Land (band)
Encyclopedia
Land was a Seattle based music group founded and led by Jeff Greinke
. Their music is described by guitarist
Dennis Rea
as "an odd blend of jazz
, rock
, electronic
, and world music
." Land was active from 1993
until 2001
and released three albums. In 1996
they toured China
, Hong Kong
, and Macau
, including a performance at the prestigious Beijing International Jazz Festival.
Note: the band always wrote their name LAND in block capitals. Typographic conventions have meant this spelling is not used in this article.
their music had a much harder edge, best exemplified on their album Road Movies
.
ist Dennis Rea and trumpet
er Lesli Dalaba were the other original members of Land and they were soon joined by drummer Ed Pias. Greinke and Rea had met in 1982
when Rea was a member of Savant and had performed together that year. Land's first self titled album
was recorded in 1994
and released by the Australia
n label Extreme in 1995
. The label describes the album Land on its website: "Elements of jazz, ethnic, dance and ambient music are all evident, as well as the Fourth World sound of Jon Hassell." All of Land's albums started out as live radio broadcasts with, according to Dennis Rea, "...very little re-recording or cosmetic surgery after the fact, so they are accurate representations of the band's live sound."
A May, 1996
concert broadcast formed the basis for most of the second album, Archipelago
. The group had expanded to a septet by that time, adding George Soler (Stick
), and two additional percussionists: Greg Gilmore
and Bill Moyer. It was this lineup, minus Ed Pias, who had left the group, that toured China
in November–December, 1996, performing in Beijing
, Kunming
, and Chengdu
, as well as Hong Kong
, and Macau
. The tour included a performance at the Beijing International Jazz Festival. In addition, during the festival on November 12 Rea and Dalaba performed with guzheng
virtuoso Wang Yong, Austria
n violinist Andreas Schreiber, Dutch
drummer Han Bennink, and Claudio Puntin and Steffen Schorn on horns at Keep In Touch, reportedly China's first internet cafe
. The jam session produced a mixture of American style free jazz
and European influenced improvisation blended at times with traditional Chinese music. The results were captured on the album Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch
, which was released as a double CD in March, 2004
. Wang Yong also joined Land on stage for their concert in Hong Kong.
"Deep", the final track for Archipelago, by the same lineup that had toured China, was recorded in February 1997, with finishing touches completed in July. The album was released on the Periplum label later that year.
By 1998
, Land had gone through a number of personnel changes and had developed a much harder-edged sound. Andrew Bartlett, writing in a 1999 article in Seattle Weekly
, described the music at that time, in part: "LAND's sound is a swirl—a clicking, cascading, jolting mix of sonorities and styles." Dennis Rea is quoted in the article: ""The current lineup is more of a 'rock' band than earlier editions, and is much more explosive and in-your-face. Our connection with ambient music is pretty tenuous at this point." The final incarnation of the band, which recorded the album Road Movies
between June, 1998 and February, 1999
, included Greinke, Rea, Dalaba, drum
mer Bill Rieflin (now with R.E.M.), and bass
ist Fred Chalenor. Road Movies was not released until 2001
on the First World Music label. It was named one of the Top Ten releases of 2001 by Pulse! (Instrumental/Ambient) and the Seattle Weekly (Jazz).
Lesli Dalaba also left the band in 2001 and the remaining members decided to amicably part ways.
Jeff Greinke
Jeff Greinke is an American ambient music and jazz artist and composer currently based in Tucson, Arizona. He is known as one of the pioneers of dark ambient music, with his earlier solo albums often compared to works by Robert Rich, Brian Eno, and Vidna Obmana...
. Their music is described by guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Dennis Rea
Dennis Rea
Dennis Rea is an American guitarist, writer and music event organizer currently living in Seattle. Rea first came to prominence as a member of the electronic music group Earthstar in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is probably best known in the West as a musician for his work with the quintet...
as "an odd blend of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, and world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
." Land was active from 1993
1993 in music
This is a summary of significant events in music in 1993.-January–February:*January 8 – The U.S. Postal Service issues an Elvis Presley stamp. The design was voted on in February 1992....
until 2001
2001 in music
See also:* 2001 in music Record labels established in 2001-Events:*January 1**Comeback of Guns N' Roses in House of Blues**Hum disbands.*January 17 – Bass player Jason Newsted leaves Metallica after 14 years with the band....
and released three albums. In 1996
1996 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1996.-January:* January – At the trial of two American teenagers, Nicholaus McDonald and Brian Bassett, for the murder of Bassett's parents and young brother, defense lawyers attempt to lay the blame for the murders on the fact...
they toured China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, and Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, including a performance at the prestigious Beijing International Jazz Festival.
Note: the band always wrote their name LAND in block capitals. Typographic conventions have meant this spelling is not used in this article.
Core Members
- Jeff GreinkeJeff GreinkeJeff Greinke is an American ambient music and jazz artist and composer currently based in Tucson, Arizona. He is known as one of the pioneers of dark ambient music, with his earlier solo albums often compared to works by Robert Rich, Brian Eno, and Vidna Obmana...
(1993–2001) - Dennis ReaDennis ReaDennis Rea is an American guitarist, writer and music event organizer currently living in Seattle. Rea first came to prominence as a member of the electronic music group Earthstar in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is probably best known in the West as a musician for his work with the quintet...
(1993–2001) - Lesli Dalaba (1993–2001)
- Ed Pias (1993–1996)
- George Soler (1996–1997)
- Bill Moyer (1996–1997)
- Greg GilmoreGreg GilmoreGreg Gilmore is a musician in Seattle, Washington, and co-founder of the recording label First World Music. Although born in France, Gilmore grew up in the Seattle area....
(1996–1997) - Fred Chalenor (1998–2001)
- Bill Rieflin (1998–2001)
Collaborators
- Tori Nelson-Zagar - acoustic bass (1994)
- Scott Gronlund - tenor saxophone (1994)
- Wang Yong - guzhengGuzhengThe guzheng or "gu zheng", also called zheng is a Chinese plucked zither. It has 18-23 or more strings and movable bridges....
(1996) - Doug Haire - mixing (1994), engineer (1996–2001), producer (1997)
Musical Style
Land played a mixture of jazz, rock, ethnic/world music, and electronic music. Their first album and early performances tended to reflect Jeff Greinke's ambient music background. By 19971997 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997.-January:*January 9 – David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy...
their music had a much harder edge, best exemplified on their album Road Movies
Road Movies (album)
Road Movies is the third and final album by the American group Land. Road Movies was recorded between June, 1998 & February, 1999 at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle and was released on February 13, 2001 on the First World Music label...
.
History
Land was formed by Jeff Greinke in 1993. GuitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist Dennis Rea and trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
er Lesli Dalaba were the other original members of Land and they were soon joined by drummer Ed Pias. Greinke and Rea had met in 1982
1982 in music
This is a list of notable events in music from 1982. 1982 was a big year in music with Madonna making her debut as well as the year that Michael Jackson released Thriller which became the world's best selling album and it still holds that title today....
when Rea was a member of Savant and had performed together that year. Land's first self titled album
LAND (album)
Land is the eponymous first full-length album by the American group Land. Land was recorded at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle in 1994 and released by the Australian label Extreme in 1995...
was recorded in 1994
1994 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1994.-January–February:*January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so....
and released by the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n label Extreme in 1995
1995 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1995.- January–February :*January 18 – Jerry Garcia crashes his rented BMW into a guard rail near Mill Valley, California, USA, but is not injured in the accident....
. The label describes the album Land on its website: "Elements of jazz, ethnic, dance and ambient music are all evident, as well as the Fourth World sound of Jon Hassell." All of Land's albums started out as live radio broadcasts with, according to Dennis Rea, "...very little re-recording or cosmetic surgery after the fact, so they are accurate representations of the band's live sound."
A May, 1996
1996 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1996.-January:* January – At the trial of two American teenagers, Nicholaus McDonald and Brian Bassett, for the murder of Bassett's parents and young brother, defense lawyers attempt to lay the blame for the murders on the fact...
concert broadcast formed the basis for most of the second album, Archipelago
Archipelago (album)
Archipelago is the second album by the American group Land, who blend jazz, rock, and world music. A May, 1996 concert broadcast formed the basis for most of the album, Archipelago. "Deep", the final track for Archipelago, was recorded in February of 1997, with finishing touches completed in July...
. The group had expanded to a septet by that time, adding George Soler (Stick
Chapman Stick
The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and has been used on music recordings to play bass lines, melody lines, chords or textures...
), and two additional percussionists: Greg Gilmore
Greg Gilmore
Greg Gilmore is a musician in Seattle, Washington, and co-founder of the recording label First World Music. Although born in France, Gilmore grew up in the Seattle area....
and Bill Moyer. It was this lineup, minus Ed Pias, who had left the group, that toured China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
in November–December, 1996, performing in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, Kunming
Kunming
' is the capital and largest city of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. It was known as Yunnan-Fou until the 1920s. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of Yunnan, and is the seat of the provincial government...
, and Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
, as well as Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, and Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
. The tour included a performance at the Beijing International Jazz Festival. In addition, during the festival on November 12 Rea and Dalaba performed with guzheng
Guzheng
The guzheng or "gu zheng", also called zheng is a Chinese plucked zither. It has 18-23 or more strings and movable bridges....
virtuoso Wang Yong, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n violinist Andreas Schreiber, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
drummer Han Bennink, and Claudio Puntin and Steffen Schorn on horns at Keep In Touch, reportedly China's first internet cafe
Internet cafe
An Internet café or cybercafé is a place which provides internet access to the public, usually for a fee. These businesses usually provide snacks and drinks, hence the café in the name...
. The jam session produced a mixture of American style free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
and European influenced improvisation blended at times with traditional Chinese music. The results were captured on the album Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch
Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch
Free Touching: Live at Keep in Touch is a live recording of improvisational performances by Chinese guzheng virtuoso Wang Yong and six international musicians: Dutch jazz drummer Han Bennink, Austrian violinist Andreas Schreiber, American guitarist Dennis Rea, American trumpeter Lesli Dalaba, and...
, which was released as a double CD in March, 2004
2004 in music
See also:* 2004 in music Record labels established in 2004-January:*January 1**The Vienna New Year's Concert is conducted by Riccardo Muti.**Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol....
. Wang Yong also joined Land on stage for their concert in Hong Kong.
"Deep", the final track for Archipelago, by the same lineup that had toured China, was recorded in February 1997, with finishing touches completed in July. The album was released on the Periplum label later that year.
By 1998
1998 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...
, Land had gone through a number of personnel changes and had developed a much harder-edged sound. Andrew Bartlett, writing in a 1999 article in Seattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly
Seattle Weekly is a freely distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as The Weekly...
, described the music at that time, in part: "LAND's sound is a swirl—a clicking, cascading, jolting mix of sonorities and styles." Dennis Rea is quoted in the article: ""The current lineup is more of a 'rock' band than earlier editions, and is much more explosive and in-your-face. Our connection with ambient music is pretty tenuous at this point." The final incarnation of the band, which recorded the album Road Movies
Road Movies (album)
Road Movies is the third and final album by the American group Land. Road Movies was recorded between June, 1998 & February, 1999 at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle and was released on February 13, 2001 on the First World Music label...
between June, 1998 and February, 1999
1999 in music
-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation.**Paul McCartney attends the first of his stepdaughter Heather's first housewares collection in Georgia....
, included Greinke, Rea, Dalaba, drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
mer Bill Rieflin (now with R.E.M.), and bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
ist Fred Chalenor. Road Movies was not released until 2001
2001 in music
See also:* 2001 in music Record labels established in 2001-Events:*January 1**Comeback of Guns N' Roses in House of Blues**Hum disbands.*January 17 – Bass player Jason Newsted leaves Metallica after 14 years with the band....
on the First World Music label. It was named one of the Top Ten releases of 2001 by Pulse! (Instrumental/Ambient) and the Seattle Weekly (Jazz).
Lesli Dalaba also left the band in 2001 and the remaining members decided to amicably part ways.
Discography
- 1995 : Land
- 1997 : ArchipelagoArchipelago (album)Archipelago is the second album by the American group Land, who blend jazz, rock, and world music. A May, 1996 concert broadcast formed the basis for most of the album, Archipelago. "Deep", the final track for Archipelago, was recorded in February of 1997, with finishing touches completed in July...
- 2001 : Road MoviesRoad Movies (album)Road Movies is the third and final album by the American group Land. Road Movies was recorded between June, 1998 & February, 1999 at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle and was released on February 13, 2001 on the First World Music label...