Jul 16, 2011
Barbes
This event is in the past, but were you there? leave a comment or photo on Facebook, or tag @orchestrotica on Twitter, or Instagram.
Referencing the exotica of Martin Denny, Milt Raskin, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich among others, Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica'as a vibraphone quartet'presents an original third-stream collection of updated jazz, chamber, and world music reaching towards the South Pacific via Asia, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Latin America. Led by multi-percussionist, vibraphonist and composer Brian O'Neill (Mr. Ho) with bass flute/woodwinds (Geni Skendo), percussion (Noriko Terada), and acoustic bass (Jason Davis). While the Orchestrotica borrows some of mid-century exotica's sounds and instruments, the group mainly focuses on recreating the "escapism" that made it popular through new compositions and reinterpreting classical works with global sounds and improvisation.
The quartet's new CD, Third River Rangoon was just released in June 2011, and the group will be showcasing its "serious jazz and chamber-music writing" (Boston Herald) at Barbes once again. Special guest George Rush will joint the quartet this evening.
FREE MP3s:
Get 6 free mp3s from the groups "Exotica for Modern Living" series including 3 tracks from Third River Rangoon, and 3 from their acclaimed 22-pc space-age pop big band CD, The Unforgettable Sounds of Esquivel.
RECENT PRESS:
"...a serenely intoxicating blend of third stream chamber sounds......O'Neill may be in the long run, a stronger exoticist than John Zorn."–AllAboutJazz
"...Mr. Ho's new album Third River Rangoon, by his shapeshifting ensemble Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica may have been inspired by that subgenre, but it's considerably more magical. It leaves far more to the imagination, a lushly nocturnal collection whose most impressive feat of sorcery is getting a simple lineup of vibraphone, bass flute, bass and percussion to create the sweep of a hundred-piece orchestra. The production is genius..."–Lucid Culture
"...borrowing themes from Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich, Mr. Ho (Brian O'Neill) has created his own rigorous classical-jazz hybrid. Are you listening, Keith Lockhart?..."–Boston Phoenix