FLASH!! :^( OZONE QUARTET HAS DISBANDED, splitsville! )^:
(See O.Q. News for more info)
Ozone Quartet: Nocturne (CD, 53:20); Flat Five Records FFR 2002, 1999 Flat Five Records Box 28776 Raleigh, NC 27611-8776, USA E-mail: info@ozonequartet.com Cyberhome: http://www.ozonequartet.com Jack in, tune up, and get yourself lost in smokin’ fusion ecstasy. Here’s jazz rock violin comin’ at you in electrified, preorgasmic shudders, Chapman Stick in exotic overdrive mode, kickin’drums sounding like ‘70's era, Billy Cobham and guitars in that Ray Gomez fusiony-rock, blues whirl and punch. This is tight but loose, serious yet fun, noir-inspired grooves that no one else but the Ozone Quartet can deliver. This approaches world fusion with funky backbeat yet Middle Eastern flair, and at times you may want to dance. The soul of the mad dervish dancer weaves among the swaying shadows of hypnotic percussion. This is a music of enchantment, a tapestry of colors and hues of sound woven intricately by fingers charged with the need to break the boundaried curse of the mundane -- reaching for the hidden chords, the occultic strains of notes, drifting up from long lost kingdoms of forgotten peoples. This is an unusual mix of complex rhythms, fiddle flourishes, Stick magic, and guitar pleasures. If you like rock in your fusion, they satisfy. If you prefer more jazzy violin leaning in that soulful Urbaniak, mellow Goodman, or Tesseract mode -- it is here. If you need a bit of that world percussive, tribal thing with a bit of funked groove too, you’ll find it. But most of all if you need something a bit different in your fusion that both soothes and excites, Ozone Quartet can cover a wide range of territory. A certain passion to deliver their best comes through. Listen for all the things you like about fusion and I guarantee you won’t come away unimpressed nor unmoved by this second release from the OQ gang. Strongly recommended. ~ John W. PattersonPersonnel: Wayne Leechford on Chapman Stick Francis Dyer on drums, tabla, chimes, vibes, bells, and a wide assortment of eclectic percussion Hollis Brown on electric violin Kenny Thompson on electric and acoustic guitars Track listing: 1. The Watcher 2. Mutoid Man 3. Flood 4. Backbone of Night 5. Mazeppa 6. Diamond Eye 7. The Real Thing 8. The Getaway 9. Moss 10. Circus After Hours 11. Dusk Creatures 12. Broquen
CD review for fAZE 3 Magazine "Fresh Blood" -Ozone Quartet 1997 Flat Five Records PO Box 28776 Raleigh, NC 27611-8776 USA phone: (919) 821-5733 email: ozoneqrt@aolcom web site: http://members.aol.com/ozoneqrt/ozonequartet.html Vive la difference!! After so much indie-rock, "hats-on-backwards", cut-offs and airwalks beer-pop-tunes belching alongside the plodding behemoth of overweight heave-metal, I long for groups like Ozone Quartet. One word says it . . . refreshing. Ethereal beauty, Hollis Brown, enchants on electric violin whilst axeman extraordinaire, Kenny Thompson twists and turns and rocks like John McLaughlin and Steve Morse. It's not empty riffing for speed records but soulful, well placed sonic seasonings that carry you down the river of prog-rock fusion dreams. An essence of King Crimson weaves itself throughout the disc as Wayne Leechford excels on Chapman Stick. His Levinesque precision is a delight to meld with. Percussive rich "bass" ties each composition together. Check Leechford out on "Dragonfly"! Francis Dyer provides complex time signature drumming and multi-atmospheric moments to each piece. I can see distant lands of ancient times in his polyrhythmic colorings and collages of beat. 80% of this album is an medium to slow paced, quirky, rocking, musical meandering through bizarre realms, fog shrouded moors, and moonlit shrines of ancient Babylon. It is a sorcery of sound, each artist playing off the other as if many arms of one unseen being. Brown and Thompson have plenty of room to stretch, wander off, and refuse the moment in each piece. Only two songs, "Surge", a very Mahavishnu Orchestra moment, and "Dragonfly", a King Crimsonic manic-overdriven tribute, dare speed along towards an upbeat frenzy.
Ozone Quartet live, August '98, Raleigh, NC, USA, Earth, Milky Way Galaxy
photography ~ JK Shearon at: www.shearon.com
People like references to get a feel for things so here are some comparisons. So . . . think Mahavishnu Orchestra, (Between Nothingness and Eternity) early Dixie Dregs, Curved Air, (Air Conditioning), Darryl Dobson, (The Mind Electric), early JLPonty, Steve Kindler, (on Visions of the Emerald Beyond), Mark Wood, (Voodoo Violince), Boud Deun, (Fiction and Several Days), and of course King Crimson. Last thoughts: Hollis Brown on violin and Wayne Leechford on Chapman Stick gives this group that singularly distinctive sound. (THERE ARE NO VOCALS on this CD. So what.) Support quality progressive music. Add this to your collection, now! File it beside "Birds of Fire". -John W. Patterson![]()