Jade Warrior

Jade Warrior emerged from the partnership of Jon Field and Tony Duhig, who first crossed paths in a factory job during the 1960s. Rather than forming a group right away, they devoted years to refining their abilities—Field concentrating on percussion and Duhig on guitar. Eventually they assembled the band July alongside Tom Newman, Chris Jackson, and Alan James; Newman would go on to engineer Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. July issued a lone 1968 album of quirky psychedelic pop before dissolving.

Following July’s breakup, Duhig journeyed to Iran and encountered guitarist Glyn Havard. Field stayed behind in England, mastered the flute, and originated the Jade Warrior concept while composing for a friend’s dance drama. The term referred to the samurai of feudal Japan, refined warriors versed in disciplines from verse to combat. Once Duhig and Havard returned from the region, they reached out to Field and the three musicians took the Jade Warrior name. Duhig and Field handled the bulk of the composing while Havard supplied bass lines, lyrics, and vocals. Occasional additions came from guitarist David Duhig and drummer Allan Price. The lineup secured a contract with Vertigo Records and delivered three albums across three successive years—Jade Warrior, Released, and Last Autumn’s Dream—merging direct rock structures with abrupt tempo shifts and the exploratory textures common to early-seventies art-rock ensembles. A modest but devoted audience developed, yet Vertigo terminated the agreement even though nearly two albums of further material had already been captured. Most of that work stayed unreleased for a quarter century; Eclipse and Fifth Element, both taped in 1973, finally appeared in 1998.

Island Records stepped in with a three-album agreement—later extended to four—precisely when the group neared dissolution. The new label, however, steered the music toward instrumentals, leaving scant space for Havard, who departed. Reduced to a duo, Duhig and Field performed on a wide array of instruments to realize their increasingly far-reaching sonic ideas. The resulting sound grew more atmospheric and brought a gentler jazz emphasis forward. Throughout the Island years spanning 1974 to 1978, the recordings highlighted countless percussion textures while conventional drum kits remained rare. The pair favored a tranquil, otherworldly atmosphere that they would rupture with gongs or sudden bursts of electric guitar, frequently supplied by guest David Duhig, Tony’s brother. Celebrity visitors such as Steve Winwood appeared sporadically, yet the duo retained a distinctive identity. Their early experiments in what later became known as world and ambient music ran parallel to Brian Eno’s explorations; Eno himself singled out 1974’s Floating World as a significant recording.

In the 1980s Field and Tony Duhig put out Horizon in 1984 and At Peace in 1989, though both remained cult items. Duhig endured considerable pressure throughout much of the decade after opening a studio financed by a mortgage on his home; when the venture failed, the lender seized the property. Field worked as a session musician until bassist Dave Sturt encouraged him to resurrect Jade Warrior. Guitarist Colin Henson joined the effort. Tony Duhig was preparing to return when a heart attack ended his life. Field, Henson, and Sturt persisted, issuing Breathing the Storm and Distant Echoes on Red Hot Records—the latter featuring former King Crimson violinist David Cross. Work on another album began in 1996 yet stayed unfinished. Field, Henson, and Sturt eventually settled in separate regions of England and showed no further interest in completing the project.