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Ozone Quartet
Live In NC, January 13th, 2000
Review by Vivian Lee
At 11:45 Ozone Quartet filled the night with jazz-fusion grooves. The one woman, three man group from Raleigh NC was playing at Chapel Hill's The Local 506 in support of their latest CD, Nocturne. They started with "Stash" from Fresh Blood, their debut CD. The slow groove established by Dyer's drums and Leechford's Stick rocked the body, while Brown's violin and Shaw's guitar tickled the ears. Heads were nodding and fingers were snapping during this song. The highlights of this one were Dyer's drum segments which acted as bookends to the heavy Stick part in the middle.
After a short pause they launched into two personal faves from Nocturne, "Backbone of Night" and "Mutoid Man". "Backbone of Night" was terrific, and "Mutoid Man" seemed even groovier than the CD version. Dyer went wild on his drum kit in parts while Brown played her electric violin as if in an alpha state. Leechford was in a dance groove with his Stick and Shaw made his guitar wail as he was playing in heavy concentration mode. As one would expect from a live performing band, Ozone Quartet played up to the crowd, who appreciated the performance enthusiastically.
They then played the slower song "Dragonfly" with energy and feeling as if the song's tempo didn't matter. The band gained their second wind with "Flood" from Nocturne, a bootyshakin' fave. By this time it seemed they were done warming up and were ready to rock the house, which they did. Band and crowd alike were definitely into the rhythm. They continued the mood with Nocturne's "Circus after Dark", a song slower in tempo than "Flood" but an incredibly easy number to get into. After introducing guitarist Jeremy Shaw, Ozone played "Dusk Creatures" and "The Watcher," two songs with slower tempos.
Things picked up a little after that with the performance of the drum-heavy "Missing Link". That night the song had a deep groove which signaled Dyer's good mood. The pace quickened with the uptempo "The Getaway," which, and the upbeat "Surge", The former showcased more of Dyer's drum work and Shaw's guitar work, while the latter made the crowd dance in their seats and on the floor. They both included amazing Stick work by Leechford -- Wow!
The band cooled the crowd down for the night with the slow, bluesy rocker "Broquen", which Leechford pronounced "broken". That song was so good I almost cried--almost. I wasn't alone in loving the composition's rendition and the set finished to a wildly applauding, screaming crowd. The show was worth the time and money and more. I can hardly wait for another live performance. Fans of jazz-fusion should make it a serious point to see Ozone Quartet play, and spread the word about them.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: The Early Years Volume 6 at garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-The-Early-Years.
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