For those unaware, Fanfare For The Uncommon Man: The Official Keith Emerson Tribute Concert is a new concert film and album documenting the May 2016 tribute show honoring the late Keith Emerson.

The Official Keith Emerson Tribute Concert is now available as a four-disc set featuring DVD and two CDs capturing the entire two-and-a-half-hour event and a disc of Bonus interviews.

The show featured a roster of rockers including Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, Eddie Jobson, Jordan Rudess, Brian Auger, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Vinnie Colaiuta, Marc Bonilla, Gregg Bissonnette, CJ Vanston, Troy Luccketta, Rachel Flowers, Terje Mikkelsen, Philippe Saisse, Travis Davis, Ed Roth, Mike Wallace, Mick Mahan, Karma Auger, Rick Livingstone, Jonathan Sindelman, Joe Travers, Kae Matsumoto, Aaron Emerson, Dan Lutz, and Michael Fitzpatrick.

The event also featured Emerson’s son Aaron, and members of his solo band and his Three Fates Project group.

The show, which was held at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles on May 28th, 2016, offered a career-spanning celebration of Keith’s work, including music from ELP, The Nice, Three Fates Project and the Keith Emerson Band.

DISC ONE: CD
1. PRELUDE TO A HOPE
2. KARN EVIL 9
3. THE BARBARIAN
4. HOEDOWN
5. TOUCH AND GO
6. A PLACE TO HIDE
7. TRIBUTE TO KEITH
8. THE ENDLESS ENIGMA
9. TAKE A PEBBLE
10. TANK
11. FANFARE FOR THE COMMON BLUE TURKEY

The first CD of this quite remarkably vivid and wondrously musical 2CD/2DVD release opens on Kae Matsumoto’s overture introduction to the Tribute concert Prelude to a Hope and backs that up seamlessly with Marc Bonilla singing the fan favorite Karn Evil 9, before we are brought forth Rachel Flowers raising the bar on both The Barbarian and soon thereafter the symphonic instrumental The Endless Enigma.

A prog journey into the ol’ Wild West from both Ed Roth & Jeff “Skunk” Baxter next brings us Hoedown which is in turn followed by both the beautifully crafted tones of Touch and Go and the orchestrated magnificence of one of my own personal favorites, A Place To Hide.

Next up is a highly moving wave of layered prog simply entitled Tribute to Keith, then comes the Flowers’ aforementioned The Endless Enigma, the first CD rounding out on the translucent Take A Pebble, the melodically layered magnificence of Tank, closing on some 60’s psychedelia within the structured Fanfare for the Common Blue Turkey.

DISC TWO: CD
1. RIDE
2. FROM THE BEGINNING
3. BITCHES CRYSTAL
4. NUTROCKER
5. TARKUS
6. LUCKY MAN
7. THE GREAT GATES OF KIEV
8. FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN
9. ARE YOU READY, EDDY?

This highly-anticipated concert that captures the essence of what made Keith Emerson a pioneer of prog rock continues onward in fine style with the second CD opening on Aaron Emerson honoring his dad’s music with his brilliantly emotive piano composition Ride, which is backed by the smooth, laid back jazz of From the Beginning.

Next up is when Eddie Jobson comes to the fore and rampantly honors Emerson’s own gently frenetic use of the keyboards within Bitches Crystal, and then we get a rendition of Kim Fowley’s Nutrocker, a mid-tempo affair that starts off with a courteous nod to Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

We then get treated to the stand out and definitive highlight of this entire set, for my liking, the 21-minute epic Tarkus, where Jordan Rudess undertakes an almighty musical battle re: the giant armadillo (just watch the live DVD as it will make more sense!), which is followed by the languishing prog beauty of Lucky Man, the phenomenally vibrant The Great Gates of Kiev, with Fanfare for the Common Man (and the closing track Are you Ready, Eddy?) bringing the entire show to a quite amazing climax.

Terje Mikkelsen of the Three Fates Project conducts the first part of the fanfare intro before Jobson returns once more on the second part as the blaring horn synths and galloping grooves bring the punches even harder. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, a most satisfying and most heartwarmingly magnificent end to a show that I think I have witnessed in the past decade or more.

DISC THREE: DVD
1. AFTER ALL OF THIS
2. PRELUDE TO A HOPE
3. KARN EVIL 9
4. THE BARBARIAN
5. HOEDOWN
6. TOUCH AND GO
7. A PLACE TO HIDE
8. TRIBUTE TO KEITH
9. THE ENDLESS ENIGMA
10. TAKE A PEBBLE
11. TANK
12. FANFARE FOR THE COMMON BLUE TURKEY
13. RIDE
14. FROM THE BEGINNING
15. BITCHES CRYSTAL
16. NUTROCKER
17. TARKUS
18. LUCKY MAN
19. GREAT GATES OF KIEV
20. FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN
21. ARE YOU READY, EDDY?
22. BEYOND THE STARS
23. THE DREAMER

DISC FOUR: DVD
BONUS FEATURES
INTERVIEWS
PHOTO GALLERY
TRIBUTE SPEECHES
BEHIND THE SCENES FOOTAGE

All proceeds from the release will benefit the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, a charity that focuses on treating and finding a cure for dystonia, a debilitating neurological ailment that Keith battled.

www.KeithEmerson.com

Official Purchase Link