Tiki Central / Other Events / Jul 2013: Exotic Sounds of Summer Tour - Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica
Post #681558 by Mr. Ho on Tue, Jun 11, 2013 11:38 AM
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Tue, Jun 11, 2013 11:38 AM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE "Boston’s Best World Music Act"- Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica - announces July 2013 "Exotic Sounds of Summer Tour" featuring sultry music from their quartet's Fall 2013 record Appearing in NYC, Middletown, CT, & debuts at Regatta Bar (Cambridge, MA) & Bohemian Caverns (Washington, DC). Led by "percussion master and polymath" artistic director, Brian O’Neill ("a first-rate composer"-Huffington Post) w/ Geni Skendo (bass flute, flute), Jason Davis (bass, Earthsounds, Ten Tumbao), & Shane Shanahan (percussion, Yo-Yo Ma/Silk Road Ensemble.) June 11, 2013 (Cambridge, MA) - Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica--one of the "most inventive jazz groups running" (BlogCritics)--announces its Summer 2013 tour, bringing its global jazz and exotic chamber music quartet to some new cities including Middletown, CT (7/18) and Washington, DC (7/21). A "perfect cocktail of chamber, jazz, classical, and world music" (Boston Globe), the quartet will be debuting new music from its Fall 2013 recording (a follow-up to its acclaimed album, Third River Rangoon which the Huffington Post called a "Top 10 album for 2011.")"We are happy to bring the quartet formation of Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica to DC and CT for the first time ever, especially given how rare our third-stream-meets-music-of-the-world approach is. There aren't many ensembles out there that blend Western/notated music with jazz and the rhythms and sounds from other places," says vibraphonist, percussionist, and leader Brian O'Neill. Tour Dates: While not a lounge or easy-listening group, the band uses the escapism of the mid-century genre "exotica" as a jumping-off point for inspirations in its original music, which is written by O'Neill ("a first-rate composer"-Huffington Post). The group also reinterprets artists such as Gershwin, De Falla, Tchaikovksy, Bach, and others, often covering their works in usual ways such as Gershwin's 3 Piano Preludes which they mash up with Brazilian baião, a visit from the Siamese cats in Lady in the Tramp, free jazz, and the clustered harmonies of Bulgarian women's choirs. They're wild original, "Would You Like Bongos With That Fugue?," is an homage to Bach and reworks one of the master's violin fugues and organ toccatas with Balkan rhythms and improv. Gordon Marshall from AllAboutJazz once described O'Neill's group as, "…If John Zorn is an exotica Picasso, O'Neill is his Georges-Braque counterpart in cubism's transposition to music…as Braque may have been the finer cubist, O'Neill may be, in the long run, a stronger exoticist than Zorn." In 2010, the group started its Exotica for Modern Living recording series and this Fall, the third album in that series--by this quartet--will be released. Much of the Exotic Sounds of Summer tour selections will be drawn from this recording. Note: Frequent musical collaborator and guest/fifth member, Tev Stevig will join the group on 7/19 at the Regatta Bar on oud and the rarely-heard bass-banjo-sounding tanbur from Turkey. BIO: In June 2011, they released their debut quartet CD, Third River Rangoon, which the Boston Herald called "…serious jazz and chamber-music writing…" and Lucid Culture called "…a lushly nocturnal collection…genius." The album continues their Exotica for Modern Living series, which opened with The Unforgettable Sounds of Esquivel , their 23-pc big band formation performing the lost space-age pop music of Esquivel. That album eventually reached #4 on the CMJ jazz charts and received 4 stars from the Sunday London Times. Get on the fan mailing list to get updates on our shows and events for both groups. Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica |