Red Dragon Cartel at the Marlin Room at Webster Hall

Jake E. Lee

Jake E. Lee was born Jakey Lou Williams in Norfolk, Virginia, and grew up in San Diego, California. His mother had him take classical piano lessons when he was six years old and he was playing Bach concertos and winning state competitions by age 10, but he gravitated to his older sister's guitar by age 13. Based on the formal training he had from piano, he became a self-taught rock guitarist. While in high school, he changing his name to Jake E. Lee and formed a popular local band called Teaser. He then played briefly in Ratt, Rough Cutt, and Dio. Lee is best known for his five years as Ozzy Osbourne's lead guitarist. After a break, Lee helped form Badlands in 1988; the band split 1993. Lee then quietly released solo albums and occasionally played on other people's albums, but basically withdrew to a quiet family life in Las Vegas, Nevada. He formed Red Dragon Cartel in 2013. The new band was culled from over a thousand submissions from a "Jake E. Lee needs a lead singer and drummer" Facebook page. They chose the name Red Dragon Cartel as a nod to Lee’s Japanese heritage. A self-titled debut album was released on January 28, 2014. Red Dragon Cartel is presently Lee, Darren James "D.J." Smith of Warmachine on vocals, Lee's former Badlands band mate Greg Chaisson on bass, and Jonas Fairley of Black Betty on drums.

Headlining the Marlin Room at Webster Hall tonight, Chaisson, Smith and Lee began by facing Fairley as he pounded tribal rhythms. They turned to face the audience and performed "The Ultimate Sin" with Lee's trademark guitar riffs, but with Smith singing with bluesy soul , very unlike Osbourne's version. Drawing a set from three Osbourne, five Badlands and five Red Dragon Cartel songs, Smith did not copy the vocals of those who recorded the original versions, but sang in his own style, often sounding much like Paul Rodgers in his Bad Company days. Harmonizing the various epochs into one sound, Red Dragon Cartel more closely recalled the classic dark, heavy and raucous sounds of Dio and Blackmore's Rainbow, with melodic singing very much in front and guitar wizardry between lyrics. The night belonged to Lee, however, who remained off to the right of the stage most of the night. His dazzling, crushing guitar licks drove the songs to masterful levels. By his extended solo on the last encore, "Bark at the Moon" from the Osbourne era, the night had proved to be a showcase for Lee's superior talents. Red Dragon Cartel's concert was a time trip to classic, old-school, riff-rocking heavy metal.

Visit Red Dragon Cartel at www.reddragoncartel.com.