'Released'
by Jade Warrior
(1971)
Whilst they never enjoyed genuine commercial success in their original guise, between the years 1970 and 1972 they did manage to release three unique albums, tour the USA with ex-Traffic guitarist Dave Mason, and in the process become one of the key influences in developing the burgeoning New-Age music scene that would peak in popularity during the 1980's.
Drawing their inspiration from the world's of Japanese, Chinese and Latin music, as well as jazz, folk and the blues, Jade Warrior's sound was unlike anything else found in the progressive rock genre.
Featuring Glyn Havard(bass, vocals), Tony Duhig(guitar) and Jon Field(flutes, percussion, congas), Jade Warrior first came together as a unit sometime during the first few months of 1970. Whilst Havard at this time was part of the blues-rock outfit Unit Two Plus Four, Duhig and Field had been the lead-guitarist and drummer respectively in the cult British psychedelic rock group July, a group that also featured future Mike Oldfield-collaborator Tom Newman. Despite boasting a talented young line-up July produced just a single, self-monikered album before splitting in 1968, with Unit Two Plus Four faring little better. Upon the demise of both bands Havard and Field, who had been friends since the mid-sixties after a spell working together as fork-lift truck drivers, started to piece together a new outfit based on their shared love of Latin and Oriental music, eventually inviting Duhig to become the third member by the start of the new decade. Soon enough a recording contract with Vertigo Records was signed and 1970 would see the group's self-titled debut issued, complete with Oriental-style artwork, to generally positive reviews.
Featuring a slow, careful, semi-psychedelic and fairly exotic sound peppered with Eastern elements and oblique lyrics, 'JadeWarrior' was a remarkably fresh, if somewhat unfocused set of songs that nevertheless sported a thoroughly soft-toned, organic flow. It wasn't exactly rock, yet it wasn't folk music either, and if anything the buying public weren't quite sure of what to make of this interesting new style. However, the album proved successful enough for the trio to record a follow-up, and in preparation the line-up was expanded to include drummer Allan Price - another former member of Unit Four Plus Two - plus guest saxophonist David Connors. It was this line-up that recorded the group's second collection 'Released', the album that saw Jade Warrior's singular East-meets-West musical vision at it's most impressive, aggressive and ambitious.
Filled with a range of moods and emotions, 'Released' exuded a much more confident streak within the group than found on 'Jade Warrior', featuring harsher guitars, intense moments of tribal percussion and the group's innovative soft-loud tonal technique, which saw mellow, organic melodies married with moments of blasting rock. This exciting brew of sounds and styles is best summed up on the extraordinary, Fela Kuti-style, sixteen-minute psychedelic jam 'Baranzibar', an intense and thoroughly exciting slice of Afro-Japanese rock fusion that seamlessly integrates bassy horns, wailing saxophones, pulsating percussion effects and Duhig's feedback-treated guitar to impressive effect. At the other end of the scale meanwhile lies the sun-kissed ballad 'Bride Of Summer', a composition that again finds Duhig running his guitar through tonal juxtapositions and effects pedals, just this time amid a serene sonic back-drop of gentle conga's and graceful flutes, showcasing Jade Warrior's habit of exploring various moods and textures.
After 'Released', the original version Jade Warrior recorded one more album - 1972's 'Last Autumn's Dream' - which toned down the jagged guitars and rasping vocals in favour of a more serene and delicate approach. However, despite offering up a truly different and gentle style of world-influenced jazz-rock, the album proved a relative commercial failure. The group were on the verge of splitting when Traffic's vocalist Steve Winwood, an avid fan, introduced Jade Warrior to Island Records head Chris Blackwell. Blackwell liked what he heard but insisted that the group would be better off as an instrumental outfit, meaning there would be no place for Glyn Havard. Despite this, Duhig and Field signed a deal with Island and Jade Warrior released a succession of albums throughout the seventies and eighties that blended their previous exotic sound with an ambient tempo. Lacking the strong rock dynamic and the group's trademark experimental touches, these albums featured a slightly more commercial angle that insured the name Jade Warrior enjoyed a longevity within the music business that few bands ever experience.
Despite the commercial appeal of these later albums, it is the first three Jade Warrior albums that are best examples of the group's pioneering fusion sound, with 'Released' the undoubted pick-of-the-bunch. Those who enjoy the brazen experimental flavours of Miles Davis' electric period, Herbie Hancock's blistering fusions albums 'Crossings' and 'Sextant' or the striking sounds of Fela Kuti's afro-rock, should definitely investigate the wonderfully peregrine experience that is Jade Warrior.
Key songs: Three-Horned Dragon King, Bride Of Summer, Baranzibar
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