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James P. Nichols aka "Zod"
Be not dishearten'd, affection shall solve the problems of freedom yet.Those who love each other shall become invincible. Walt Whitman, "Over the Carnage Rose Prophetic a Voice," 1867
On my planet, Zod is known as a great leader of the leaderless, an authority among anarchists, and what is most important on a planet with no property, extremely generous and full of love.
Here on Earth he is a mysterious and complex figure full of contradictions.
Grammy award winning Master Engineer, and Grammy Nominated Producer, at the pinnacle of his profession, he experienced a loss of hope and purpose which was cured by his meeting with one oth the most remarkable women of our generation, M.
M, chanteuse extraordinaire, had recently declined a contract offer by Sony Records for ethical reasons. Sunk in despair, she "landed on her ass" in the middle of New York's Free Jazz Community, absorbing its energy and vitality and adding her own. With her experimentation in desperation came inspiration. Then hope came in the form of James P. Nichols, tall, dark, handsome, self-possessed. He swept her off her feet.
Through his love for M he also came into contact with that community of free jazz spirits, the New York Free Jazz Community. James was spotted on the scene, relaxing at DBB2 as Sabir Mateen and Mathew Heyner played. while a six foot alien was harrassed by CitiZen One as Bigmouth. James videotaped 18 piece big band Avabatauan, composed of members of No Neck Blues Band, Mammals of Zod, and others, at the Museum of Sound Recording, and later said, "It was like the orchestra started tuming and kept tuning up for four hours...". He was later seen at Lovesphere, a 36 hour Avant Garde musical, and many other cutting edge events quite different from the music he worked with at his day job: recording musicals like "Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk" and "Chicago". But, equipped with "ears to hear" so necessary for a master recording engineer, he recognized this pearl singer M, came with an oyster, a golden goose so to speak.
James P. Nichols, a.k.a. "Zod" started Commercial Free Jazz as his bid for legitimate power in the music industry. In a time of stagnating sales and cookie-cutter production, the man who engineered the Clash's "Sandanista" is alchemically providing the womb for a new musical revolution.
Now he already recorded and is carefully preparing for release a series of recordings so original, so uncategorizable, so sublime, that he named the label with an oxymorom, "Commercial Free Jazz"
"Zod", his name on my planet, and by which he is known to that subset of living things known as Mammals, is a deeply meaningful combination of Z, signifying contradiction, O, suggesting the Balance or Cypher, and D, wisdom and work. This quality of balancing opposites permits Zod to dig Broadway Musicals and Free Jazz, Punk,Avant Garde etc. whereas most people feel compelled to choose.
More anet Zod I am forbidden to relate at this time in Humanity's evolution. However, may I suggest that much can be gained by studying the recordings he is issuing. F. Vattel Cherry's solo debut, "Is it because I'm Black?" , CitiZen One's "Dragonfly", Gary Heidt & Gland, and M's debut album: "Madwoman"
