Jade Warrior

JON FIELD

JON FIELD  Flutes, Percussion, Keys.

I was born in the forties so my schooling was a strange one because all my teachers were too weird to be allowed into the army, or so old that they could remember Trafalgar, first hand. All I learned was to keep clear of weird people and old people and most of all, weird old people.

Typically, however, I managed to ignore even this wisdom as I failed to avoid Tony Duhig. Not that he was old but he certainly wasn't normal. We hit it off as mates that first day and the rest of his life a very special friendship was forged. I was a lowly conga drum player (you know.. those sad people who follow musicians around) and Tony on the guitar (tuned to an open C maj because he thought that's how it should be, and was too shy to ask anyone).

Pat Lyons asked Tone and me to join a band called the "Second Thoughts". The Second Thoughts fell to bits at the same time as the "Tomcats" (another Ealing band) and a few members of each merged into "The Tomcats" because Tom Newman was our singer. We played in Spain for a while, came back and morphed into "July". Tony had a posh tape recorder by then and we were beavering away making instrumental tracks that nobody got to hear. It was quite "J.W." like.. It wasn't an attempt at popular music but more ....? I can hear Tony's ghost interjecting "Unpopular".

Made a record with "July".. broke up.. I bought a flute or two. Tony and I wrote and recorded the music for two dance dramas (one being called "Jade Warrior"). Glyn was in a band with Tony and got to hear this stuff and put some words on bits of it, with the result that we got a deal with Vertigo, making three albums for them. Made several albums for Island records (without Glyn because...??). Then Tom had me playing on "Tubular Bells" for Mike Oldfield and some other sessions.

I met Dave Sturt and found, not only the first real musician I had ever worked with but one who already had the JW approach. Dave's grown up sound, musical finesse, and experimentation, meant I could see a whole new creative future for the band.

When Tony died it was a huge shock... it seemed like it had to be the end of something.. an era.. a way of going on.. certainly. The way I saw it, though, was that I wasn't going to stop writing music and what ever I wrote was Jade Warrior stuff anyway.

With Dave Sturt and Colin Henson onboard we made "Breathing The Storm" and "Distant Echoes".

Meeting up with Glyn after all this time is the most fantastic fun, and the music has gone in a very different and exciting direction for me but not, it seems, for Agent Henson who threw his gun and badge on my desk saying "he had his own case to work on" sad but...

BUT NOW!! As I become old and weird myself... IT'S "NOW" And I'm loving it.

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DAVE STURT

DAVE STURT  Basses, Sound Shaping, Samples, Keys, Production.

I hail from the industrial heartland of the North East of England where my guitarist brother Alan was part of the local music scene which seemed really glamorous. A friend of his - David Coverdale, got the gig with Deep Purple.

This really made music look like an achievable way of making a living - so I built a bass and started practicing. I played in many bands, finally packed in the day job and moved to London, discovered my neighbour in the flat above was Andy Jackson - sound engineer to Pink Floyd. So I moved in!.

I sat in on numerous artists sessions and also got to play with Dave Gilmour, film composer Michael Kamen, Roxy Music drummer Andy Newmark, and David Bowie sideman Earl Slick. I learned loads about recording and producing and how tough it is to be a sound engineer, so I signed up for a music degree at Middlesex Poly.

I was called to play on a jazz session with Jon Field. We hit it off immediately, the session going well. He soon called me with the offer of joining Jade Warrior.

Tony had died just as we were beginning to work on 'Breathing The Storm' - so we continued as a three piece - with Colin Henson on guitar. 'Distant Echoes' followed the year after. I was really proud of these albums - there is a lot of great playing and writing on them.

I started live work, recordings and tours with Cipher (alongside Theo Travis), and other projects including Isaac Guillory, Andy Sheppard, Bosco D'Olivera and Bill Nelson.

I realised while working with Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree on Cipher's 'No Ordinary Man' that technology had moved on to the point where the sonic ambitions of Jade Warrior could be realised.

Glyn Havard had recorded the Dogstar Poets album - and I had really liked his voice - so we asked him on board.

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