife Sami. Sweet folks, to be sure!
We miss Jack and his whole way about him—his music, his sense of humor and the stories he would tell.
He also grew the tastiest bird peppers, and he was generous in sending me some now and then.
John and Jack recorded in Warren Ohio at John’s studio and I did my guitar parts in my studio. I also played some bass on a number of tunes. Daniel Pecchio guested and played bass on "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"on Infinty Unleashed - That was fun!

I have some favorites for sure and thought it might be a stronger single project, selecting the best of the three CDs, but then that’s quite subjective. So, after discussing the idea with Tom Gulotta, I agreed that making all three albums available would be the smart thing to do.

There is a special track that I put my brother Mike’s voice on (Memories of Mike Keaggy) on Cosmic Rumpus.
Mike has also gone to Heaven recently. I miss him…
All in all, there are a good many songs with fun things to hear. Jack and John are in great form and it made my job so much more fun and easy to just play along.

There’s a consistent musical thread throughout these 3 titles and John Sferra and I hope you will enjoy the music we made with our friend Jack.

All the best—keep living and loving one another…

Phil Keaggy~ July 24, 2019

Original liner notes:
The creative music clay was thrown on the wall – Once again – jammed out on the keys & God guided us to extract the beauty in this result of sequential additions of creativity from my brothers! We spontaneously played to each other’s beginnings with no idea or rules as to where our musical journeys would end. End? They did not! We have begun Trio cd #3 – Just for fun! Live someday? Don’t know – This cd was music through us – not by us! Do we have more expected in purpose? He will let us know – He really has not been shy & we thank Him! --- Triple Hee!

COSMIC RUMPUS – I had an idea & a vague tune – “A walk on the Cosmic Path” – As I let my mind wander on the keys, while searching for the song, my pups started a very violent sounding mock fight. I stopped & settled them – they innocently watched as I started back on the keys & gleefully renewed their frightful battle! Ok! I laughed – Maybe I am supposed to write Cosmic Rumpus & I went with the flow.

GABBY’s TUNE – 4AM. – Awakened by dogs barking – Sitting at my table in a pinwheeling mix of pain & confusion from my surgeries & sudden awakening – trying to gather my thoughts, I see the sweet picture of Gabby & think “Why”? Far back in the recesses of my mind I hear a melody! – “well dummy – He sent another tune” – went to the keys – played it – recorded it that week! A song of hope for Gabrielle.

FIRST BASS – Was thinking about one of my all time favorites, Sly & Family Stone – Gee – imagined how they would have sounded in the “Big Band” Era!

BLUE CAYMAN – Was putting on John & Phil proclaiming my “Jews Harp Debut”!! (listen close in the very beginning)!! Makes me giggle!!! Just wanted to hear Philly play da blues!

WHATEVER BECAME OF YESTERDAY’S SMILE – Feeling rough like I usually do in the morning (kind of like the rebuilt “It’s alive” Monster of the old horror movies)! – Went to the keys – This came out. John brought it out again in the studio!! Life truly IS what happens while we try to do something else!!
~Jack Giering

The whole process of composing and recording these musical collections, which are aural journeys through our musical psyches comes very naturally for the three of us. “Topsey Treme Part #1” is a salute to Cozy Cole’s big hit of the 50’s Topsey Part 1. “Forest Green” was inspired by a drum track I had recorded that had a primal feel to it. With drums as background and Jack and Phil’s inspirations we have a journey down a river in a rain forest. Propelled by the drums and the panoramic view provided by keyboards and guitar. We’ve made new memories working together!
~John Sferra

In many ways, I feel this is one of my favorite instrumental albums I’ve been involved with. One of the reasons I feel this is because Jack and John provided tracks which allowed me the freedom to explore sounds and play the kind my interest alive in the performance. The final result was a truly satisfying with each listen captivates my interest as not only player but as a listener. Fun music! On a personal note…

Back in the mid 90’s, my brother Mike came for a visit to our home. While here on that visit, I recorded his voice, as he recalled the days of his youth and spoke of his love for music and more importantly family. When Jack and John sent me the track to play guitar to I thought that his memories would add a sweet and personal touch to the recording. So here we have a piece of music with the recollections of a dear brother that I love very much! Mike is 13 years older than me…always was versatile in many vocations and talented. He used to sing and was the sharpest looking of us Keaggy boys (I’m sure my other brothers would agree). He followed our dad’s footsteps into the iron working business. He has been retired now for many years and lives in Arizona. So many memories…thank you Mike for being my brother…We love you and your dear Sharon. God bless you both.
~Phil Keaggy