Yes drummer Alan White passed away on Thursday, May 26, 2022. It was sad news, and it isn’t a stretch to say he was beloved by Yes fans worldwide.
Alan’s passing made me reflect on my own association with Yes: If it wasn’t for Alan, you might not be reading this memorial — or maybe any of the other articles I’ve written here, or the many exclusive conversations I had with Yes members for Notes From the Edge.
I was working at Microsoft in 1993 when I learned that Alan White lived only a few miles away from me in the Puget Sound area of Washington state. At that time, there was a lot of interest in the products and innovations from Microsoft, and I had the idea to invite Alan to bring his insight about computers and MIDI in front of an audience of ‘softies. Really it was just an excuse to ask Alan a bunch of questions about Yes and his Beatles pedigree – in addition to talking about computers and MIDI, of course.
I rationalized that Alan would be curious about this large campus growing in Redmond and would likely accept the invitation, and I was correct. The day of the talk he arrived on campus accompanied by Reek Havok, who has also become a good friend over the years. The talk went well and was even filmed: I have a few VHS tapes of the event in a box somewhere in my garage.
Having now been introduced to Alan, I had another brainstorm. I had recently become associated with a Yes fan journal Notes From the Edge, where subscribers were emailed an ASCII newsletter (before we had a web site). I was aware of the many printed Yes fanzines that existed at that time, including Yes Magazine, which was a slickly produced publication. But as was the case with any printed periodicals, there was a long lead time between when an interview would be conducted and when it was actually published.
I asked Alan if he’d be interested in what I knew would be the very first Internet interview by a Yes member, where I’d get it out within a week or so through the wonder of the ‘net. He consented, and I arranged to meet Alan at the bar of the now defunct Black Angus restaurant in Bellevue. It was there where I asked him questions that I and other fans wanted to pose to him about Yes and their music.
That interview was posted in Notes From the Edge issue #65 on April 28, 1993, almost 30 years ago. Here is the introduction I had written to that interview, verbatim and with no edits:
“When I first approached Alan White for an interview for NOTES FROM THE EDGE I was prepared not to be too disappointed if he declined; after all, he had already been cordial enough to take time out of his busy schedule to accept my invitation to discuss computers and MIDI (and Yes) with other Microsoft employees on March 3rd, and between his family in Seattle and recording the new Yes album in Los Angeles he already had his hands full. But when I did ask him for this interview and told him all about NOTES he immediately and enthusiastically agreed to meet on April 22, 1993, to discuss his career and Yes, past, present, and future.
“I have to say that Alan is one of the most easygoing, friendly, and open people I’ve ever met. He’s recorded with the likes of John Lennon and has been a mainstay of Yes since 1972, playing with the other incredible musicians in that band; yet he’s what I’d call a ‘regular guy,’ no airs about him. He’s committed to his family and home in the Great Northwest as well as creating what he believes is the best music that Yes can produce. His enthusiasm for the new album was overwhelming, and he believes it’s the best music he and the band has ever created.
“My thanks goes not only to Alan, but also to Alex Scott at East End Management who first directed Alan to me, and to NFTE editor Jeff Hunnicutt for giving me the opportunity to conduct the interview. I hope you enjoy it.”
As is obvious from the dates I mentioned, I had conducted the conversation, transcribed it, and had it posted to the world in less than one week. It was timely and didn’t risk being outdated. At that time, I was still just another contributor to NFTE, but based on my growing association with Yes members, Hunnicutt agreed to have me on as co-editor. Shortly after our individual roles were set: Jeff would handle the technical aspects for gathering the submissions and I would edit the issues; this would include my role as liaison between NFTE and Yes members along with their management.
Thanks to Alan, that interview opened the door to my relationships with Yes members to varying degrees and to those in their orbit. This eventually led to my creating the concept and schema for their official web site YesWorld. The idea was to cover the world of Yes, where YesWorld proper would contain anything related to the official lineup at the time, and a separate section titled YesNet would point to sites from ex-Yes members along with any available media.
The word YesWorld today only exists in the URL — the actual site itself no longer sports that title. I have not been associated with that site for many years, but it nevertheless continues to serve as the official website for Yes.
One of the exciting aspects of knowing Alan was his association with members of the Beatles, my all-time favorite band. The first time I attended a Yes concert on August 4, 1972 at the Long Beach Arena, I was expecting Bill Bruford on drums, and it was at that show I was stunned to learn that Alan had replaced Bill. (I recently touched on this in my article about the coda change to “Close to the Edge.”)
At the time, I had mixed feelings about this: I was disappointed that I missed the opportunity to see Bruford perform with Yes, and that would have marred the show for me if it had been any other drummer. But this was Alan White, who I was keenly aware was a key player for John Lennon’s single “Instant Karma!” and the Imagine sessions, as well as having recorded with George Harrison during the All Things Must Pass sessions. Bill was gone, but here was a genuine Beatles alumni, and I was excited that Alan was now a member of Yes.
During the summer of 2001, I received an email from David Marks, who told me he had handled the sound for John and Yoko and the Plastic Ono Band for Live Peace in Toronto back in 1969. He had taken some photos during that concert and was offering them to NFTE for folks to see. I thought that they could be included in a conversation with Alan where I would get information on his interactions with each of the Beatles, regardless of how big or small those might be. Alan liked the idea, and agreed to discuss his memories of working with each of the Fab Four.
I thought with his passing that conversation would be a great way of remembering Alan, and the link to it is at the end of this article. Note that the original conversation is posted verbatim, and I didn’t fix any broken links that were functional when it first appeared in NFTE #247 on Aug. 11, 2001.
But before you read the article, I wanted to share a couple of memories related to that conversation.
One was the story behind the lead graphic at NFTE. The one Beatle that Alan had the least interaction with was Paul McCartney, so I hit on the idea of taking the cover photo for Abbey Road and replacing Paul’s image with one of Alan. I had been present for the Yessymphonic tour rehearsals which featured Yes’ latest album Magnification, and it was there in Reno, Nev., where I asked Alan to pose in the same way Paul had on the Beatles cover.
At first I asked Alan to be barefoot as Paul had been, and Alan graciously attempted to do that. I was taking the photographs outside where they had been rehearsing, and as it was a scorching day Alan was understandably unhappy that the bottom of his feet were burning on the hot sidewalk, and wanted to stop doing that. I didn’t think we nailed the barefoot photos so I took some of Alan with his shoes on, and NFTE staff member Bryan Jensen then Photoshopped one of those images onto the Abbey Road cover.
The other recollection was more impactful. Through various conversations for the piece, Alan kept saying that aside of the tunes they had rehearsed before the gig — including Lennon’s recent single “Cold Turkey” — there was one mystery song the band planned on performing, but try as he might Alan couldn’t remember the title. I knew if I could get Alan to remember the name of that missing tune it would be a real scoop.
I was in the midst of wrapping up that issue of NFTE when Alan and his wife Gigi visited me at my office at Microsoft. Gigi and I then tried to jog Alan’s memory to determine what that one song was. The big moment is indelibly etched in my brain: Suddenly this look came over Alan’s face, to where he had the epiphany. There was no other song, it was actually “Cold Turkey.” For some reason he had conflated that tune with another mysterious one that didn’t exist. I captured that moment in the conversation where Alan says, “That is very funny; I just recalled all that.”
While on the subject of Yessymphonic, there is one other memory I wanted to share, though it’s unrelated to the Beatles conversation. At the concert at Concord, Calif., on July 31, 2001, I asked conductor Larry Groupé if I could sit with the orchestra to get an idea of what it was like to be one of the orchestral players performing with the band. Larry agreed, though he had not told the band I would be doing this.
I was seated at the edge of stage right, next to the harp player. There was plexiglass that separated the band from the orchestra, and at some time during the performance I looked over to see Alan looking straight at me, sporting a wide grin. It’s a memory that I have never forgotten.
That grin is the same one that I’m sure many will remember when they think of Alan.
RIP, Alan White. I will be forever grateful to you for putting me on this path.
Click here to read Mike Tiano’s conversation with Alan White from NFTE #247.
© 2022 Mike Tiano. All Rights Reserved
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