The Elusive Figure Of A Superb Musical Talent Lurks In The Shadows. By Dave McElfresh YOU MAY NOT have heard of producer Bill Laswell, but most likely you've heard him. The Detroit-born musician has either musically directed or played the bass on more than 250 albums in less than 20 years. He's produced albums by Yoko Ono, Herbie Hancock, Laurie Anderson, Mick Jagger and Public Image Ltd. But even Laswell's hardcore fans find it hard to keep track of his prolific output: There's no shortage of new Laswell material regularly surfacing on a variety of labels--Axiom, Subharmonic, Strata, Celluloid, Enemy, Rykodisc, Restless, Island and DIW, to name only the most obvious--but most of the projects are released under the names of partnering musicians or esoteric groups he forms and disbands. The guy seems to be everywhere while remaining nowhere to be found. To further complicate matters, Laswell throws us off track by going to extremes, so to speak, in packaging his material. Half of his stuff offers exceptionally colorful, bizarre cover art reminiscent of Mati Klarwein's odd covers for Miles Davis (Bitches Brew, Live Evil) and Santana (Abraxas). The rest wrap the music in flat, dark artwork devoid of players or song titles. A number of Laswell projects on the Strata label are encased in solid black CD jewel boxes, with virtually no artist information at all. Given the immensity of his catalog, his sometimes all-but-unannounced presence on his own projects, and his intentional avoidance of commercial packaging, Laswell fans are presented with a full-fledged Easter egg hunt. When you finally find a Laswell production, though, the guy's in your face. The personality of his leadership in the studio is no less distinct than Phil Spector's "wall of sound." His production values also resemble another legendary producer, George Martin, whose classical influence on the Beatles remained obvious throughout their variety of moods--and Laswell's projects certainly offer a variety of those. The following is a breakdown of the many colors on Laswell's palette. What they all have in common is a relentless masculinity, conveyed either in ominous tones, avant garde noise or gutbucket funk. Music stores should make it easier on Laswell fans and file it all under "T" for testosterone. AMBIENT MUSIC FROM HELL Thankfully, Laswell has saved ambient music from becoming entirely the property of the granola crowd, whose addiction to lightweight, happy sounds makes them bed partners with grandparent-age Ray Conniff and Mantovani fans. Fuck 'em all, says Laswell, no pain, no gain. Check these out: Divination: Ambient Dub, Volumes I and II weave synthesizers with dub rhythms, occasionally sounding like 21st-century reggae music being played by a very depressed band. Axiom Ambient: Lost In The Translation offers more texture, with the guitars on "Peace" saluting Hendrix, Sharrock and late Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel. "Aum" is a chant from the Middle East, and "Cosmic Trigger" offers a Funkadelic medley in almost a classical music style. Alien Ambient Galaxy is mood music reminiscent of Mary Shelley's depiction of Frankenstein's lonely death on an iceberg. A fine soundtrack for a suicide. Laswell's most well-known band, the 17-year-old Material, has moved from coupling a young Whitney Houston with outside saxophonist Archie Shepp more than 15 years ago on One Down, to dropping Weather Report saxophonist Wayne Shorter behind a wacko soliloquy by author William Burroughs on 1994's Hallucination Engine. It's all mood music covering the less acceptable side of human feelings. WORLD MUSIC Talip Ozkan is considered to be Turkey's supreme sax player. The Dark Fire sounds somewhat like acoustic, Middle Eastern heavy metal, possibly due to the musicians' reliance on intensity, rhythm and pursuit of a mesmerizing mood--all of which are of interest to Laswell. The Master Musicians of Jajouka are a likely choice for Laswell to record, considering the invasive power of their relentless percussion. Apocalypse Across The Sky is an hour of vicious North African music that brings to mind the hooves of frantic horses and droning hornets. Sixties jazz patriarch Pharoah Sanders is perfectly coupled with another group of musicians from Morocco on The Trance Of Seven Colors. Laswell here builds on the African-influenced jazz that Sanders recorded on the Impulse label three decades back. Laswell takes a greater risk with Blues In The East, where he throws Chinese singer Sola into a vat of blues and jazz musicians that includes impressive players like Henry Threadgill, Amina Claudine Myers and James Blood Ulmer. "The Goose" is an outright weird mix of blues and traditional Chinese singing, narrated by The Last Poets' soulful Umar Bin Hassan. Don't try this at home. THE FUNKY Laswell has had a long-term interest in Parliament-Funkadelic players like keyboardist Bernie Worrell, bassist Bootsy Collins, guitarist Gary Shider and vocalist Gary "Mudbone" Cooper. Lord Of The Harvest by Zillatron is unadulterated vulgar funk, courtesy of Collins and Worrell, that will make you want to wash your hands after listening. THE MEAN AND NASTY The now-defunct Last Exit was a power quartet comprised of aging, abrasive jazzers. Ex-Ornette Coleman sideman Ronald Shannon Jackson was on drums, occasionally adding creepy blues vocals worthy of a serial killer. The late Sonny Sharrock played nasty blues lines when he wasn't beating his guitar to a pulp, while German sax madman Peter Brotzmann veered between similar extremes with his squealing and honking. Laswell was the perfect choice for bass, his dirty, hard-driving lines retaining a feeling of downright meanness throughout. (Please, someone lay "My Balls/Your Chin" and "Pig Cheese" on a Najee fan.) Unfortunately, the death of Sharrock has probably put a permanent end to this amazing quartet. Nonetheless, check out The Noise Of Trouble (Live In Tokyo), Cassette Recordings '87, or Headfirst Into The Flames, Live In Europe. Praxis is another vicious conglomerate incorporating a slew of wild players: Japanese screamer Yamatsuka Eye, New York avant gardist John Zorn, the band Blind Idiot God, funkmeisters Bernie Worrell and Bootsy Collins, and a mysterious masked guitarist named Buckethead. The music moves from ominous grooves to all-out instrumental pummeling of the listener--all in the same piece. Metatron, Sacrifist and Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis) are darker and more frightening than the soundtracks for any slasher flick. All of these, amazingly, are only a small sampling of the producer/bassist's output. Laswell's a paradox: an extremely productive musician with a penchant for undermining the marketability of his work; a major player who refuses to come out of the shadows. Fortunately, he's too good for his schizophrenic attitude and elusiveness to result in career suicide. Hell, probably right now he's recording a top-drawer album we'll have to hire a private dick to find...but it'll be worth it.

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