| The OKB Trio, featuring pianist Oscar Perez, bassist Kuriko Tsugawa, and drummer Brian Woodruff "mixes rhythmic acrobatics with an uncanny ability to swing through the Great American Songbook or dance delicately through Brazilian and Latin standards.” -Brownstoner.com The Ing… is now available at CD Baby, iTunes, and Amazon, but NOT Spotify or Pandora. The Ing...reached No. 1 during its 15 weeks on the Roots Music Report jazz chart and recently reached No. 2 on the NACC jazz chart. “It is an enjoyable journey through quite diverse material…united by the quality of the musicians,” according to James Poore at musicweb-international.com. Marc Phillips of the Vinyl Anachronist says “There is this fluid warmth that defines the way they play together, interlocking ideas that fill in the gaps…It’s tough for a contemporary jazz trio to distinguish themselves so clearly from similar ensembles, but OKB manages to do it quite easily.” We've included a few teasers for you below: Fred Ahlert and Joe Young's "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" and Oscar Perez' "El Padrino." We're honored to have recorded the first tracks ever at Big Orange Sheep, and all of the tracks were engineered, mixed and mastered by the biggest orange sheep of them all, Chris Benham! We hope you enjoy them! |
| The OKB Trio was born on June 20th, 2010. I was running a jam session at Blackbird's in Astoria, Queens and I had the privilege of putting together a different band each week according to my whim, and I hit pay-dirt on my third attempt. I brought pianist Oscar Perez, bassist Kuriko Tsugawa, and myself together for the first time that Sunday and we hit it off immediately. All three of us got here early and were set up and ready to go well before the scheduled downbeat, so I asked if anyone would like to get a drink before we started. We all chose Palm (a really nice Belgian beer on tap at Blackbird’s), offered each other a toast, and proceeded to swing our butts off for the remainder of the evening. We didn’t program anything super-difficult (nor do we ever), but there are usually a few simple originals and some standards you haven’t heard very often. At the end of the gig, Kuriko said "I always want to play with THIS trio, and I agreed. While we are focused on swinging, Oscar and I do have a tendency to jump off of buildings and set things on fire. Fortunately, Kuriko is usually there to catch us with a net or hose things off when necessary. In the three and a half years of combining musicians at Blackbird's, I could never find better chemistry. We always keep the "ing" in the swing! |
| LISTEN |
| I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter |
| El Padrino |
