“hellborg_jonas”
Jonas Hellborg / Shawn Lane
Zenhouse
Bardo
The less you have, the more skill you need to make something out of it. Keyboard players have an infinite array of sounds at their disposal, guitarists get only six strings and an near-infinite amount of effects units. Bass players? Most bass players make do with four strings, ten fingers. and an amplifier. Jonas Hellborg, a bass player if I ever heard one, and Shawn Lane, who may as well ditch two strings from his guitar, construct four delicate, intricate structures out of spun air on Zenhouse , with the aid of percussionist Apt. Q-258. Decidedly Middle Eastern in flavor, the near-hour of live improvisation in Zenhouse elapses in a timeless meditation as the players carefully weave and dance around each other in simple droning ways, and the odd assortment of percussion (which includes the occasional gong and water splash) builds and releases the tension. This is wild and unfettered, cerebral jazz that stems from the unconscious.
Bardo Records, 532 La Guardia Place #421, New York, NY 10001; http://www.hellborg.com
