A-Z: Magellan (Magna Carta Band)

Magellan were a band who was praised but never got the same level of cult following like contemporaries Shadow Gallery and Enchant did in the mid-late 90's.

But they were a Magna Carta band, making the sort of post-Rush or even post-Dream Theater influenced 90's/heavy "neo prog" rock. Although I think I associated them most with Jethro Tull.

They used trombone among some other non-traditional instruments.

Test of Wills was the album that I bought from them, however a few years later, I came to appreciate it more than I did initially.

I probably would go for listening to other records of theirs (both for the 1st time and again, as I may have 1 or 2 others). The earlier albums probably more so.

I remember they were given a feature in Sea of Tranquility's magazine and that kind of made me re-asses my feeling about them and especially just that album Test of Wills.

Rest in Peace both Trent and Wayne Gardner.

Trent Gardner Rest in Peace (Magellan)

https://www.gofundme.com/29ckrzbg

I'm not going to talk extensively about this, but Trent Gardner was the singer, keyboardist and one of the main songwriters in the progressive rock band Magellan, I thought I read on 1 of the forums he was ill, within the last year or 2, but I can't find anything really about it now,

Magellan were 1 of the bands I checked out in the mid 90's up to early 2000's really. Their album Test of Wills got a fair amount of attention among Dream Theater fans and people who enjoyed bands on the Magna Carta label beyond Liquid Tension Experiment.

Also there were a handful of tribute albums that MC issued, Yes, Genesis, Rush, ELP, etc, and Trent and Magellan played on some of them as well.

He also ended up collaborating with James LaBrie on maybe more than 1 project. Namely the Leonardo: the Absolute Man album. Along with John Petrucci and some others on Explorer's Club.

He really was all over the place if you enjoyed smaller, modern prog bands/albums for almost a decade.

And I'll fully admit, while I enjoyed Test of Wills, I never got around to hearing any of the other Magellan albums, largely per not as favorable reviews. And then hearing some stuff on those collaborations, I kind of stopped pursuing his music. It seemed he used a lot of the same keyboard patches for long, extensive sections.

But in retrospect, and compared to many of the so-called "prog" bands since Magellan and his work left my radar, I would definitely favor his stuff and style over many.

Also not to forget the use of Trombone with Magellan's music, which was quite unusual for prog. I guess I kind of see it as pretty unique and forward-thinking now. I guess Chicago were a very big influence on him, and he eventually got to collaborate with them recently.

Anyway, Rest in Peace Trent, along with your brother and fellow Magellan bandmate Wayne.