Heavy Metal Jazz Concepts (HMJCO1) A New Jazz Concept?? Canadian based ''Heavy Metal Jazz Concepts'' is definitely taking the mainstream jazz idiom to the 'edge.' To say that this disc is experimental, would understate the group's focus. The merging of heavy metal, punk, & funk to the bebop jazz style as in the case of their treatment of the Miles Davis romantic composition, 'Blue In Green' tests our acceptance as to whether or not these two distinct musical idioms (heavy metal & jazz) can or should be mixed in any manner. All in all, the band is 'out there' however, testing the musical waters, & that's good. It'll certainly be interesting to see if they develop a solid jazz following. All music is valid! It's not the first time that a band has tried to create a new 'musical school.' It won't be the last! A disc like this can be helpful to all music lovers in that it tests our ability to search for the deeper meaning of music in the abstract. This is certainly the most unique & singular interpretation of jazz I have personally ever reviewed. I wish the group well. (CD purchase, contact @:mariko66angels@hotmail.com) or Jazzpromo.com Note: George W. Carroll / The Musicians' Ombudsman Website: http://www.georgewcarroll.com Email: moonboy22@juno.com Is It Jazz? And on an entirely different note we have ‘heavy metal jazz’. Seem like an unlikely title and fusion ? Well this Canadian band sound like they had fun tackling some standards whilst actually leaning more towards heavy metal, or ‘heavyosity’ as they call it, than jazz as such. Whilst you can’t deny that tracks like ‘Softly As In A Morning Sunrise’ or ‘Blue In Green’ come from the jazz cannon, the treatment they receive has roots in metal and punk. The former has staccato drums and bass alongside crunching fuzz guitar. Keyboardist, Mariko is virtually submerged and just about makes the theme heard, though the bass covers that too. All but the drummer take solos, which, I suppose, reflects something of that longstanding jazz tradition, ‘head, solos and tail’. Interestingly, perhaps for U.K. listeners, the underpinning riff is very reminiscent of the old Dr Who theme. The Davis classic is given a slightly more sedate treatment with the keyboard floating ethereally over the rest of the instruments but here too they revel in a bit of noisy thrash and fuzzy squalling. Likewise, ‘Black Orpheus’ is driven by their primal ‘heavy metal’ approach with thwacking drums and clanking bass. In fact it, and several other moments on the cd, reminded me of the ‘dance’ outfit, League Of Gentlemen, formed in 1980 by Robert Fripp, of King Crimson fame. There is one original composition included, ‘Symmetrical Dominant Blues’, which features some intermittently fuzzed guitar and wobbly organ. It is actually the least successful track to my ears but their promo notes say that the next cd will all be originals. I can’t help feeling that their spirited, somewhat irreverent, attack on jazz isn’t over yet and I look forward to HMJC’s take on ‘A Night in Tunisia’ , ‘Round Midnight’ or ‘Better Git It In Tour Soul’ on some future recording. © 2003Paul Donnelly www.tangents.co.uk Heavy Metal Jazz Concepts Blending two very different forms of music could be disastrous at best. If one keeps an open mind, though, the result can be gratifying. This is the idea behind the way Heavy Jazz Concepts handle time honored standards. Some might think it a travesty and maybe and act of desperation, but if you listen carefully, the renditions are quite interesting. Black Orpheus is such a beautiful piece, one of Bonfa's classics. Given solid wall of sound treatment here, Sagan's bass solo is stimulating. Telford's distorted guitar along with Segger's relentless drumming take the melody on a weird and distorted trip. Still, the group never crosses the line in terms of offending the original meaning of the piece. They only view it from a different perspective. This is the most ear bending version of Sid Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein's classic Softly as In A Morning Sunrise, you will ever hear. Whether coming down from some bizarre acid trip or awakening to a new day in some sort of distorted reality, the band succeeds in pulling this one off as well. Telford and Sagan offer tasty solos, while Yamagishi acts as the foundation throughout. Blue In Green is given a spacy kind of treatment here reminiscent of what Fat Mattress or maybe Moby Grape might have done when they were around in the late 1960's. Symmetrical Dominant Blues features keyboardist Mariko Yamagishi. Her light and airy approach compliments Telford's static and grunge induced guitar. Segger's drumming at the end will take one back to Bill Ward's heyday when he was the stick man with Black Sabbath. Heavy Metal Jazz Concepts are brave to release this material. I for one have no problem with the de-sanctification of time honored originals. No sacred cows here. One can only hope that heavy metal listeners will listen to this release and want to check out other more traditional versions. Ray Telford: Guitar Mark Segger: Drums Mariko Yamagishi: Keyboards Terrence Sagan: Bass Black Orpheus/ Maiden Voyage- Footprints/ Softly As In A Morning Sunrise/ Blue In Green/ Symmetrical Dominant Blues http://www.heavymetaljazzconcepts.com/ Added: Thursday, December 04, 2003 Reviewer: Randy McElligot Score: **** Heavy Metal Jazz Concepts Confieso que al comenzar esta reseña me rondan la cabeza referencias un tanto extrañas a la línea de esta publicación, y, aparentemente, también extrañas a la propia musica de la banda. Estaba pensando en la llamada "música especulativa" de Johann Sebastian Bach o en las igualmente abstrusas fantasías para conjunto de violas de Henry Purcell. Tampoco conseguía alejar de la mente expresiones como "música marciana". Ambas ideas pueden ser claves para abordar la riqueza extrañada de este trío. ¿Por qué la referencia a músicas que sólo en la partitura revelan sus secretos, y que tienen una dimensión de obra nteórica además de su función generadora de disfrute músical? Porque, a la primera escucha, el oyente se siente excedido por el fluir continuo de ideas, múltiples estratos, complicadas combinaciones rítmicas, complejidad tímbrica, alusiones a distintos estilos o géneros. Armónica y melódicamente, juegan al despiste; mientras que la complejidad de patrones y elementos imbricados están al nnivel de la música culta, los materiales de base tematicos, melodías, acordes, timbres, elaboran un juego surrealista de raíz popular (Carlos Jáuregui, margen Audio Magazine #26). Added: Thursday, December 04, 2003 Reviewer: Carlos Jáuregui, margen Audio Magazine #26   HEAVY METAL JAZZ CONCEPTS S/T CD (Haunted Recorders) I wouldn’t normally consider myself a fan of heavy metal or jazz, but the idea of mixing these styles together seemed such a unique concept that I just had to hear this. There are 5 tracks here. 4 of them covers (amongst them pieces by Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock) and one original composition written by the band’s drummer Mark Segger. Their Heavy Metal Jazz idea is very effective, and is a style I’d rather listen to than most heavy metal or jazz, and in fact it comes across more as the more hard-edged and experimental end of prog-rock rather than either of the original genres it’s influenced by. The one original composition here is called Symmetrical Dominant Blues, and as the title suggests, it also has a strong blues influence alongside the metal and jazz. Fans of straightforward jazz or metal would probably find the idea of this band blasphemous, but I can recommend this EP to anyone who is forward thinking about music. Contact info@heavymetaljazzconcepts.com Kim Harten, www.blissaquamarine.net singlereviews24