Bazooka (band)

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Bazooka
Background information
Origin	Southern California
Genre(s)	Jazz Punk
Years active	1990s
Label(s)	SST Records
Website	http://www.ledzeppelin.com/
Former members
Vince Meghrouni, Bill Crawford, Tony Atherton, Don Carroll, Jeremy Keller, Steve Reed

Bazooka was a Jazz Punk group band active in the early 1990s, and led by drummer Vince Meghrouni. All their albums were released by SST Records.

The first line-up was Meghrouni, bass guitarist Bill Crawford and saxophonist Tony Atherton, and while they were together, this lineup of Bazooka record three albums: "Perfectly Square", "Blowhole", and "Cigars, Oyster and Booze." However, in December of 1994, Atherton decided to leave the band, followed by Crawford. Songwriting was split about evenly between the trio's members, with a healthy dose of jazz standards written by the likes of Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins and Lee Morgan.

In his review of 1994's Blowhole, Richard Foss wrote, "It is difficult to articulate just what makes Bazooka such an interesting band and Blowhole such a fine album. There are other bands that play jazz with rock fervor and wild abandon, but few who do so with anything approaching this level of pure musicianship."[1]

Atherton and Crawford left the group in the mid-1990s, and Meghrouni used the Bazooka name with a new quartet, consisting of Meghrouni retaining his position as a drummer, pianist Don Carroll, guitarist Jeremy Keller and bass guitarist Steve Reed, which had a very different sound; less bebop, more funk and jazz fusion. Sonic Business Environment--apparently Bazook's final record--earned positive reviews, and even appeared on a few jazz radio charts.[2]