"WAR ALL THE TIME"

The Lazonby Group David Lazonby sax. Eddie Roberts Guitar, Simon Russell double bass, Gene Velocette drums.

Recorded Beaumont Street Studio, Huddersfield, England 18 April 1994. SLAMCD 214

TRACKS:

1 Mass (part one) 9m 56s

2 Journey from Sirius B to Earth 10 46

3 Bossa nova my arse 5 01

4 War all the time (part one) 11 00

5 War all the time (part two) 11 33

6 Pork leg 6 25

7 Mass (part two) 9 06

BBC News & Record Reviews, September 1996 Metro-smugglers be damned, Huddersfield is becoming the cultural capitalof England! Few have taken up Ornette Coleman's injunction to play innocently, avoiding the safety net of standard forms, but altoist David Lazonby's group have. This doesn't necessarily mean Free Jazz abrasion, because this is toe-tapping and melodic. Gene Velocette used to drum for the late, great Xero Slingsby; his unique clattering funk is still intact. Simon Russell (bass) and Eddie Roberts (guitar) open up airy spaces for the expressive tangles of Lazonby's alto. To find the equal of this balance between spontaneity and groove, you'd bneed to go to Zurich and chek out the wonderful Kadash. Shame the majors only have ears for haughty, run-of-the-mill professionalism, when there's music this inspired on offer. Ben Watson

The Wire, September 1996 Lazonby has already called his jazz album on SLAM 'a bit shit', but musical abstraction helps him escape the honeyed miasma of the Lazer Boy nursery. Powered by Gene Velocette - the late Xero Slingslby's drum titan - 'War All The Time' is an oasis among the pointless professionalism of big-label jazz. The poignant babysound of Lazonby's singing voice transfers well to his alto sax. Against the cool modal chordings of Eddie Robert's guitar and Simon Russell's poised bass the alto wriggles are fetching. The listening is easy, but not servile. Ben Watson