I'm just announcing the death of a good friend and talented composer Jonathan FeBland (aka Nicholas Land) after a long battle with cancer.
Jonathan and I started our first studio together in 1984, recording 'The Seasons' for New World Music, a collection of Jon's classical music pieces. It was a joyful and exciting time for both of us, just starting out in the music business, with a studio all of our very own.
In 1985, Jon and I collaborated on three albums for New World, producing the chilled ambience of IONOSPHERES (under the pseudonym KARMA), the funky SPEED OF SOUND (as 'Whitelight') and the epic spiritual vocal album LEGACY, as 'Whitelight and friends'.
I also worked with him on his excellent sequel to 'The Seasons' called 'Wonders of the World', again featuring a selection of Johns superb classical tone poems set in an electronic soundscape.
Although our collaborative efforts diminished over the ensuing years, we continued to be good friends, sharing our crazy Monty Python sense of humour, coming up with endless nonsensical lyrics for John's songs that would often result in crying with tears of laughter.
I am proud to be carrying his musical legacy forward in my own way with the re-recording of the LEGACY album that we wrote together all those years ago.
Jon, I shall sorely miss your zany humour and your astonishing ability to, as you would have put it, 'write a pretty good tune or two'.
God has acquired a formidable composer. I hope he puts you in your rightful place in charge of the orchestra!
Jonathan also maintained his own YouTube channel with many performances of his original musical compositions: https://www.youtube.com/user/FeBlandMusic
Jonathan's brother Adam has setup a YouTube channel dedicated to promoting recent performances of Jonathan's music, which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEV1y15Jb-dkLh6owPiVVyQ
Jonathan's first album The Seasons was released on the New World Music label in 1984. Jonathan chose to adopt the pseudonym of Nicholas Land, to differentiate this music from his classical work. The album comprises of light and uplifting 'tone poems' reflecting the joy and happiness of the world outdoors.
You can now listen to The Seasons in its entirety on YouTube.com.
The sequel to The Seasons, Wonders of the World was a collection of tracks depicting some of the most famous landmarks in the world. This was released in 1985 on the New World Music label. In a similar style to the The Seasons, this album again display's Jonathan's melodic and carefree musical styles, suffused with optimism and joy.
You can now listen to Wonders of the World in its entirety on YouTube.com.
Many years after the New World releases, Jonathan returned to the genre with this compilation album of remixes of some of his best known New World material. He also agreed to drop the Nicholas Land pseudonym, choosing the slightly more recognizable Jon Land variant of his name.
Shimmering Moon, part one of Jonathan's Landscape Collection painted calm and gentle vistas of sound as a relaxing backdrop to warm summer evenings and as restful interludes.
Part two of the Landscape Collection continued in the same style as the first, providing a smooth and restful bed of gentle music for peace and relaxation.