Descendents of the Dragon

Bruce Lee's art of Jeet Kune Do has ridden the waves of controversy since his death in 1973. From the backyard of Dan Inosanto to the magazine pages of Black Belt and Inside Kung Fu, Jeet Kune Do has become many things to different people. From its early days of being known as Jun Fan Gung Fu to its later incarnation as 'Jeet Kune Do' and then 'JKD Concepts', 'JKD Strategies', 'Combative JKD' and 'Original JKD' (to mention a few) the art has continued to thrive under several different original Lee students. As time marches on and these "pointers to the truth" eventually retire or unfortunately pass on, the world of JKD is left with their students, who have become known as "Second Generation Instructors of Jeet Kune Do." Many of these second generation instructors have had the privilege of training with several of Lee's students rather then merely obtaining one perspective on Lee's art while a select few have chosen the path of solidarity and remain under the guidance of only one instructor of JKD. This book, Descendents of the Dragon, seeks to explore and promote the future generation of Jeet Kune Do instructors and also include instructors from the various off springs of Jeet Kune Do such as Jesse Glover's Non-Classical Gung Fu, Joe Cowles' Wu-Wei Gung Fu and James DeMile's, Wing Chun Do. As a historian of Bruce Lee's art and the life of Bruce Lee, I have chosen practitioners to interview that I feel best represent the aforementioned arts and the current state of Jeet Kune Do.

Interviews are conducted with the following:

Rocco Ambrose (student of James DeMile)
Frank Burczynski (student of Dan Inosanto and Larry Hartsell)
Jerry Beasley (student of Joe Lewis)
Richie Carrion (student of Tim Tackett and Bob Bremer)
Tommy Carruthers (student of multiple Bruce Lee students)
David Cheng (student of multiple Bruce Lee students)
Lamar Davis II (student of multiple Bruce Lee students)
Ralph Figueroa (student of Pat Strong)
George Hajnasr (student of multiple Bruce Lee students)
Dave Hash (student of multiple Bruce Lee students)
Bill Holland (student of multiple Bruce Lee students)
Eyel Koren (student of Joe Cowles)
Ron Kosakowski (student of Dan Inosanto and Larry Hartsell)
John McNabney (student of multiple Bruce Lee students)
Ron Ogi (student of James DeMile)
Kip Pascal (student of Steve Golden)
Miguel Nico Quijano (student of Jesse Glover)
Burton Richardson (student of Dan Inosanto)
Vern Rochon (student of Jerry Poteet)
Tony Santiago (student of multiple Bruce Lee students)
Brian Stevenson (student of Pat Strong and Tim Tackett)
Tim Tackett (student of Dan Inosanto)

Paul Bax has been involved in the martial arts since the early 1980's and holds a black belt in Okinawa-Te karate. After viewing Bruce Lee's movie, The Chinese Connection, Bax dived into his study of Bruce Lee's life and art of Jeet Kune Do. His journey has led him to speak privately to numerous students of Bruce Lee who have kept in close contact with him on a regular basis.

In 1993, Bax wrote and produced the newsletter, The Jun Fan Journal, which had a very loyal following amongst JKD practitioners and fans of the action stars movies. While publishing the newsletter, he met and became friends with John Little, the top Bruce Lee historian at the time. Little and Bax corresponded frequently about the political under currents in Bruce Lee's art of Jeet Kune Do. Little conducted two highly informative interviews with Bax that laid the groundwork to form the now extinct governing body of Lee's art, The Jun Fan Jeet Kune Nucleus. Little, per the request of Lee's widow, Linda Lee, asked Bax to put together a binder of material from his archives that outlined what has been claimed over the years in regards to what was Jeet Kune Do for the first "meeting of the minds" amongst Bruce Lee's most active and or vocal students. Bax had previously worked in a copy center where he was able to copy what he wanted, when he wanted. Kym Huie, Bax's friend and coach, passed on his vast magazine collection to the author, which he then systematically documented every article about Bruce Lee known to man. Bax kept up with the magazines himself via subscriptions and like a librarian, catalogued each article according to the author and or subject. This material laid the groundwork to reveal what many have suspected for years: not everyone is telling the truth about their training and or time with Bruce Lee. Nor were some telling the truth about Jeet Kune Do was as Lee himself taught the art.

In 1996, Bax released his book, Reflections Of Bruce Lee, a collection of his interviews with various students of Bruce Lee. Although not widely distributed, the book was a hit with fans that enjoyed having all of Bax's treasured interviews in one place.

In 1997, Bax was one of only a few hundred people invited to the first Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do Nucleus seminar/banquet hosted by Lee's family and students. To receive an invitation, one had to be personally invited by a member of the JFJKD board members. Both Linda Lee and LA Chinatown student, Steve Golden, invited Bax to the esteemed event. The seminar/banquet was a huge success with the hotel training area packed to the max. A dinner followed which was quite inspirational and motivational to all of the attendants. Bax proudly gave a copy of his book to Linda Lee, which she later included in recommended reading material via the Nucleus organization's website and newsletter.

After some heated battles on internet chat rooms with both practitioners who did not see eye to eye with his views and Linda Lee's second husband (Tom Bleecker) Bax decided to take a break from his study of Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do. He later returned with a vengeance when a friend summoned him to a popular JKD forum. After causing quite a stir, Bax was promptly banned from the site. Sometimes the truth hurts. He went on to start his own Internet chat forum, which is now called, The JKD Brotherhood (formerly known as, "The Paul Bax Show"). The forum (www.thejkdbrotherhood.com), which has members from across the globe is honored by visits from such Lee students as Jesse Glover, Jim DeMile, Steve Golden and Pat Strong. The site was listed in Inside Kung Fu as "dot com of the month" and has had over a million visitors.