Jazz Articles

Jonas Hellborg/Shawn Lane/Jeff Sipe: Time is the Enemy

by C. Michael Bailey
February 7, 2004

Time is the Enemy was assembled during a particularly productive period for the trio of Jonas Hellborg, Shawn Lane, and Jeff Sipe. It was recorded live at various unidentified locations around the world during 1996. Other recordings surrounding this original 1997 release, now remastered, include the live Temporal Analogs of Paradise , also recently remastered. As a set, these two recordings document the brilliant improvisatory empathy held by these three fusion experts. Sadly, the remastering and release of Time is ...

Hellborg/Lane/Sipe (Apt. Q258): Temporal Analogues of Paradise

by Todd S. Jenkins
September 25, 2003

Temporal Analogues of Paradise was originally issued in 1996, it stood the fusion world on its ear. The uncanny melodicism of the three performers--Jeff Sipe being the most surprising--set a new standard for electric improvisation. Jonas Hellborg has now remastered the disc and reissued it on his own label, brightening up the sound for an even more awe-inspiring experience.

Like many of Miles Davis' controversial albums in the 1970s, this disc was assembled from a large number of clips. The ...

Jonas Hellborg, Shawn Lane, Jeff Sipe: Temporal Analogues of Paradise

by C. Michael Bailey
July 25, 2003

One could conceivably reason that Jonas Hellborg's Temporal Analogues of Paradise was merely a retro exercise in mid-'70s flabby musical excess, as the live release, recorded in Europe in 1995, includes only two, 25-minute plus pieces. Having listened to hours of such music, I would characterize this disc a bit differently. These two long pieces come closest, in an electric way, of approximating Keith Jarrett's Köln Concert.

Each, in rather similar ways, allows improvisation to unfold patiently and carefully, never ...

Jonas Hellborg, Shawn Lane and Jeff Sipe: Personae

by Jim Santella
April 12, 2002

Recorded during a live appearance in Mainz, Germany and composed by bassist Jonas Hellborg with Shawn Lane, the program asks the question, “Is modern music really a universal language, or does one musical persona differ too much from the next?"

How do hard rockers fit into a Jazz scene? How do Country & Western or R&B singers manage? Can sidemen feel somewhat comfortable in any situation? Hellborg, a veteran artist with over 20 album releases, wanted to explore ...

Hellborg / Lane / Sipe: Personae

by C. Michael Bailey
April 12, 2002

Caution! This is not the same Jazz Your Parents listened to.

In the mid-1970s, Jeff Beck ruled the world with Blow by Blow and Wired. These two hard fusion recitals went a long way to completing what Miles has started and Return to Forever and Weather Report perfected. Now, if one were to take that musical philosophical thread and cross it with the sensibilities of Jimi Hendrix Experience, early Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, and Cream, one would get ...

Hellborg/Lane/Selvaganesh: Good People In Times of Evil

by Todd S. Jenkins
February 1, 2001

Virtuoso bassist Jonas Hellborg first came to wide public attention in 1984 when he was selected by John McLaughlin to join the revamped Mahavishnu Orchestra. Since that time he has carved a name for himself as a premier fusion bass artist, deftly blending world musics with jazz and rock elements. Despite a critically acclaimed partnership with ex-Black Oak Arkansas guitarist Shawn Lane for the past several years, Hellborg has yet to receive all the public renown he’s due. This album ...

Jonas Hellborg: Good People, In Times Of Evil

by Mark Corroto
January 1, 2001

Is Jonas Hellborg the Swedish Bill Laswell? Maybe. The bassist has a grounded, driving funk/world/jazz attack like Laswell and his music mixes Eastern and Middle Eastern influences for color. But unlike Laswell, Hellborg’s music rarely overshadows the flavors he introduces. His reserved, yet slamming signature is once again displayed on this trip to a very urban India.

Hellborg, Swedish-born and raised on Hendrix, soon turned to electric Miles and Albert Ayler for inspiration. He has worked with the fusion Gods ...

Jonas Hellborg: Aram of the Two Rivers (Live in Syria)

by Eric Saidel
March 1, 1999

The first thing to notice about this cd is that the leader plays bass guitar. That's acoustic bass guitar. In Hellborg's hands this is a bass in name only. He plays it, for most of this cd, as if it were a guitar, using it to establish the melody, to improvise, and to play in unison with either of the other melody instruments, the ney (an obliquely blown flute) and the violin. The only clue that it is not a ...

Jonas Hellborg: Aram Of The Two Rivers: Live In Syria

by Jim Santella
March 1, 1999

Swedish bass guitarist Jonas Hellborg recorded these two sessions in September 1996. Hand drums and tambourine back the Middle Eastern melodies; all were composed by Hellborg. Ney player Mased Sri al Deen joins the bass guitarist on the first three tracks; violinist Hadi Backdonas appears on the last three. Blending classical guitar, jazz, and world music in his live performances, Hellborg has created suites that flow evenly from one movement to the next. The riqq is a percussion instrument similar ...