OZONE QUARTET

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 forgroups 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.

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, CurvedAir, (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".

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.

This North Carolina-based fusion group consisted of excellent musicians on every instrument: bassist Wayne Leechford on chapman stick, Francis Dyer on drums, Hollis Brown on electric violin, and Jeremy Shaw on guitar. (No vocals.) Great fusion a la Mahavishnu/Crimson/Dregs, etc.

Similar to (but not quite as Crimson-esque as) Boud Deun, this group hits a home run on their debut album. Great production and nice balance between the instruments contribute to the excellent playing of some very energetic compositions. My only gripe is that the songs, though good, all start to sound a bit similar after awhile; I personally could have used more slower-paced songs and perhaps some different instrumentation here and there.

This group also put out another studio album ("Nocturne") around the same time as this one, which shows some maturing and progress. But I'd REALLY like to plug their live cd, "Live at Local 506", recorded during their tour following "Nocturne". Comprised of 5 songs each from both studio albums, you can really see how the group has become even tighter and more polished. It's amazing how they can rip through these complex songs live on stage!

I think the group has disbanded, so good luck picking these cd's up. Their website may still sell all of their cd's. If you're into instrumental prog fusion, you should seek them out.

Not a bad Jazz/ Fusion album from this quartet out of Raleigh, North Carolina. Violin, Chapman Stick, drums and guitar create a little bit different sound but to be honest this is very much violin driven all the way and kind of samey. The lack of electric bass takes away some depth here as it does come across a bit lightweight overall. No keyboards either that could provide some atmosphere. Produced by the band but this was mastered by Bob Katz at least. A far cry though from "Red" era KING CRIMSON or MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA as advertised and I mean far. Worth checking out only if your a huge violin fan in my opinion.

Ozone Quartet reformed last year after a three year hiatus and one of their first tasks was to release this recording which was made at one of their last gigs in 2000. Ozone Quartet are a prog rock/jazz fusion act with an unusual line-up from North Carolina. On drums is Fran Dyer who can sometimes find himself on his own when providing stability, as Wayne Leechford plays Chapman Stick, which he can use a melody instrument in its' own right. Jeremy Shaw provides the rock muscle with electric guitar while Hollis Brown fights off all comers to take centre stage on electric violin.

This is a band that played many gigs together, as well as recording two albums, and they are all aware of what each person is doing onstage. Some of the interplay particularly between Hollis and Jeremy is quite breathtaking, while the others prove that they are no slouches either. This is music that is played and lived at pace, with each one willing to go up front or stay just behind as the mood and style demands. It is music that is intense and deserves to have a lot of attention paid to it ? this is not music that can be played in the background. This is jazz with balls that can be threatening when it is needed, or full of fusion and smoothness so that progheads will enjoy this as much as the jazz buff.

Originally appeared in Feedback #78, April 2004

This North Carolina-based fusion group consisted of excellent musicians on every instrument: bassist Wayne Leechford on chapman stick, Francis Dyer on drums, Hollis Brown on electric violin, and Jeremy Shaw on guitar. (No vocals.)

Similar to (but not quite as Crimson-esque as) Boud Deun, Ozone Quartet hit a home run with their debut album "Fresh Blood", then followed it right up with their other fine studio album "Nocturne". And while that album showed some maturing and progress in their playing and composition skills, "Live at Local 506" is your best value from this fine group.

Recorded during their tour following "Nocturne", "Live.." consisted of 5 songs each from both studio albums, and you can really see how the group had become even tighter and more polished. It's amazing how they could rip through these complex songs live on stage!

Great production and nice balance between the instruments contribute to the excellent playing of some very energetic compositions. My only gripe is that the songs, though good, can tend to sound a bit similar after awhile; I personally could have used more slower- paced songs and perhaps some different instrumentation here and there.

Unfortunately, I think the group has disbanded, so good luck picking these cd's up. Their website may still sell all of their cd's.

If you're into instrumental prog fusion, you should seek them out.

Not unlike their mates Boud Deun, Ozone Quartet is evolving into an uncommon quartet, with drums, guitar, violin and bass. The fact that the bass heared on this album is actually a Chapman Stick gives a hint on the more avant garde approach that Ozone Quartet wants to take. Nonetheless, while Boud Deun clearly leans toward jazz with its stylisticaly complex guitar playing, Ozone Quartet is obviously still more concerned by rock, and it rocks hard to say the least ! So, listening to "Fresh Blood" brings back to mind bandnames like Cynic (hopefully without its boring heavy metal singing), the Sean Malone's project, Gordian Knot, or Laundry, the fabulous project of ex-Primus drummer, Tim Alexander. And it's a bit of everything mentionned here that you can find on Ozone Quartet's debut ; an ambitious instrumental rock piece of work, focused on the art of contrasts, textures and ambiances. Well, they do not succeed at creating a world of their own, with the obvious influences and heavy load shadow of acts like King Crimson, ending with an album wich is pleasant to listen to but without any strong personnality. But it will surely find receptive ears amongst those who appreciate spanish Dificil Equilibrio or french Philharmonie, even if the latest are mostly acoustic.

"Nocturne" is the second album by North Carolina's OZONE QUARTET. The band's instrumental music features atmospheric, and playful, interplay between Chapman Stick, violin, and guitar. These guys tend to be compared to BOUD DEUN quite alot, but the music here never gets that complex. The strongest influence seems to be Tony Levin-era KING CRIMSON, if you can imagine that they also had a violin player at the time.

Yet OZONE QUARTET's guitarist doesn't seem influenced by Robert FRIPP. One noticeable difference on this album compared to the first album is the inclusion of vintage-sounding keyboards on some of the tracks. These include Moog-like bubbling, and Hammond B3 chords. Nothing dramatically different, but fans of the first album will take notice. Some of my favorite tracks include "Backbone Of Night" which features Middle-Eastern percussion, and scales. And "Diamond Eye" which has a section featuring some quick flurries of notes from the Chapman Stick.

The American band OZONE QUARTET released their first CD, "Fresh Blood", in 1997. This is the second album from this quite unusual band that is playing unusual music on unusual instruments. The set-up consists of Chapman Stick, Drums and many different percussion instruments, Electric Violin and Guitars. Hollis Brown are playing the Electric Violin, and he's perhaps the most important musician in the band, as the violin is the main lead instrument most of the time. OZONE QUARTET's music is an all-instrumental mix between funky jazz-fusion and progressive rock, with reminiscent to APOCALYTICA, BOUD DEUN, DIXIE DREGS, FLESHQUARTET, KING CRIMSON, KROUMATA, LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT and MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA. Although there's a lot of time changes and odd-time signatures, the music is quite easy-listened considering the complexity. The highlights are "Flood", "Backbone Of Night" and "Diamond Eye" which contains a wonderful show-off on the Chapman Stick. This is a very exciting CD to explore and you won't get tired when listening to it. Recommended!