Project Z was an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

, and

jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational "jam session, jamming". Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to musical improvisation, improvise ove ...

, active in the early 2000s. Project Z was founded by leader

Jimmy Herring Jimmy Herring (born January 22, 1962) is an American guitarist, known as the lead guitarist for the band Widespread Panic since 2006. He is a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit and Jazz Is Dead and has played with The Allman Brothers Ban ...

(guitar), Rickey Keller (bass), and

Jeff Sipe Jeff Sipe (born January 31, 1959), also known as Apt. Q258, is an American drummer. He works mainly in rock and jazz fusion. He is a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit with Bruce Hampton. He was a member of Leftover Salmon and the Zambi ...

(drums), as an offshoot of Sipe's Atlanta band Apartment Project, which often included Keller and which Herring sat in with on occasion. The "Z" in the band name stands for "Zambi", Bruce Hampton's name for his personal and musical philosophy. Herring had played in Hampton's

Aquarium Rescue Unit Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit was a jam band founded by Col. Bruce Hampton. The band gained popularity in the Atlanta club scene in the early 1990s and went on to tour with the first H.O.R.D.E. Tour. During their formative yea ...

, and Keller had also played with Hampton. According to Herring, the band's goal in live performances was to "totally improvise for real", sometimes detuning their instruments to prevent the band members from falling back on their existing musical vocabulary. According to Dean Budnick, "The result may not be everyone's cup of Z, but in the live setting, it is often a stunning, sublime experience".

Discography

* '' Project Z'' (2000, Terminus 0008-2) * ''

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a List of national memorials of the United States, U.S. national memorial honoring Abraham Lincoln, the List of presidents of the United States, 16th president of the United States, located on the western end of the Nati ...

'' (2005, Abstract Logix)

References

External links

*{{AllMusic , class=artist , id=project-z-mn0000365774 American alternative rock groups American jazz fusion ensembles Jam bands Musical groups from Atlanta