Michael O'Neill seems to have spent most of his life hanging out in San Francisco's Bay Area spending 13 years at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay and another 7 at Centrella on the coast which, despite having released 4 previous albums, explains why he is relatively unknown up here in the North East of England. Having said that, no doubt our local big hitters aren't exactly household names on the Barbary Coast either. Perhaps, when the current pandemic returns to from whence it came the survivors could arrange an exchange system?
Should such an unlikely miracle occur then this band would deserve to be in the vanguard,
O'Neill is a true master of the reeds. Whether on soprano, alto, tenor sax or clarinet he romps through the changes - well he did compose all the tunes - seemingly effortlessly. I use the term effortlessly loosely. No one ever plays a number effortlessly as any musician will tell you. The obstacles are always there to be overcome. It only takes a moment's lack of concentration - Did I remember to turn off the lights? I wonder who that attractive girl in reception was ...?
Presumably O'Neill turned off the lights and there were no distractions in the reception area on this occasion as he is on form. Not just blowing but also as a composer. His compositions are more than just hastily put together riffs but songs that are worthy of words. In particular, The Dreams We Left Behind - where are you Johnny Mercer now that we need you?
Not that this is a one man show, a sound rhythm section who obviously also switched the lights off before they arrived and proceeded to turn on the heat.
Check out on the link below
Lance
Available now on Jazzmo Records.
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