2014-04-07
Ou was formed in Italy in 2012. The band's debut, PIsces Crises, is a busy disc with a whole lot going on. Seattle producer, Amy Denio, must have had her hands full with this one. There is ukelele, organ, a horn section, piano, bass, drums, kalimba, vibraphone, and glockenspiel all backing many voices. The whole band sings (as well as the producer!). It all comes together to form a vocal jazz sextet; but this isn't your parents' vocal jazz. What Ou makes is entirely different. There are unusual time signatures, punchy or whispery vocalizations, and odd instrumentation. Contemporary vocal jazz is one of my least favorite genres. Ou brings me into the fold.
Rebecca Ruth
DIANA KRALL
From This Moment On
LARRY GOLDINGS
Quartet
Little Charlie And Organ Grinder Swing
Skronky Tonk
L. ZIADE
Project Chill: Memoirs of a Jazz Band
DON STIERNBERG
SWING 220
Bob James & Nathan East
The New Cool
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