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Octobop

Cool jazz. Images of the early days on the West Coast when new ideas, harmonies, ensemble playing and great improvisation were all happening. Recreating and updating that experience is the mission of Octobop. Performing and promoting the music that began with The Birth of the Cool -- and the innovations of Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Shorty Rogers, Bud Shank, Bob Cooper, Dave Pell, Jimmy Guiffre, and Howard Rumsey among others -- Octobop makes cool jazz hot again.

The musicians of Octobop:
Brian Brockhouse - Bass
Jack Conway - Guitar
Bill Hazzard - Vibes
Roy Kaufmann - Drums
Matt Kesner - Tenor, Alto, Soprano Sax
Geoff Roach- Baritone Sax, Bass Sax, Alto Sax and Alto Flute
Jon Schermer - Trombone
Randy Smith - Trumpet and Flugelhorn

Tags

4
Album Review

Octobop: . . .Out of Nowhere

Read ". . .Out of Nowhere" reviewed by Jack Bowers


With Octobop, what you see (and hear) is what you get: “octo," as in octet, and “bop," as in swinging, straight-from-the-shoulder jazz as practiced by the legendary masters who rewrote the music's vocabulary in the '40s, '50s and '60s. Saxophonist and prime mover Geoff Roach leads the California-based group on its sixth CD, Out of Nowhere, which, much like the first five, is likable from end to end, blending the group's readiness and camaraderie after fifteen years together with an ...

92
Album Review

Octobop: Very Early

Read "Very Early" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


Why can't they make albums like this anymore? A few words that might best describe this project could be: West Coast Jazz both joyous and swinging. The group's leader, reedman Geoff Roach, puts the Octobop musical mission in total perspective. Roach has always been enamored of the mid-sized West Coast bands of Shorty Rogers, Marty Paich and Dave Pell, as well as the piano-less ensembles of artists like Gerry Mulligan. Roach has assembled a group of eight musicians who are ...

176
Album Review

Octobop: Very Early

Read "Very Early" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


What's cool about Octobop, besides the band's clever name and conception, is the beautifully retro nature of its music. An octet is the middle child, in between a small combo and a big band. Smaller groups have long been a favorite format of arrangers and Very Early is very much an arranger's collection. Accepting that this is an assembly of standards, the essence of the disc is in the choice of arrangers from within and outside the ...

132
Album Review

Octobop: Very Early

Read "Very Early" reviewed by Jack Bowers


I received a copy of Octobop's fourth CD, Very Early, very late--well past its actual release date--but better late than never, as saxophonist Geoff Roach's urbane northern California-based ensemble does its usual splendid job of reawakening and perpetuating the cool sounds of West Coast Jazz from the '50s, '60s and beyond.

This time, the octet has reached beyond its customary Gerry Mulligan-Marty Paich-Shorty Rogers base to include themes by Johnny Mandel, Henry Mancini, Bill Evans, Bob Mintzer, Mel Tormé/Bob Wells, ...

98
Album Review

Octobop: After Dark

Read "After Dark" reviewed by Jack Bowers


In spite of all that has been written and said about it, West Coast jazz in the '50s and '60s wasn't really “cool"--no more so than what was being played on the East Coast or in the heartland--but it did have a certain indefinable quality that set it apart. I'd say it was more “hip" than “cool." There surely was ample fire in its belly, as anyone who has heard Art Pepper, Gerry Mulligan, Shorty Rogers, Bud Shank, Shelly Manne, ...

107
Album Review

Octobop: Night Lights

Read "Night Lights" reviewed by Jack Bowers


As it says in the liner notes to Night Lights, “West Coast Jazz rides again.” Not quite as high as it did in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but one must give due credit to Silicon Valley’s Octobop for helping to enliven and preserve the spirit of some of the greatest Jazz ever written or played. Yes, there was much more to appreciate about “West Coast Jazz” than its laid-back hipness, the “cool” facade that came to epitomize the movement and ...

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126

Recording

West Coast Jazz Octet Octobop Signs Recording Contract

West Coast Jazz Octet Octobop Signs Recording Contract

Source: All About Jazz

Bay Area Jazz Group to Release Third CD under Group 7 Music Label SAN JOSE, Calif., Octobop, the popular Bay Area West Coast jazz octet today announced it has signed a recording contract with Group 7 Music. Group 7 Music, based in Los Angeles will handle the distribution and outbound marketing of Octobop's newest recording set for release in December, 2004. Group 7 Music was founded by legendary jazz musician, (tenor sax and bass clarinetist) Dave Pell. Dave led his ...

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Very Early

Mystic Lane Records
2007

buy

After Dark

Mystic Lane Records
2005

buy

Night Lights

Unknown label
2004

buy

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