#7: WEASEL WALTER
[Abridged version hosted by Invisible Oranges; longer cut below.]
Weasel Walter has been on my to-interview list since I started Heavy Metal Be-Bop. Not only is he a voracious, articulate and exceedingly well-informed champion of both free-jazz and extreme metal—you need his label/blog in your life—he’s made important contributions to each field as a player and composer, first with the late, great Flying Luttenbachers and more recently as an accomplished improviser and the drummer for the rebooted Behold… the Arctopus.
Weasel and I met in Brooklyn last December to talk about jazz and metal.
#6: BILL LASWELL
[Abridged version hosted by Invisible Oranges; longer cut below.]
You can’t really call Bill Laswell a jazz musician, and it doesn’t make sense to label him “metal” either. But when it comes to the murky territory between these two styles, the bassist-producer is an unavoidable presence.
Last Exit (pictured)—Laswell’s mid-to-late-’80s collaboration with saxist Peter Brötzmann, guitarist Sonny Sharrock and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson—was the definitive noise-jazz band, an improvising quartet that reveled in sweat, volume and ugly machismo. Last Exit weren’t playing metal, but the parallel was clear; Painkiller, a trio with experimental saxophonist John Zorn and Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris, connected the dots with their grindcore-and-dub-fueled free jazz. (In Bladerunner, a later Zorn/Laswell group, Slayer’s Dave Lombardo took over the drum throne.)
Laswell also pursued mutant-metal hybrids with Praxis—whose diverse cast included Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell and Primus/Guns N’ Roses/Godflesh drummer Brain—and Arcana, which paired jazz drum legend Tony Williams with masked guitar fiend Buckethead. On the production side, Laswell has worked with bands ranging from Motörhead (Orgasmatron) and White Zombie (Make Them Die Slowly) to the avant-hardcore power trio Blind Idiot God.
Bill Laswell and I met in Manhattan in June of 2011 to talk about jazz and metal.
#5: GENTRY DENSLEY
HEAVY METAL BE-BOP #5: GENTRY DENSLEY
[Abridged version hosted by Invisible Oranges; unabridged version below]
It’s common for musicians working in rock-based styles to claim a jazz influence, but Gentry Densley is a special case. Throughout the ’90s, he led the Salt Lake City band Iceburn through a startling evolution, from epic progressive hardcore to full-on free improvisation. Densley has since looped back around to metallic expression with the doomy duo Eagle Twin (as well as Ascend, a collaboration with Sunn O))) member Greg Anderson), but he continues to invite chaotic, in-the-moment interplay and pure-sound texture into his songs. He remains an encyclopedic jazz fan.
I called Gentry in May of 2011 to talk about jazz and metal.
#4: MELVIN GIBBS
HEAVY METAL BE-BOP #4: MELVIN GIBBS
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Like my previous HMB guest Trevor Dunn, Melvin Gibbs plays the bass. Also like Dunn, he spent the early-to-mid ’90s working with a high-profile alt-metal group—in Gibbs’s case the Rollins Band. The path that got him to that point, though, and the path he’s taken since, are unique. Gibbs was a hardcore fan prior to joining Rollins Band, but his main area of expertise was jazz fusion, specifically a punk-informed ’80s outcropping of the style. He worked closely with guitarist Sonny Sharrock and drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, two giants of this sorely underrated mini movement, as well as with his longtime friend Vernon Reid (of Living Colour). Gibbs also boasts deep ties to funk (Parliament’s Bernie Worrell) and experimental improvisation (Elliott Sharp).
Melvin and I met in Brooklyn in April of 2011 to talk about jazz and metal.
#3: TREVOR DUNN
HEAVY METAL BE-BOP #3: TREVOR DUNN
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Whatever you need done on the bass, Trevor Dunn is your man. Many musicians know this, and thus, Dunn’s résumé is unreal. You have likely heard of Mr. Bungle and Fantômas. Then there’s assorted John Zorn projects, Brooklyn-based jazz ensembles (Endangered Blood is currently going strong), his own alt-rock band MadLove, his new-fusion combo Trio-Convulsant, gigs with singer-songwriters and an intermittent spot in the Melvins. More than most, he has an insider view of both communities that HMB investigates.
Trevor and I met in Brooklyn in March of 2011 to talk about jazz and metal.
#2: CRAIG TABORN
HEAVY METAL BE-BOP #2: CRAIG TABORN
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Craig Taborn is a pianist. Any other descriptor you could use would be inadequate. He made his name playing with jazz saxophone virtuoso James Carter in the mid-’90s. Later he has gone on to work with Detroit techno artist Carl Craig, former Hüsker Dü bassist Greg Norton, avant-garde saxist Tim Berne and tons of others. His latest release is a magical solo CD on ECM, Avenging Angel. I began spotting Taborn at NYC metal shows a few years back, and when I saw that he had booked a show (later canceled) with former Gorguts member Steeve Hurdle, I knew I had to interview him.
Craig and I met in Brooklyn in January of 2011 to talk about jazz and metal.
#1: DAN WEISS
HEAVY METAL BE-BOP #1: DAN WEISS
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Dan Weiss is a jazz drummer/composer based in New York. He performs his own beautiful compositions with his trio, which includes pianist Jacob Sacks and bassist Thomas Morgan. (I highly recommend the 2010 album Timshel.) He also studies tabla drumming and was formerly a member of the black-hooded NYC avant-doom band Bloody Panda.
Dan and I met in Manhattan in January of 2011 to talk about jazz and metal.
