The Loading Zone - Psychedelic Soul Fusion Jazz (USA)

Loading Zone was playing a form of jazz rock funk free fusion and was unfortunately greatly overlooked by the generally unsophisticated audiences at that time. This album was recorded in 1969 before fusion got fused and the word had a completely different meaning. The audiences were mostly very stoned (I know because I was there) and the music of The Airplane was closer to their hearts. Not that the Airplane was bad, just unsophisticated. But listening to this album in 2005 is very interesting in that it doesn’t sound so strange at all….

Regulars on the Sixties San Francisco live circuit The Loading Zone were essentially a Rhythm & Blues band with a horn section. Whilst gaining a regular local following the band never ventured far from their home town and never made a national breakthrough. They remained relatively unknown to the outside world. Their two albums are in the Blues/Jazz style and never troubled the charts. Their most distinctive feature was the grating vocal style of Linda Tillery.  Following their split in 1970 Tillery joined Cesar a San Francisco based Jazz Fusion outfit who's career was brief before embarking on a solo career. Patrick O'Hara later worked with Boz Scaggs. Paul Fauerso went on to make music with Beach Boy Mike Love as well as becoming active in the transcendental meditation movement.

The Loading Zone

The Loading Zone - Psych Fusion Rock Jazz

Cosmic R&B combo the Loading Zone was formed in Oakland, CA, in 1967 by singer/keyboardist Paul Fauerso following the dissolution of his jazz unit, the Tom Paul Trio. After recruiting guitarists Pete Shapiro and Steve Dowler -- both late of the Berkeley psych-rock band the Marbles -- Fauerso enlisted bassist Bob Kridle and drummer George Newcom to round out the Loading Zone's original lineup; though rooted in R&B, the group also detoured into psychedelia, jazz, and electric blues, fittingly enough opening for both Cream and Big Brother & the Holding Company at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore. In 1968 Fauerso placed an ad in the San Francisco Chronicle seeking a new lead vocalist, with Linda Tillery joining the Loading Zone prior to the band's signing with RCA; their eponymous debut LP failed to capture the excitement of their live sets, however, and was savaged by critics for its excessive production and ham-fisted Motown covers. The Loading Zone then split, although in 1970 Fauerso and Tillery re-formed the group with guitarist Steve Busfield, bassist Mike Eggleston, and drummer George Marsh, recording One for All for the Umbrella label. Fauerso and Tillery disbanded the unit once and for all in 1971; the former later produced the Beach Boys' First Love LP and created a handful of new age records, while the latter resurfaced with the jazz fusion group Cesar 830 and later pursued a solo career.

One for All (1970)