Ozone Quartet - Fresh Blood CD Reviews

Fresh Blood Reviews

Fuse Magazine
This Raleigh, North Carolina based powerful progressive rock fusion group quickly brings to mind early Mahavishnu Orchestra, mainly due to the Eastern sounding melodies and the excellent violin work by Hollis Brown. The rest of this top notch quartet consists of Francis Dyer (drums), Kenny Thompson (guitar) and Wayne Leechford (Chapman Stick). The arrangements are flowing and the group performs in a very tight musical structure that never drifts into over extended improvisation. There are moments when the dark, heavy atmosphere of King Crimson sets into the material but once again, it never goes on too long without moving into fresh, interesting territory. This is quality fusion that stands on it's own as a new direction that hopefully this group will continue to pursue. MH

Island Gazette
Ozone Quartet produces a dynamic effort with this release. Based out of Raleigh, NC, the music offers refreshing all instrumental progressive rock. The disc is full of cool changes that make each of the band's tunes catchy, powerful and distinctive. One of the more skillfully written recordings, this release is a keeper. Superb playing with professional delivery. The group stands out as one of the genre's best, most likable newcomers to be heard. Check it out! -BM

Free Times
Ozone Quartet's amalgamation of graceful syncopation and roaming melodies achieves the rare distinction of being tasteful art rock. Working off a base setup of guitar, drums, Chapman stick and electric violin, the group tactfully rewrites the rules of instrumentation while avoiding the self-indulgent side of the genre. Taking the Tortoise aesthetic to music school, the band's refined experimentation has the unique ability to toss everything up in the air and have it fall perfectly into one divine picture, The quartet's debut CD, 'Fresh Blood', showcases the band's slinky and listener- friendly art rock that maintains a power to engage almost any listener. -TS

Delire Musical (Canada)
This week's discovery is pure auditioning pleasure. Ozone Quartet, formerly known as Cloud Nine, is based in North Carolina. A quartet formed of Hollis Brown (electric violin), Francis Dyer (drums), Kenny Thompson (guitar) and Wayne Leechford (Chapman Stick), Ozone Quartet plays instrumental music ranging somewhere between the fusion-jazz John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra and King Crimson's power. In fact, and quite like Boud Deun, Ozone Quartet is really between fusion-jazz and progressive music. The pieces, without being very complex, present worked rhythmic patterns lending a firm ground for uplifting violin and guitar melodies. Sometimes lyrical (even without words) like Jean-Luc Ponty can be, the band also has the demolishing edge power of King Crimson, 'Thrak' period. The presence of the Chapman Stick, Tony Levin's favorite toy, is here of some importance. But Ozone Quartet have their own sound, even if it is close to Boud Deun. I would say that where Boud Deun excels in energy, Ozone Quartet offers a better lyricism and melodic approach, which gives a record that lets the listener a chance to breathe. -FC

Alternate View (UK)
Ozone Quartet are, in their own words , 'an eclectic, all-instrumental rock band' from Raleigh, North Carolina. Formerly known as Cloud Nine, they released their debut album Fresh Blood in 1997 following three cassette-only releases. The band consist of Hollis Brown on electric violin, Francis Dyer on drums, Kenny Thompson on guitar and Wayne Leechford on Chapman stick. All songs were written, recorded, mixed and produced by Ozone Quartet. The album was mastered by Bob Katz at digital Domain. 'Surge' opens with album with a powerful combination of violin and guitars. It is obvious from the start that Hollis' violins are at the forefront. She plays a dynamic and tremendously fast fiddle - somewhat out of the Jean-Luc Ponty school of bowmanship. 'Stash' is slightly less up-tempo but equally atmospheric with the combination of instruments embroidering a rich tapestry of sound. Here Kenny's guitars hold the song while the violin soars in and around the melody. There is tremendous amount of energy here with the drums hammering out underneath. 'Thief' is more jazz-rock compositional inventiveness. Here we have some very different drumming sounds from Francis who for some of the time appears to be hitting more 'industrial' percussion, then a drum kit. This composition moved from fast and furious to quiet subtlety with great aplomb. 'Blue Screen' once again had guitar and violin sharing the lead melodies, interweaving with each other to generate a rich flowing track. 'Missing Link' revolves around Kenny's raw guitar riffs around which Hollis weaves the violin line. The whole song totters precariously on one of the most complicated time signatures I have heard for a while. 'World Of Difference' had Hollis' violin line traveling along a complicated guitar and bass-line while underneath Francis hammers out more intricate percussion lines. 'Spy Shadow' trances twin melody lines as guitar and violin seem to pursue their own direction, but somehow still manage to combine their harmonies. 'Dragonfly' is as funky as the guys get. Kenny and Wayne, who has been least prominent so far, really let lose, and the rest are racing to catch up. There is real interplay between guitar and Stick here building a solid wall of sound up which the violin grows like manic ivy. 'Hypnosis' has Hollis in more Eastern mood, creating a mystic Arabian feel at which the drums and Stick hammer away. A powerful combination a sinuosity and power. 'Fresh Blood' closes the album with a powerful finale - first violin, then guitars takes up the theme while the rest of the band weave in and out with a rockin' performance. This is a complicated album. However, while it took me a while to get into, at an immediate level it still comes over well. The intricacy of the music is incredible - these are not your average rock musicians. All four guys put on a performance of technical excellence - and still manage to weave some extra something into the overall band sound which is more than the sum of the four. If you are into the likes of Ponty, Bruford, Holdsworth and 1980s King Crimson then this is definitely one for your collection. -FB

All About Jazz
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. 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'. -JP

The Space of Carlos Tavares
North Carolina's instrumental outfit Ozone Quartet proposes a musical journey that endeavors on substance and passion to perform. Their style doesn't fit right in into a popular basis, partly due to the fact of the chosen instrumentation. This is one of the few bands around to incorporate a Chapman stick and an electric violin within its foundation. Hence we have Wayne Leechford on the stick, Hollis Brown on electric violin, Kenny Thompson on guitar and Francis Dyer on Drums. An attempt to label their sound is hazardous and won't do the band much justice; nevertheless I'll be sinful and pronounce influences ranging through classical to jazz, with an obvious wink of an eye towards early King Crimson. When an album, like this one, is totally undressed with lyrics we find ourselves focusing essentially on the (amazing) structures that were written for it. The close relationship between the stick and guitar bleeds a spectrum that exhales either a dosage of counterpoint or heartfelt melody. If you add to this the nervous fringes from the violin and the polyrhythmic percussion you'll get particular tracks that really stand out of this frame such as the opener SURGE, its follow-up STASH or even better the fifth MISSING LINK. Ozone Quartet's debut is a gem, every home should have one. Furthermore, if you're into challenging instrumental music that will stimulate your brain cells then this one's for you. -CJT