Jonas Hellborg & Art Metal - The Jazz Raj (2014)

The Jazz Raj is a Jonas Hellborg trio recording continuing his collaboration with guitarist Mattias ‘IA’ Eklundh and introducing drummer Ranjit Barot.
The music is seamlessly bonding Western and Indian improvised music while avoiding the stylistic cliches that are so often the pitfalls of this type of music. The Jazz Raj continues the tradition of the bass/drums/guitar trios that Hellborg has been fronting for more than two decades featuring wonderful musicians such as Shawn Lane, Buckethead, Michael Shrieve and Jeff Sipe.
The tracks on the record are 2 half hour extended compositions with sections interrelated thematically using western interpretation of Indian Ragas. It is a genre defying work, it is Jazz Metal and Indian music but primarily music for the pleasure of listening.