Michael Shrieve

Michael Shrieve - Two Doors - 1995 - CMP Records

Former Santana drummer Michael Shrieve's 1995 release Two Doors is appropriately titled, for it is really two albums in one, with two different trios providing the music. The first half of the record, subtitled "Deep Umbra," features Shrieve with guitarist Shawn Lane and bassist Jonas Hellborg performing eight jazz-rock compositions full of catchy themes and fiery improvisations. Lane is, simply put, one of the most technically gifted guitarists ever to pick up the instrument, and he records far too obscurely and infrequently. It is to his great credit that he never displays his abilities gratuitously, but instead carefully measures them out for maximum impact. He is a consummate musician. The same could be said about Hellborg, who not only holds down the bottom end with his sensitive yet powerful bass, but also shares co-writing credits for seven of the eight songs that he appears on. The second half of the record, subtitled "Flying Polly," features Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz. This half of the record is jazzier and more avant-garde than the first half, and frankly doesn't work nearly as well. There are moments where some of the rockabilly jazz elements that Frisell and Horvitz explored in John Zorn's Naked City come to the foreground, but, besides that, most of this portion of the record sounds flat and uninspired. It is a shame that this had to be the case, especially considering how good the Lane-Hellborg trio is. However, Shrieve's drums are very nicely recorded, and he always plays the most appropriate thing for any given song, never showboating or otherwise distracting from the integrity of the composition. There is much merit in this frustratingly inconsistent album, and for fusion fans it is worth searching out. © Daniel Gioffre © 2012 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/two-doors-r230890/review

A year after the collaboration with Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz on Fascination, Michael Shrieve released his last album to date - Two Doors. This record is in fact a double album, consisting of two different halves (Deep Umbra and Flying Polly), both running nearly 40 minutes. I have heard that it has been issued on two separate CDs, but my copy came as one CD. I'd also like to point out that Two Doors has wonderful artwork by Mati Klarwein. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a scan of it in better quality. Now to the music itself. The first part, entitled Deep Umbra, consists of eight tracks recorded by a power trio including Shrieve, bassist Jonas Hellborg, and guitarist Shawn Lane, while the second part, Flying Polly, includes outtakes from Michael's previous solo outing - Fascination. However, it does not feel like a collection of weaker tracks to me at all. It has some great music as well. Shawn Lane, a multiinstrumentalist grown up in Memphis, was a highly talented guitarist, who, sadly, never became the star he should have been. He joined the boogie band Black Oak Arkansas in 1978 and his influence pushed their direction closer to fusion. He left the band in 1982 to study music theory and composing. He reappeared as a guitarist in the mid-1980s, playing with his band the Willys in Memphis. He was becoming more and more popular and did lots of session work, including recording with Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. In 1990 he was finally signed to a label and after two years, he produced the Powers Of Ten album playing all instruments on it. He was considered one of the most talented guitarists of the time and made lots of instructional videos, taught on conservatories, and produced other music. In 1994 Lane teamed up with drummer Jeff Sipe and Swedish bassist Jonas Hellborg, a highly skilled improviser, who established himself as a session player for John McLaughlin and Ginger Baker in the 1980s and became an occasional Michael Shrieve collaborator. Hellborg first played with Shrieve on the 1983 album All Our Steps, recorded with avantgarde pianist Michael Smith, released his first solo album The Word On Axiom in 1991 and played with Shrieve again in 1993, on the Octave Of The Holy Innocents album with guitarist Buckethead. The Lane-Hellborg-Sipe band soon evolved into an oustanding live unit. Sipe left in 1997, but Lane and Hellborg kept on playing and recording together. Lane became influenced by Eastern music and his later albums with Hellborg and Indian percussionist Selvaganesh are reportedly leaning towards fusing jazz, rock and Indian music. Unfortunately health problems haunted Lane in the recent years and he passed away after a lung surgery on September 26, 2003. Sometime in May 1995, Michael Shrieve participated on a session with Hellborg and Lane, results of which surfaced on Two Doors - Deep Umbra. This part is almost completely written by Lane and Hellborg (Michael only gets two credits) and it shows what the music of Lane/Hellborg/Sipe looked like, except that Jeff Sipe is replaced by Michael Shrieve. The music on Deep Umbra is fusion raging from heavy hard rock riffing to ambient waves of sound. Jonas Hellborg proves to be a great bassist, Shawn Lane showcases his technically flawless and very emotional guitar playing. Michael's drumming is great on all tracks and when it comes to forefront, in tracks like "Sorcerer", "Deep Umbra" and most importantly "The Smiling Tarshishm", Shrieve proves his sheer virtuosity in playing the instrument. The first track, "Stellar Rays", opens with a fast unison guitar-bass run backed by some heavy drumming. There are some calmer passages between the solos with some nice chord progressions afterwards, but basically the track keeps its high tempo and is full of technically brilliant fast guitar soloing. "Stellar Rays" is in fact an early version of "Time Is The Enemy", played by Lane/Hellborg/Sipe. With "Deep Umbra", the band gets even heavier, with Shrieve drumming like for a metal band and Lane and Hellborg hitting the strings hard. This heavy section is again followed by a calmer and jazzier chord progression. Then in the middle of the track, we get a dreamy passage with wonderful Shawn Lane solo and some fantastic Michael Shrieve drumming. This is one of my favourite moments of Two Doors: the music flows seamlessly through some McLaughlin-esque fast guitar playing. After a short reprise of the inital theme, Jonas Hellborg gets to play a short solo and the track ends. "Sorcerer" is a very menacing and hypnotic track based on a very loud bass guitar playing and drumming similar to what Michael Shrieve played with Santana in "Jingo". The guitar only fills in most of the time, but there are a few moments when the guitar and drums literally explode only to return to the menacing bass riff again. The end of the track gives lots of space for Michael Shrieve who plays a delightful solo that fits very well with the mood of the song. "Baraji" is again based on a bass theme, but not as menacing as in "Sorcerer". This track is much closer to "Stellar Rays". Shawn Lane plays some inspired solos scatting along them and there are again occasional chord progressions separating the solos. In the middle of the track, Lane plays one more intensive solo, followed by a meditative part with a very nice bass solo by Jonas Hellborg. They are also using either some soft synthesizer or heavily processed guitar in the background on this track. The theme of "Baraji" was later also recorded by Lane and Hellborg. "Caress Of Lillith" (Lillith being a biblical female demon or night creature of Babylonian origin) is a meditative ambient track with waves of sound around Shawn's fingerpicking theme and Michael's wire brush (or at least I think it is) drumming. The ambient mood persits on the next track - "The Smiling Tarshishm" - which is something like a follow up to "Future Primitive" off Santana's Caravanserai. On the background consisting of low sounds (processed guitar I think) similar to those on "Future Primitive" Michael starts playing a solo of his typical style. It is wonderfully recorded, so it really sounds as if he was playing in your room. I like to listen to this in headphones for greater effect. Fantastic track. "Juvalamu" sets the livelier mood again with its funky theme and lots of unison Hellborg/Lane playing. Shawn Lane is again scatting on this one and does some of his best and also most bluesy soloing on the record. His style on this one reminds me of Jimi Hendrix. The middle of the track is some powerhouse drumming by Shrieve, simple but effective bass playing by Hellborg, and furious guitar soloing by Lane. The closing track of Deep Umbra, "Palace Of Dreams", is a more meditative track, based on a nice riff with lots of inspired Shawn Lane playing. This is the most Lane-focussed track. Shawn produces brilliant solos with great sweep of emotions. All in all, "Palace Of Dreams" is a suitable finale for a great modern fusion record Deep Umbra certainly is. Note: In The Palace Of Dreams is also the subtitle of the album. As mentioned above, the second part of Two Doors, Flying Polly, has exactly the same line-up as the Fascination album, so please go to my review of Fascination for some basic info on Bill Frisell and Wayne Horvitz. There are eleven tracks on Flying Polly, six of them being less than two minutes long (probably cut down due to space issues?), mostly based on peculiar drum patterns and distorted guitar - pretty avantgarde stuff. Then there are mid-length pieces that could have easily fit on Fascination, and two long tracks (one of them is divided into two parts) - "Stella" and "Queen Bee". While "Stella" is similar to certain tracks on Fascination, "Queen Bee" is a radically unique track. "Locomotion" opens Flying Polly with a very nice drum rhythm, some guitar chords (and later a spirited guitar solo) and decent Hammond in the background. "Locomotion" is a very lively track with great performances by Frisell and Shrieve. Too bad it's only 1:55 long. "Data Trash" is one minute of free drumming and spine-chilling distorted guitar notes which create a scary atmosphere. "Stella" is a seven-minute downtempo jam. Michael Shrieve uses mostly only cymbals to keep the lazy rhythm, Wayne Horvitz plays some organ chords and Bill Frisell's guitar randomly wails around. This track evokes a sleepy atmosphere in me until it gets to the middle part, when the intensity of drums and Hammond increases a lot and Wayne Horvitz plays a short solo. The intensity then continues to grow until the very end of the track. Next track is the cover of a song by Temple Of The Dog, a band including members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. This instrumental take of "Your Saviour" includes some powerhouse drumming, rock Hammond playing and great rhythm and solo guitar by Bill Frisell. Again, too bad it is so short. "Pipeline" is very similar to "Data Trash": Bill Frisell produces some intriguing and scary noises on his guitar backed by Shrieve's random drumming. "Crocodile" is one of my favourites off Flying Polly. Bill Frisell emits a funky bass sound on baritone guitar, Michael Shrieve supports him to create a relaxed groove for Wayne Horvitz and Bill Frisell's overdubbed lead guitar to play around. The track reaches a climax and then fades out. "Lincoln Logs" is something like an augury of "Queen Bee". It has some fast jazz drumming and a simple theme repeated over and over by Frisell and Horvitz in front of Michael Shrieve's drum pyrotechnics. "First Train" features some imaginative railway-like drumming by Michael Shrieve and very distorted guitar notes that sound like iron being bended. Funny experiment. "Queen Bee" is the best and most important track on Flying Polly in my opinion. It starts with Michael Shrieve setting the rhythm, Wayne Horvitz adding some background Hammond drone and Bill Frisell repeating a simple note progression. The intensity of the track first increases about two minutes into the song. Wayne Horvitz adds some eerie sounds while Frisell is going on and on with his theme. At about three and a half minutes into the track, a sudden guitar chord pauses Michael's drumming for a while, only to make it return at greater intensity. From this moment on, Michael slowly increases the intensity and also the speed of his drumming to limit. Wayne and Bill produce some eerie and freaky sounds. At about six and a half minutes, there is another brief interruption of the drumming, followed by Bill Frisell's bending screaming notes in the background. Wayne Horvitz and some staccato guitar are now boosting the intensity of Shrieve's drum rhythm. At about nine minutes into the song, Shrieve stops playing leaving the Hammond and staccato guitar alone, and Frisell produces some bee-like drone. Shrieve is soon back and the song reaches its climax. The guitar effects get more and more random and then suddenly, two brief Hammond chords stop the track. But the drumming comes back again and Horvitz presents more of the probe-like sounds from the beginning along with the return of Frisell's initial theme. "Queen Bee" slowly fades out. What a marvellous track. As someone wrote in one review of Two Doors I've read, this track is almost an attempt to play electronica on rock instruments. I can agree with this statement having heard some of Michael Shrieve's collaborations with electronica pioneer Klaus Schulze. "Queen Bee" is an amazingly powerful music that will hold your breath from the beginning to the end. "Flying Polly" is a short and fast bluesy track with some outstanding guitar playing by Bill Frisell. Very atypical track. "Stella (Reprise)" is what the title says - another five minutes of free jamming along the slow drum track. This take is calmer than the first one: it never gets to the livelier climax and ends in a fade out. Both parts of the disc have their highlights. While a rock music listenter may find Deep Umbra much better and generally consistent, Flying Polly offers some pretty good experimental stuff and the fantastic "Queen Bee". As the title says, there are two doors and it depends on the listener which one he/she chooses. - REVIEW by & © Jan Grinc, May 2004 http://flamesky.bravehost.com/TwoDoors.html

Although "Two Doors" is attributed to the great drummer, Michael Shrieve, it could just as easily been credited to Shawn Lane, Bill Frisell, Jonas Hellborg, or Wayne Horvitz. The five musicians have been involved in hundreds of recordings, and are recognised as five of the greatest names in the jazz rock/fusion/electronica scene. When Michael Shrieve got four artists of this calibre together to record the two sections of "Two Doors", the results were always going to be something special. The album is comprised of two CD's; "Deep Umbra" recorded in 1995 and "Flying Polly" in 1993. Michael Shrieve plays on all tracks. On "Deep Umbra" he is accompanied by the late guitarist Shawn Lane and bassist Jonas Hellborg. On "Flying Polly" he is joined by guitarist Bill Frisell and keyboardist Wayne Horvitz. This is a great album of jazz rock, progressive rock and fusion and is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Try and listen to Michael's "Stiletto" album. Buy his "The Big Picture" album, and check out his "Fascination" album on this blog. Listen to Bill Frisell's "Blues Dream" album. Wayne Horvitz's "Nine Below Zero" album, Shawn Lane's "Powers of Ten Live!" album, and Jonas Hellborg's brilliant "E" album [ All Tracks @ 320 Kbps: 2 x rar files: Pt 1 (CD 1) = 87.6 Mb, & Pt 2 (CD 2) = 93.7 Mb ]

DEEP UMBRA [CD 1]

1 Stellar Rays - J. Hellborg, S. Lane 3:21
2 Deep Umbra - J. Hellborg, S. Lane 4:39
3 Sorcerer - J. Hellborg, M. Shrieve, S. Lane 3:29
4 Baraji - J. Hellborg, S. Lane 6:04
5 Caress Of Lillith - J. Hellborg, S. Lane 4:18
6 The Smiling Tarshishm - M. Shrieve 3:59
7 Juvalamu - J. Hellborg, S. Lane 5:15
8 Palace Of Dreams - J. Hellborg, S. Lane 5:57

FLYING POLLY [CD 2]

9 Locomotion - M. Shrieve 1:55
10 Data Trash - M. Shrieve, B. Frisell 0:55
11 Stella - M. Shrieve, B. Frisell, W. Horvitz 7:17
12 Your Saviour - C. Cornell 1:48
13 Pipeline - M. Shrieve, B. Frisell 0:46
14 Crocodile - M. Shrieve, B. Frisell, W. Horvitz 4:21
15 Lincoln Logs - M. Shrieve, B. Frisell, W. Horvitz 2:53
16 First Train - M. Shrieve, B. Frisell 0:37
17 Queen Bee - M. Shrieve, B. Frisell, W. Horvitz 12:04
18 Flying Polly - M. Shrieve, B. Frisell, W. Horvitz 1:51
19 Stella (Reprise) - M. Shrieve, B. Frisell, W. Horvitz 5:02

Tracks 1 to 8 recorded and mixed at Ztudio Zerkall, Germany, May 1995: Tracks 9 to 19 recorded at Bob Lang Studios, Seattle, Nov. 1993

MUSICIANS

Shawn Lane - Guitar, Voice on Tracks 1 - 8
Bill Frisell - Guitar on Tracks 9 - 19
Jonas Hellborg - Bass on Tracks 1 - 8
Wayne Horvitz - Organ on Tracks 9 - 19
Michael Shrieve - Drums on Tracks 1 - 19

MICHAEL SHRIEVE BIO

Michael Shrieve (born July 6, 1949, in San Francisco) is a U.S. drummer, percussionist, and later, an electronic music composer. He is best-known as the drummer in Carlos Santana's eponymous band, playing on their first eight albums from 1969 through 1974. His performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival, when he was just 20 years old, made him one of the youngest musicians to perform at the festival. Shrieve's drum solo during an extended version of Soul Sacrifice in the Woodstock film has been described as "electrifying". His name is included on the alumni "Wall of Fame" at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Redwood City, California. He is an alumnus of Junípero Serra High School (San Mateo, California). In 1967/68 he attended the College of San Mateo, California; learned to read sheet music and played in the school's jazz band. Shrieve's first full-time band was called Glass Menagerie, followed by experience in the house band of an R&B club, backing touring musicians including B.B. King and Etta James. At 16, he played in a jam session at the Fillmore Auditorium where he attracted the attention of Santana's manager Stan Marcum. When he was 19, Shrieve jammed with Santana at a recording studio and was invited to join that day. The 2004 two-disc Legacy release of Santana features additional tracks recorded before Shrieve joined the band. On August 16, 1969, Santana played the Woodstock Festival, shortly after Shreive's twentieth birthday, but before the release of their eponymous first album (1969). He would continue with Santana for Abraxas (1970), Santana III (1971), Caravanserai (1972), Welcome (1973), Borboletta (1974) and the live Lotus {1974}. He co-wrote four of the tracks on Caravanserai as well as co-producing the album. Shrieve left the original Santana band to pursue solo projects. He moved to London, England to record the 1976 album Automatic Man with guitarist Pat Thrall, bassist Doni Harvey and keyboardist Todd Cochran (billed as Bayete). While in London Shrieve was part of the fusion supergroup Go with Stomu Yamashta, Steve Winwood, Al Di Meola and Klaus Schulze, releasing two studio albums Go (1976) and Go Too (1977) and the live album Go Live from Paris (1976). He played in the band Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve (with Sammy Hagar, Neal Schon, and Kenny Aaronson). Later, he played drums on (former Supertramp member) Roger Hodgson's first solo album, In the Eye of the Storm. From 1979 to 1984, he collaborated as a percussionist in Richard Wahnfried, a side project of Klaus Schulze (another drummer turned electronic composer) while recording with Schulze his own first "solo" album of electronic music, Transfer Station Blue, in 1984. In 1997, he joined former Santana musicians Neal Schon, Gregg Rolie, José "Chepito" Areas, Alphonso Johnson, and Mike Carabello to record Abraxas Pool. He has also collaborated with David Beal, Andy Summers, Steve Roach, Jonas Hellborg, Buckethead, Douglas September, and others. He has served as a session player on albums by Todd Rundgren and Jill Sobule. In 2004, he appeared on the track The Modern Divide on the Revolution Void album Increase the Dosage. The album was released under a Creative Commons license. As of April, 2010 Shrieve lives in Seattle Washington, where he plays in a fusion jazz group, Spellbinder, at TōST in Fremont, Seattle, with Danny Godinez, Joe Doria, John Fricke, and Farko Dosumov. He recently worked as a producer on his son Sam Shrieve's debut album Bittersweet Lullabies. Shrieve has composed music for several films, most notably Paul Mazursky's Tempest and Apollo 13. In 1998 Shrieve was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his work with Santana. In March 2011 Rolling Stone Readers picked The Best Drummers of All Time: Shrieve ranked #10. - [from Wiki]

ABOUT BILL FRISELL

The defining characteristic of any given jazz musician is frequently his sound. The more control a player has over the nature of that sound, the more likely he is to project a distinctive musical personality. For example, a saxophonist has virtually unlimited physical control of the sound that comes through his horn, and therefore a wide range of tonal expression at his command -- which partially explains the disproportionate number of saxophonists in the pantheon of great jazz musicians. On the other hand, few electric guitarists inhabit that realm, in part because the typical jazz guitar sound differs little from player to player. In general, guitarists do not have the same degree of physical control. Without the use of signal processing -- which jazz purists shun -- they're mostly stuck with the generic sound that comes out of their amp. Hence, guitarists have historically tended to "sound" more or less the same. Bill Frisell is a notable exception. Among jazz guitarists, Frisell is unique in his exploitation of variable timbre. Frisell's sound swells and breathes like a saxophonist's (interestingly, Frisell played clarinet as a child). In many ways his sound is reminiscent of a pedal steel guitar. And although his work is steeped in jazz, Frisell is a man of catholic tastes. His music includes characteristics of rock, country, and bluegrass, among various other styles. Such liberality explains his willingness to expand his tonal palette beyond that of the typical jazz guitarist. Where so many conventional jazz guitarists define themselves by how many notes they can play, Frisell has carved a niche by virtue of his sound. His ability as an original, lyrical player of melody combines with a unique (if much imitated) sound to make him one of the most singular musicians of his generation. Born in Baltimore, Frisell grew up in Denver, CO. He began playing the clarinet in the fourth grade and took up guitar a few years later for his personal amusement. He continued with the clarinet, playing in school concert and marching bands. Frisell briefly considered playing classical clarinet professionally. He played guitar in rock and R&B bands as a teenager (high-school classmates included Philip Bailey, Andrew Woolfork, and Larry Dunn, future members of the funk group Earth, Wind & Fire). He discovered jazz in the music of Wes Montgomery and began to study the music. Dale Bruning, a Denver-based guitarist and educator, fed his fascination with jazz. Frisell decided to make guitar his primary instrument. After briefly attending the University of Northern Colorado, he moved to Boston in 1971 to attend the Berklee School of Music. There he studied with Michael Gibbs and John Damian. While at Berklee, Frisell connected with other like-minded players (Pat Metheny was a classmate). He also studied with Jim Hall, who became an important influence, especially in terms of harmony. In the mid-'70s, Frisell began moving away from pure bebop and began fusing jazz with his other musical interests. At about this time he began developing his atmospheric, quasi-microtonal style. He discovered that, by using a guitar with a flexible neck, he could manipulate the instrument's intonation. A combination of experimental techniques and signal processors like delay and reverb gave Frisell a sound unlike any other guitarist. In the late '70s, he traveled to Belgium. There he met Manfred Eicher, the founder of ECM Records. Beginning in the early '80s, Frisell recorded prolifically for the label, as leader and sideman with such musicians as Paul Motian and Jan Garbarek. He continued with the label throughout the decade, earning a reputation as ECM's "house guitarist." Frisell became much acclaimed by critics for his sophisticated yet accessible work. Frisell moved to New York in the '80s, where he worked with many of the most creative musicians active on the city's "downtown" jazz scene. In the '80s and '90s, he would record and perform with a huge variety of artists, not all of them jazz musicians. Collaborators would include rock and pop musicians (drummer Ginger Baker, singers Marianne Faithfull and Elvis Costello), experimental jazz musicians (saxophonist/composers John Zorn and Tim Berne), and at least one classical composer (Gavin Bryars). Frisell composed soundtracks for the silent films of Buster Keaton. His 1996 album Quartet won the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the German equivalent of the Grammy. Frisell became an annual winner of various magazine polls for his solo work and recordings. By the end of the '90s, Frisell was one of the most well-known jazz musicians in the world, with an audience and an aesthetic that transcended the boundaries of any given style. It should be mentioned that, while Frisell is best known for his somewhat "ambient" guitar technique, he is a swinging, harmonically fluent jazz player when the occasion warrants. Frisell moved to Seattle, WA, in 1989 and stayed active as the 21st century opened, releasing Ghost Town in 2000, followed by a set with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones in 2001. Blues Dream also appeared that same year, followed by The Willies in 2002. East/West and Richter 858 were both released in 2005, and a set with Ron Carter and Paul Motian in 2006. History, Mystery followed in 2008. In 2010, a trio recording entitled Beautiful Dreamers was released by Savoy Jazz. A collection of covers and originals, it featured Frisell in the company of violinist Eyvind Kang and drummer Roy Royston. Frisell was the featured guitarist on Abigail Washburn's 2011 album City of Refuge, and also released Bill Frisell & Vinicius Cantuaria, a series of duets with the Brazilian guitarist and vocalist, that year. The latter album was produced by Lee Townsend and released on the Entertainment on Disc/eOne imprint. © Chris Kelsey © 2011 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bill-frisell-p76334/biography

ABOUT WAYNE HORVITZ

Wayne Horvitz took piano lessons briefly as a child. At 13, he received a few classical guitar lessons; he found the style unsuitable and quit. A year later, influenced by the records of blues pianist Otis Spann, he took up the piano again. From that point, he was largely self-taught. Horvitz made a name for himself in the '80s by playing with some of the leading lights on the downtown New York-based experimental/improv scene, including Bobby Previte, Butch Morris, Fred Frith, Elliott Sharp, and others. His most famous association was with saxophonist/composer John Zorn as a member of the latter's band, Naked City. Horvitz-led ensembles included the President, the Horvitz/Morris/Previte Trio, and Pigpen. By the mid-'90s, Horvitz had moved from New York to the Pacific Northwest; his primary band became the Seattle-based Zony Mash (Horvitz; Timothy Young, guitar; Keith Lowe, bass; Andy Roth, drums). Their organ-based, groove-oriented music incorporates some "outside" elements, but largely avoids the avant-garde tendencies characteristic of Horvitz's New York work. Besides Zony Mash, Horvitz continues to perform in other contexts, leading the Four Plus One Ensemble (Horvitz; Eyvind Kang, violin; Julian Priester, trombone; Reggie Watts, keyboards; Tucker Martine, electronics and live processing) and Ponga (Horvitz; Bobby Previte, drums; Skerik, saxes; Dave Palmer, keyboards). Horvitz has also recorded for the Songlines, Knitting Factory, Elektra/Nonesuch, Sound Aspects, and Black Saint labels. © Chris Kelsey © 2011 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/wayne-horvitz-p87921/biography

ABOUT SHAWN LANE

Shawn Lane was a phenomenally talented guitar player who never quite broke out beyond guitar enthusiasts and critics, but will remain influential to players for many years to come. Originally hailed as a child prodigy, Lane joined Black Oak Arkansas as a teenager, and could have been part of the guitar shredder movement of the late '80s and '90s, but his restless musical inclinations led him down a different path. Lane began his musical education on piano and cello at age four, but had switched to guitar by age eight. At ten, he was holding band rehearsals at the house he shared with his grandmother, and since the other bandmembers left their instruments at his house, Lane was free to try them out, and added bass and drums to his keyboard and guitar abilities. By 15, Lane was becoming known in Memphis circles as a guitarist, which led to an audition with Black Oak Arkansas in 1978, who he toured with for the next four years. Black Oak Arkansas was still popular enough to play at Bill Clinton's inaugural as Governor of Arkansas, but the band's heyday was well behind them. After disbanding briefly, BOA was re-formed with a couple of Shawn's high school friends joining the band, and bringing a heavy fusion edge to this southern boogie band. Then, burnt out from touring, Lane basically dropped out of sight in 1982 for a couple years, practiced piano, studied music theory and composition, and did a lot of reading and watching movies (he claims he barely played guitar at all during this period). The mid-'80s saw Shawn returning to guitar: first playing in some bands around the south, then appearing on an album produced by Mike Varney on the Shrapnel label, with a tune called "Stratosphere II" on the U.S. Metal compilation (his first available recording). Shortly afterwards, he formed a band called the Willys, who were the house band at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Many touring musicians caught Lane's playing while staying there, and word of mouth led to session work, and eventually to his playing on the Highwayman 2 album with Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. That high profile work ,and a demo cassette passed to Jim Ed Norman at Warner Brothers led to Lane being signed to Warner Brothers in 1990. Lane spent the next two years at home, creating the Powers of Ten album, on which he played every instrument. Following its release in 1992, Guitar Player Magazine named him "Best New Talent" and he placed second in Keyboard Magazine's "Best Keyboard Player" category. A touring band was assembled to promote the album, and a live recording was made, though it wasn't released until 2001(Powers of Ten Live!). His next project was DDT, a band that also featured Cody and Luther Dickenson, later of the North Mississippi Allstars. The DDT material was supposed to be for Lane's second album for Warner Bros., but the recording never materialized. Also at this time, Lane did production work for other artists, did a couple instructional videos, and developed curricula and taught at several European Conservatories. 1994 would be an important year for Lane, as it marked his first collaboration with Swedish bassist Jonas Hellborg, a relationship that would continue for nearly a decade and produce many releases (mostly on the Bardo label). Lane and Hellborg were perfect collaborators, sharing many of the same musical influences and many other interests as well, and it was playing with Hellborg that Lane really discovered his voice on guitar. They toured with drummer Jeff Sipe over the next several years, developing such a rapport that they were able to play completely improvised sets every night (documented on albums like Temporal Analogues of Paradise and Time Is the Enemy). Concurrently, in 1995, Hellborg and Lane played with Chinese pop singer Wei-Wei, and the Hellborg/Lane/Sipe trio appeared as an opening act at all of Mainland China's largest musical venues. Lane and Hellborg parted ways with Sipe in 1997, allowing Lane to work on the tracks that would become Tri-Tone Fascination, his second solo album in 1999. Also at this time, he and Hellborg began incorporating more Near Eastern and Eastern influences into their playing and improvising (Zenhouse, ). In 1999, Lane and Hellborg began working with V. Selvaganesh, son of percussionist Vikku Vinayakram of Shakti fame, and began pushing the music into more of a South Indian fusion, as evidenced by Good People in Times of Evil. Lane started having health problems in 2001, temporarily breaking off his work with Hellborg. After recovering, Lane started playing with a Memphis bar band called the Time Bandits, but was back with Hellborg and Sipe for a brief tour in 2002. There was also more work with the Vinayakrams, resulting in Icon, a dazzling work of East-West fusion that, unfortunately proved to be among Lane's final recorded works. There was a brief tour of India in February of 2003, but Lane's health problems returned, and on Sept. 26, 2003, Shawn Lane passed away following lung surgery. © Sean Westergaard © 2012 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/shawn-lane-p26629/biography

ABOUT JONAS HELLBORG

A wild improviser, bassist Jonas Hellborg leans more toward rock than jazz. Drawing inspiration from Jimi Hendrix, Arabic music, and Lifetime, Hellborg began playing professionally in the mid-'80s. After some session work (including Pil's Album, Ginger Baker's Middle Passage, and sessions with John McLaughlin's new Mahavishnu Orchestra), he released The Word on Axiom in 1991. The album features Hellborg's acoustic bass, drums, and a string quartet. He remained highly prolific throughout the decade, recording most prominently for the Day Eight label. © John Bush © 2012 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hellborg-p85737