Accordion to the critics…
DISTANT STARLIGHT - “is a testament to pushing the boundaries of conventional music, venturing into unexplored musical realms. With over 40 years of a prolific career, Jef Bek speaks through his own unique musical lexicon, seamlessly weaving together influences from his early days and contemporary inspirations. Distant Starlight excels in its instrumental component, delving deep into fascinating musical intricacies..”
— Progressive Rock Central
DISTANT STARLIGHT - “Every so often an album comes your way that catches you by surprise. Such is the case with Jef Bek’s latest release Distant Starlight. Based in Los Angeles, multi-instrumentalist Bek is an award winning composer whose musical career started in early Chicago based prog bands before discovering a love of creating music for theatrical stage productions which ultimately led to the move to LA.
Progressive Rock has a long history of mining different genres and incorporating those elements into the defining sound of Prog. One of those influences that often times seems to get forgotten is live theatrical productions. Having seen many Cirque De Soleil shows and stage musicals in London I have always marveled at the stylistic musical similarities between live stage productions and Progressive Rock in that both are about telling a story.
Rightly or wrongly one of the first things I look at on any new release are the song lengths and when I saw that 3 of the 7 compositions on Distant Starlight were over 10 minutes in length, I was hooked. This is a musical sound that hearkens back to the classic days of prog, a little Yes influence here, a little Camel feel there, a hint of Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson and so much more. All of these musical influences are neatly distilled into Bek’s personal musical vision. The songs are well structured, featuring plenty of shifts in time, tempo and dynamics, recurring themes and musical motifs. The music is melodic and dramatic, at times serene and pastoral and other times slightly angular and dissonant. Like any good Symphonic Prog these songs are musical journey’s that sweep you along for an adventurous ride, never really knowing where the trip will take you. All I can say is hang-on because you’ll discover some enjoyable music on Distant Starlight that hits all the right notes for Melodic Symphonic Prog fans. I recommend you check it out!”
- Music Historian, Author Jerry Lucky’s The Progressive Rock Files Podcast
DISTANT STARLIGHT - “Notably, the album contains three epic tracks, all of which we've added to our playlist in their full glory. Typically, we might edit longer epics into more digestible, radio-friendly segments, but these compositions demanded to be experienced in their entire, uncut form to truly appreciate their depth and craftsmanship.”
-Prog Radio
DISTANT STARLIGHT – “if any of you want a pure, unadulterated, uplifting oldschool Yes-immersed prog, Chicagoan composer/multi-instrumentalist Jef Bek has just delivered that very thing. Distant Starlight is packed with analogue synths, Mellotrons, orchestral journeys, sweet harmonies and all the other trimmings of bright, breezy, innocent big old oldschool prog. Thankfully not a shred of watered down neo-prog, this is second generation proper proggy prog. It is very much a labour of love…great big joyous passages…so if you are craving a deep dive into absolutely unsullied 70s classic, optimistic prog this rather hits the spot.”
-The Organ ‘Zine
DISTANT STARLIGHT - “is without any doubt a fine album to listen to. Jef's excellent keyboard parts in many ways resembles the way Rick Wakeman played on his piano, organ and brass synthesizers. Also the vocal parts reminded me of the way how Jon Anderson and Chris Squire did the vocal parts in this band. Solo and harmony wise. As for the strong drum parts done by Jef himself, as well, it seemed he has been influenced by Carl Palmer. After listening to this fine release it becomes rather clear to me that Jef listened throughout his childhood and the years to become an adolescent to the many great progressive rock bands of the seventies. Where else do you get all those musical influences from? Well in a way I am glad he did this, otherwise he might not have come up with a strong album which is most of all recommended to people who enjoy the albums made in the seventies by bands such as UK, King Crimson, Genesis and most of all Yes!”
- Background Magazine
“EVEL KNIEVEL THE ROCK OPERA - From its opening power chords, composer-creator Jef Bek's epic musical never loses thrust as it nails the churning sensibilities -- musical and cultural -- of the 1970s, when Knievel's death-defying exploits captured the world's imagination”.
— The Los Angeles Times
“He’s one of L.A.’s most valuable theatre artists”
-The Los Angeles Times
“The wonderfully heightened mood provided by the atmospheric music of composer Jef Bek”
— The Chicago Tribune
“The shtick of the New Crime troupe--roiling emotions broadcast by a primary palette of pained expressions, virtuoso choreography married to Jef Bek's crashy, bashy percussion and cartoony keyboards, an oxygen-sucking pace--has never been so overwhelmingly packed together as in its current offering, Heart of a Dog”
—The Chicago Reader