Jeff Johnson is a category unto himself. He has moments where he falls into the progressive rock category. Then his instrumental albums are often dubbed as “New Age”, yet he was doing that style years before “New Age” was even a term. At other times you could say he is a fantastic jazz artist and yet he puts out some wonderful music for times of personal worship and meditation. He has been labeled as “Intelligent Pop” as well but some of my favorite music would be his Celtic works with Brian Dunning and Stephen Lawhead. With over 40 albums to his credit, and I own almost every single one of them, the listener of his music is constantly being given something new to immerse themselves into.

In 1986 I had been a Christian for not quite a full year and I was not listening to any secular music at that time, for I was discovering this new world of Christian music that was suddenly coming into its own as an industry with artists and albums that were as good, if not better, than the secular world of that time period. Yet there was one empty hole in my musical world – I was not finding any artists that were shall we say, very heady.

One day I walked into The Christian Armory on Lawrenceville Hwy. As usual, everyone was nicely groomed and in a shirt and tie like they had come right out of the “Christian Cloning Machine” in back and here I was walking in with my hair halfway down my back, purple lens glasses, jeans and a t-shirt. I approached one of the employees and asked him, “Do you have any – any – deep music?” He said, “What?” “You know – any really, really deeeeeep music?” He sort of cracked a smile at me and asked, “What exactly do you mean?”

This was harder than I thought. How do you ask this straight laced guy you want some Christian music that sounds like the stuff that many listen to when they are in an alternate state of mind? So I lowered my glasses and looked him straight in the eyes and said, “You know, Jesus is for the heart, the soul – and the head?” Now he was smiling really big and he leaned closer and in a low voice he handed me a cassette of “Fallen Splendor” and said, “You mean like Pink Floyd? You can listen right over there”. So I put the headphones on and popped in the tape and it was queued somewhere in the last 2 minutes of the song “Old Germany”. There was this squeak going thru my head with this constant booming from the depths of Moria. A fretless bass was groaning out a melody in the background while this musical tapestry was weaving in and out. I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

Thirty seconds of one song is all it took and I walked out of there with two Jeff Johnson albums – “Fallen Splendor” and “Icons”. Within a month I had purchased his entire repertoire to date, spoken to Jeff Johnson several times on the phone (a story for another day) and they knew me by name at The Christian Armory. That employee would have tapes set aside for me when I came in that he thought I just might be interested in. As I grew as a Christian, so did Jeff Johnson as an artist. Like I said, he never stuck to one style of music and while something like “Fallen Splendor” might not be for the Ruth Graham’s of the world, other stuff must have been because she asked him to arrange and record her favorite hymns for meditation which became his CD entitled “A Quiet Knowing: Canticles for the Heart”. I’ve played his instrumental CD’s during communion at church or prior to and after service and someone will always ask “who is that and where can I get it”.

To this day “Fallen Splendor” is one of my favorite albums. I listen to it frequently and I honestly think I am discovering something new to my ears on this album every time I listen to it. It has so many layers of interesting and creative art woven throughout. The delicate cymbal work of “Wind and Water” and all the clockwork woven into “Time Waits For You”. The album is magnificent and yet he has so much more in other albums that it would be very difficult for me to label this one as his best. One of his best but Jeff Johnson has so much to offer I could never settle on a single album. Let’s just say as I listen to it right now, it is my favorite at this moment in time.

Jeff Johnson reminds me that we are all God’s magnificent creation. We are His masterpiece. Yet without the reality of God in our lives; in our schools; in our country; in our world; well, we see the results of trying to rule ourselves without God in the headlines every day. Society continues “Looking For God Using A Spotlight” when all along He is right here in front of each and every one of us. Thankfully by faith, I am no longer a Fallen Splendor.

Rick E. France

Unfortunately, I could not find “Old Germany” on you tube which is why I went with “Looking For God”.