Last February, the classically trained keyboardist with Durand Jones and the Indications. STEVE OKONSKI released his own jazz trio album and ‘Magnolia’ won plenty of support from those who prefer laid-back, chilled-out, gentle jazz flavours. The album was credited to “OKONSKI” and the two other players were bassist Michael Isvara “Ish” Montgomery and Indications’ drummer and sometime vocalist, Aaron Frazer.
Prior to that alum, the trio had built up their energies and ideas in a series of studio demos and in December one of those try out cuts, ‘Paradiso’ was released heralding the issuing of all four of the “demos” on an EP. Well, said EP, ‘Trio Session Demos’ has just been released via Colemine and though the music can be seen as a work in progress, the four tunes, ‘Paradiso’, ‘Exitus’, ‘Biblio’ and ‘Alcolado’ are complete in their own right and deliver much the same chilled but jazzy vibe that dominated the ‘Magnolia’ album.
Mr O says of the music on the EP: “Recording these first tracks was incredibly fun and I love how they came out, but it was the end of this session that led us to get out of our comfort zone a bit and explore more of the sounds that ‘Magnolia’ would eventually come from. We are proud to share these initial demos, and to give insight into the experimentation and process that led to ‘Magnolia’.
