Tribute To A Stratos-related Musical Hero

By now, those of you who know who he was have probably already heard that guitarist John Goodsall, founder of legendary progressive fusion band Brand X, passed away last week. We are starting to cut down on our habit of posting about non-Stratos-Ensemble related musicians and legends who pass away, however, this particular legend was quite Stratos related. There were many ex-Stratos band members who played with John Goodsall, such as Dean De Benedictis, Mick Stevens, Brock Avery and Doug Lunn. Some of these players even first met during sessions with Goodsall. So, here are a couple of videos honoring Goodsall and his indirect-yet-significant connection to The Stratos Ensemble.

The first video is a compiled selection of roughly recorded jam sessions between Goodsall, De Benedictis, Stevens and Avery back in 2003. They were rusty in some spots, virtually miraculous in others, and most of it was either fully improvised or first takes on pre-composed material. The quality may be slightly rough but fans of either band might want to check it out. High-energy stuff.

The second video is a musical dedicated to Goodsall and Brand X by Stratos founder Dean De Benedictis. In the video, Dean uses his favorite Brand X piece, entitled Macrocosm (from the album Moroccan Roll [1977]), and he puts it to surfing footage and many different forms of animation and time-lapse. This piece features Brand X's original line-up of players back in the 70s.

We share these videos here as a final gesture in honor of the man. Rest In Peace, John Goodsall.