Home » Jazz Musicians » Casey

Casey

“This is a natural state for me” says O’Brien, sitting in his kitchen, casually playing bass. “For me the road was always leading to music.”

O’Brien started playing bass when he was 19. He grew up St. Paul, in a house filled with an eclectic collection of music. O’Brien’s father, an avant-garde leaning trumpet player, provided a varied foundation.

“My dad was way off into free jazz, listening to Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, and of course Coltrane and Miles Davis, so there was that,” says O’Brien, ticking off influential jazz heavyweights as though they’re old pals. “And then there’d be Michael Jackson. Thriller would always be around, for instance. And he’d buy hip-hop recordings like Run-D.M.C..”

O’Brien has a connection to music that makes it seem as if it’s part of his physicality. Even as he relaxes, bass guitar in hand, he is tweaking his notes to match the rhythm of his speech.

“I was really lucky to listen to, and get my hands on, such a wide range of music,” O’Brien says. “And then to grow up in the golden era of hip hop— where sampling was still so new that the law hadn’t caught up to it yet. We were just looking through this stuff trying to see where it all came from. I got into Parliament, Bootsy Collins and Average White Band that way—because of listening to this hodge-podge of music. I grew up listening to virtually everything, so when someone now says, ‘Hey man, you wanna do that?’ I say, ‘Yeah, I do.’”

O’Brien has furthered his musical education through tutelage under Anthony Cox, a jazz instructor of upright bass, and Jim Anton, who teaches electric bass. This instruction, paired with O’Brien’s expansive musical range, has given him the versatile latitude to delve into a multitude of projects.

In the past, O’Brien has appeared on recordings and released remixes with Twin Cities hip-hop greats Eyedea and Kristoff Krane, as well as No Bird Sing, Adam Svec, Carnage, TD Mischke, and Face Candy. O’Brien’s most recent film work includes the score for The Place Where We Were Born by Minnesota Book Award Winner, Kao Kalia Yang, and its composition places him on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Presently, O’Brien is the house bass player for the Soul and R&B label Secret Stash and leads various jazz and R&B ensembles based in the Twin Cities; frequent collaborators include Graham O’Brien, JT Bates, Nathan Hanson, Davu Seru, and John Keston. He also performs regularly in the soul ensemble Sonny Knight & The Lakers, improv-group Coloring Time and with Neo-Soul songstress PaviElle.

Rising Saxophonist Mike Casey Releases Debut Album "The Sound Of Surprise: Live At The Side Door”

Source: Mike Casey
February 14, 2017

Saxophonist and composer Mike Casey is proud to announce the February 7, 2017 release of his debut album The Sound of Surprise: Live at the Side Door. Splitting his time between alto and tenor saxophone, Casey and his longtime trio present a fresh approach to the chordless saxophone trio format over the course of seven first-takes. To present The Sound of Surprise, Casey will be touring throughout Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and beyond. See tour details below. While ...
read more

Music Industry

Casey Rae Exits Future Of Music Coalition, Interim CEO Named

Source: HypeBot
May 19, 2016

The Future of Music Coalition, a nonprofit that focuses on education, research and advocacy for musicians, is one of the industry's unsung heroes. This morning, we got word that Casey Rae, a longtime staffer and current FMC CEO, is stepping down. The Future of Music Coalition today announced that CEO Casey Rae will step down on June 6, 2016. Board President Dick Huey has been named interim CEO; and as the seach for a new CEO begins, FMC staffer Kevin Erickson will assume an ...
read more

Interview

Future Of Music Coalition CEO Casey Rae On The Value Of Universal Data Standards [INTERVIEW]

Source: HypeBot
April 26, 2016

In this interview, the people at Songspace sat down with Future Of Music Coalition CEO Casey Rae to discuss his take on the value of data standards and transparency in streaming, and his excitement at blockchain tech's potential. Guest post by Songspace on Medium The last 15 years have been a wild ride, but the dust is finally starting to settle, and we’re on the brink of a more efficient, transparent, and sustainable music business. All Together Now is a series of Q&As with ...
read more

Music Industry

Has The Digital Experiment Failed? A Post-Unicorn Survival Guide And Call To Action For Artists [Casey Rae]

Source: HypeBot
March 2, 2016

As the music tech industry consolidates at an alarming rate, we look at how independent artists can survive by breaking up industry conglomerates and working to keep music's tech sector a competitive environment where creativity can thrive. Guest Post by Casey Rae on Medium It’s over. Despite what you may hear to the contrary, there is a Great Contraction underway, in which non-integrated tech services and startups will be subsumed or die absent a clear business model or path to ...
read more

239

Interview

Casey Abrams: New American Idol Contestant is a Messenger with a Jazz Message

Source: Jazz (Jazzers Jazzing) by Carl L. Hager
April 18, 2011

Before last Wednesday, I was like more than a few music fans in my instinctive dislike of the American Idol phenomenon. Cheap and showy, lowest-common-denominator entertainment, it was created in the same terrifying cauldron that Fox's 1989 Cops voyeurism and MTV's 1992 Real World success originally inspired, and which has since produced Survivor, Big Brother, Fear Factor, America's Next Top Model, etc., in addition to permutations like Glee, in a long term strategic response to the 1988 WGA strike, whose ...
read more

123

Recording

Unrestrained power highlights full-length album from jazz vocalist Leslie Casey

Source: Lauren Rogers
April 14, 2011

Jazz vocalist Leslie Casey was able to accomplish something on her debut album that many unsigned acts—of any genre—have never done: The Pittsburgh native received radio airplay in the Netherlands and in the U.K. “When I did my first CD I had it on MySpace, and it allowed me to meet people who wanted to play my music. So I was able to get my music played overseas," Casey explained. “It was a great feeling, especially with my debut CD." ...
read more

TV / Film

Tamela D'Amico signs on to "Casey," A Tragic, Romantic Drama

Source: Tamela D'Amico
October 6, 2010

American jazz singer, actress, and filmmaker, Tamela D'Amico, has attached to Made U Look Production's first, feature film, Casey. Casey is an independent film that weaves the trials and tribulations of miscarriages, with the psychological trauma of child abuse and alcoholism. As one of the top 24 finalists on FOX's reality show, On The Lot, Tamela has gone on to form La Strega Entertainment, the banner for her sultry, jazz album, “Got A Little Story," executive produced by Peter Krause ...
read more

108

Recording

Genre-Bending Fiddler Casey Driessen's 'OOG' CD Release

Source: Michael Bloom Media Relations
April 15, 2009

GENRE-BENDING FIDDLER CASEY DRIESSEN 2ND ALBUM OOG SET FOR MAY 12 RELEASE .

With one Grammy nomination and two years of solo touring under his belt for 3D, his debut release on Sugar Hill Records, inventive genre-warping fiddler Casey Driessen went back into the studio.

On his independently released follow-up, Oog (Red Shoe Records, May 12 release), Driessen goes beyond the “look-at-me" attitude of a predominantly instrumental record and focuses energy towards his talents as a composer and producer. Drawing ...
read more

142

Performance / Tour

Al Casey Memorial Thursday September 15 7:30pm Saint Peter's Church

Source: All About Jazz
September 15, 2005

Al Casey Memorial Celebration 7:30pm Thursday, September 15, 2005 Saint Peter's Church, 54th & Lexington Al Casey's 90th birthday was to be celebrated this coming Thursday. This event is now to be a memorial tribute. The Harlem Blues and Jazz Band will be joined by pianists Brooks Kerr, Chuck Folds, Frank Owens and Emme Kemp, along with other musicians who make arrangements with Dr. Vollmer. Al Casey, who played guitar with Fats Waller for over a decade, passed away Sunday ...
read more

160

Performance / Tour

AL CASEY RECOVERING AS FATS WALLER SWING CONTINUES

Source: All About Jazz

FATS WALLER'S STRIDE SWINGS INTO SPRING

Chez Suzette, a French Bistro, 675 9th Avenue just above 46th Street's Restaurant Row presents “AL CASEY SWINGS FATS" featuring Fats Waller's guitarist, Al Casey, and Fats vocal stylist Peter Sokolow, stride piano monthly on Thursday nights.

Substituting for Al Casey on Thursday March 21st, due to a recovery from a fall, is David “Bubba" Brooks, member of the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band.

Schedule: THURSDAY'S: ...
read more

One of the best surprises of the year came in December, when bassist Casey O’Brien announced a new recording that includes Nathan Hanson on saxophones and Davu Seru on drums.On “Ghost Dance,” the trio performs eight original compositions by O’Brien, the house bass player for the soul and R&B label Secret Stash. On the album’s moody and flowing tracks, the musicians produce sounds that dance in the air.

David Cazares – MPR Because this came as such a sweet end-of-year surprise. It almost didn’t make the list; I learned about it second-hand and listened at the last possible minute. (It wasn’t officially available until December 14. The CD release is set for January 5 at Icehouse.) So glad I did, because it’s a beauty. O’Brien on bass, Nathan Hanson on saxophones and Davu Seru on drums play eight of O’Brien’s original compositions. This is music of seeking and finding, pensiveness, tenderness, and a spirituality reminiscent of Charles Lloyd. Even when the tempo speeds up, it takes its time

Pamela Espeland – Bebopified Given his background and recent projects, as well as his cohorts on the new recording, it’s reasonable to expect the unexpected on Ghost Dance. Overall, the mood and collaborative interactions suggest ECM has set up a Minnesota outlet; the all-original music (written by O’Brien) flows like a series of incantations. The Gods must be pleased.

“Sawai” provides a brief opening with just bass and drums, as if an introduction to a dance suite. Even in the short span, Casey conjures guitar and bass with two distinct lines, perhaps using a looper. Nathan Hanson adds soprano sax to “Dayton,” melodically wandering but not aimlessly, rather truly exploring the terrain, which is largely gentle with some valleys created by O’Brien’s bass lines. “Ghost Dance Part 1″ (separated from Part 2 by several tracks) is marked by a constant, bubbly bass vamp and alternating clicks and clangs from Seru. The composition is like an African folk dance; Hanson (on soprano) is a talented storyteller creating multiple voices, O’Brien unwavering, Seru the energy source. “Part Two” has a similar yet distinctive bass vamp covering a wider range of tones, creating a more ominous feel, a more urgent storyline with more assertive percussion. Hanson’s adventure kicks up more sonic (cosmic?) dust as if climbing a mountain, reaching a point where the Gods are closer, only to stop in awe, falling somewhere between Coltrane and Lloyd.

“2 Bells” is simply beautiful . Hanson (on tenor and maybe more) suggests Chris Potter’s most recent work. O’Brien’s solo creates bell tones against the gentle slapping of Seru’s brushes. A dark energetic bass introduces “Mpls,” with soprano sax singing atop what becomes a vamping bass in cahoots with the gentle tapdancing of drums. The energy gradually builds, O’Brien taking over as rhythmic storyteller in multiple voices, closing with Hanson’s final prayer. “So” finds Hanson back on tenor, with more acrobatic lines from O’Brien, and you can visualize the elastic movements from Seru. The closing “Polyhistor” benefits from a steady bass and varied percussion effects over Hanson’s tenor. It’s a relatively lively work that feels like a spontaneous improvisation among three kindred spirits

Andrea Canter – Jazz Police

Probably best-known around town as the rock-solid, hard-driving bassist of the ebullient Sonny Knight & The Lakers, Casey O’Brien is an improvising jazz man at heart. He proves it on a spare and beautiful new trio release called, “Ghost Dance,” co-starring the simpatico drummer, Davu Seru, and Fantastic Merlins saxophonist, Nathan Hanson. The often folksy-sounding, accessible “Ghost Dance” truly seduces the listener. It should find favor with fans of world jazz heroes Don Cherry, David Bond, and Yusef Lateef, also with older listeners hip to the Jimmy Giuffre 3, and with young hometown fans of Happy Apple’s gentler, more contemplative tracks. “Ghost Dance” is a low-key gem.

Tom Surowicz – Vita.MN

Throughout Ghost Dance’s 8 tunes the bass, percussion, and saxophone interact seamlessly, winding around each other to throw complex shadows across an expansive musical range.Jon Behm – Reviler

Show less