Kansas, America’s legendary progressive rock band, have announced that guitarist Zak Rizvi has resigned, and that he looks forward to pursuing new projects.

Says the band: "We thank Zak for his many contributions throughout the years and we wish him well in his future endeavours."

Kansas carries on with original member Phil Ehart on drums, original member Richard Williams on guitar, Billy Greer on bass and vocals, David Ragsdale on violin, guitar and vocals, Ronnie Platt on lead vocals and keyboards, and Tom Brislin on keyboards and vocals.

Kansas will release their new live album, Point Of Know Return Live & Beyond, on May 28. This is the first live album since 2017 for the band that has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and is famous for classic hits such as "Carry On Wayward Son" and "Dust In The Wind", to progressive epics like "Song for America".

Fans can pre-order at kansasband.com. Listen to "Point Of Know Return" from the upcoming release, below.

Point Of Know Return Live & Beyond is co-produced by Phil Ehart and Richard Williams, and is recorded and mixed by Chad Singer. The album features 22 songs selected from 12 shows recorded in 2019 and 2020 during Kansas’s Point Of Know Return Anniversary Tour. The setlist includes classic hits, deep cuts, and culminates with the band’s sextuple-platinum album, Point Of Know Return, performed in its entirety.

Following the success of the band’s Leftoverture Anniversary Tour, Kansas followed that tour up with the even more popular Point Of Know Return Anniversary Tour. The overwhelming success of that tour, and the previous live album, Leftoverture Live & Beyond, led the band, along with Inside Out Music, to release selected songs from the tour as a live album.

“We knew we wanted to release a live album of the Point Of Know Return Anniversary Tour. Being unable to tour for more than a year has given us the opportunity to work on Point Of Know Return Live & Beyond and release it for our fans who are missing live concerts as much as we are,” said Kansas drummer and album co-producer, Phil Ehart. “When we discussed who would mix the album, we thought the best possible person would be the guy who mixes the band live every night and recorded the shows on the road. Nobody knows better how Kansas sounds live than our front of house engineer, Chad Singer!”  

“This live album sounds great,” adds Kansas guitarist and album co-producer, Richard Williams. “We wanted to make sure this album captures and represents how Kansas sounds live in concert. Point Of Know Return Live & Beyond does just that.”

Along with original Kansas band members Phil Ehart on drums and Richard Williams on lead guitar, Point Of Know Return Live & Beyond, features Tom Brislin on keyboards and vocals, Billy Greer on bass and vocals, Ronnie Platt on lead vocals and keyboards, David Ragsdale on violin and vocals, and Zak Rizvi on guitar and vocals.

Point Of Know Return Live & Beyond, will be released May 28 via Inside Out Music and is distributed by The Orchard. The album will be available as a double CD digipak, triple 180-gram vinyl + 2 CD box-set, and digitally on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, iTunes, and other fine digital retailers.

Point Of Know Return Live & Beyond tracklisting:

"Cold Grey Morning"
"Two Cents Worth"
"The Wall"
"Song For America"
"Summer"
"Musicatto"
"Taking In The View"
"Miracles Out Of Nowhere"
"Point Of Know Return"
"Paradox"
"The Spider"
"Portrait (He Knew)"
"Closet Chronicles"
"Lightning’s Hand"
"Dust In The Wind"
"Sparks Of The Tempest"
"Nobody’s Home"
"Hopelessly Human"
"Carry On Wayward Son"
"People Of The South Wind"
"Refugee"
"Lonely Wind"

"Point Of Know Return":

Teaser:

When touring resumes, Kansas will continue rescheduled Point Of Know Return Anniversary Tour dates as well as Kansas Classics tour dates. More information on the tour, including specific Point Of Know Return Anniversary Tour dates, can be found at kansasband.com.

(Photo - Emily Butler Photography)