Jade Warrior

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Glyn Havard, Jon Field and Dave Sturt (from left to right)

Jade Warrior are a British musical group, founded in 1970, temporarily disbanded in 1978 and reformed in 1984.

history

The original line-up included Tony Duhig (* 1941 - † 1990, guitar ), Jon Field ( flute , percussion , keyboards , cello ) and Glyn Havard ( vocals , bass ). The first self-titled LP combined poetry, African rhythms and experimental rock music with a lot of improvisation. Fairytale themes, unusual soundscapes and unusual instrumentation should determine all of Jade Warrior's other albums. Despite the similarities to the music of Jimi Hendrix , Santana , Jethro Tull and the early Pink Floyd , they always pursued a very independent concept that "stylistically blew all boundaries" (rock music dictionary, Christian Graf) between rock (music) , jazz , folk and E-music . The first three albums appeared on the relevant progressive rock label Vertigo Records .

In 1974 they moved to Iceland and parted ways with bassist and singer Glyn Havard. Now kept purely instrumental, Jade Warrior moved further away from the usual rock band format. In doing so, they combined the liveliness of popular music with a sensitivity for timbres and dynamics that are otherwise only known from concert music. Tony Duhig and Jon Field worked with women's choirs and chamber music ensembles ( harp , string quintet ). However, improvisation still played a major role, which was ideally complemented by the open band line-up. Guest soloists such as Steve Winwood (keyboards), Fred Frith from Henry Cow ( viola ) and Tony Duhig's brother Dave (solo guitar) set surprising accents on the upcoming albums. Often natural phenomena like on "Waves" or myths and legends like on "Kites" provided the thematic framework for the music.

The band paused in 1978 with the album Way of the Sun . They returned to the Pulse label in 1984. The death of guitarist Tony Duhig made for another break. It was not until 1992 that a new project appeared on the Voiceprint Records label, Breathing the Storm . The album Distant Echoes followed the following year . After that it was quiet around the band for a long time. It wasn't until 2008 that Jade Warrior came back with their new album Now and with a new, “old” line-up: Jon Field, Glyn Havard and Dave Sturt.

Discography

  • Jade Warrior (1971)
  • Released (1971)
  • Last Autumn's Dream (1972)
  • Floating World (1974)
  • Waves (1975)
  • Kites (1976)
  • Way of the Sun (1978)
  • Horizen (1984)
  • At Peace (1989)
  • Breathing the Storm (1992)
  • Distant Echoes (1993)
  • Elements: An Island Anthology (1995)
  • Eclipse (1998)
  • Fifth Element (1998)
  • NOW (2008)

Web links