Biography
Early in 2020 pianist Milton Keanes surfaced as a member of the British trio Jazz Sabbath, asserting that Black Sabbath had lifted material from the group’s long-lost 1960s recordings. The claim was fabricated: Keanes is the stage name adopted by Adam Wakeman, Ozzy Osbourne’s longtime keyboardist, who conceived the fictitious jazz ensemble during a Black Sabbath tour. The trio’s self-titled debut, consisting of jazz-piano-trio reworkings of Black Sabbath material, was issued that same year. Two further collections followed—Jazz Sabbath, Vol. 2 in 2022 and The 1968 Tapes in 2024—each framed, like the first, as previously unreleased “lost albums.”
While supplying off-stage keyboard parts for Black Sabbath on a 2013 European run, Adam Wakeman—son of Yes founder Rick Wakeman—spent a night off in Berlin responding to a dare from a crew member to perform the band’s repertoire on a hotel-bar piano. His spontaneous treatments of “Fairies Wear Boots,” “Changes,” and “Iron Man” sparked the Jazz Sabbath concept, whose elaborate fictional history Wakeman continued to develop over subsequent years.
Joined by the pseudonymous Jacque T’fono (Jerry Meehan) on bass and Juan Také (Ash Soan) on drums, the newly minted Milton Keanes appeared in a 2020 mockumentary that portrayed the trio as the true authors of Black Sabbath’s signature songs, allegedly stolen from an abandoned late-1960s album. The stunt served as promotion for Jazz Sabbath’s self-titled debut, released on Blacklake Records in April 2020. The inventive piano-trio readings charted successfully in jazz formats and prompted a follow-up volume in 2022. The group also mounted live performances across the U.K. and Europe while preparing a third “lost album.” Issued in 2024, The 1968 Tapes sustained the invented narrative and included trio arrangements of “War Pigs,” “The Wizard,” and “Into the Void.”
While supplying off-stage keyboard parts for Black Sabbath on a 2013 European run, Adam Wakeman—son of Yes founder Rick Wakeman—spent a night off in Berlin responding to a dare from a crew member to perform the band’s repertoire on a hotel-bar piano. His spontaneous treatments of “Fairies Wear Boots,” “Changes,” and “Iron Man” sparked the Jazz Sabbath concept, whose elaborate fictional history Wakeman continued to develop over subsequent years.
Joined by the pseudonymous Jacque T’fono (Jerry Meehan) on bass and Juan Také (Ash Soan) on drums, the newly minted Milton Keanes appeared in a 2020 mockumentary that portrayed the trio as the true authors of Black Sabbath’s signature songs, allegedly stolen from an abandoned late-1960s album. The stunt served as promotion for Jazz Sabbath’s self-titled debut, released on Blacklake Records in April 2020. The inventive piano-trio readings charted successfully in jazz formats and prompted a follow-up volume in 2022. The group also mounted live performances across the U.K. and Europe while preparing a third “lost album.” Issued in 2024, The 1968 Tapes sustained the invented narrative and included trio arrangements of “War Pigs,” “The Wizard,” and “Into the Void.”
Albums
