Zhongyu - Zhongyu [CD]

Zhongyu is an American band with a Chinese name and an attitude that encompasses the full spectrum of musical sounds and sources. Composer Jon Davis teams up with three members of Moraine and an experienced jazz drummer to create a sound that blends influences from Rock in Opposition (Univers Zero and Present), progressive rock (King Crimson), jazz (electric Miles Davis and composers such as George Russell), and Asian music. Whether it involves plugging a traditional Chinese instrument into a modular synthesizer or running a bass clarinet through a wah-wah pedal, pushing boundaries (or denying their existence) is the core of the band's identity. "Zhongyu" means "finally" in Mandarin Chinese, and Jon chose it for the project's name because he "finally has a band." He has been making music since the 70s in everything from classic-rock cover bands (before it was classic) to punk rock to electronic experiments. Living in Beijing for three years provided the inspiration for assembling a crew to realize his singular dream of a music that combined all these elements. Zhongyu is a band that aims to balance the opposites of music: composition and improvisation, serenity and chaos, harmony and dissonance, complexity and simplicity, acoustic and electric. With guitarist Dennis Rea on board as co-producer and legendary engineer Steve Fisk at the controls, Zhongyu is a powerful, brilliantly executed, and strikingly original debut album that has been decades in the making. Morris Goldberg, Michael Bissonette, Miguel Cantillo, Jaime Roos, Gilad Atzmon and many more.