Okonski: Entrance Music

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Steve Okonski (p)
Aaron Frazer (d)
Michael Montgomery (b)

Label:

Colemine Records

March/2025

Media Format:

CD, LP, DL

Catalogue Number:

CLMN-12063

RecordDate:

Rec. June 2023

There’s a charm to Okonski’s stripped-down performances that hides vivid composition and knowing arrangements. Andrew Hill fans may find an airy nothingness in Entrance Music, but open the doors of perception and these ear worms grow more attractive with repeated playing. There are intimations of Bill Evans in the clarity of his playing, but contemporary Brits will catch resonances of Neil Cowley’s melancholy grandeur (and an older generation may even hear Eric Coates in the rippling sighs of ‘October’).

Okonski’s admirably served by the restrained drums of Frazer, who, while we are off on a limb, has the strict tempo and lack of flourish of Khruangbin’s DJ Johnson. ‘Lakebridge’ takes us more into a blues-inflected loungecore, but ‘Wind or Vertigo’ (either way the title suggests an unfortunate affliction) returns us to an impossibly lyrical simplicity. No surprise that Okonski cites the limpid dreams of Debussy as an influence, and in Montgomery’s warm bass, he has an admirable foil. The gorgeous bass intro to ‘Passing Through’ eases open the song like someone unshuttering long closed windows in a darkened room. Sometimes you need to stand still and watch the feathers float before God’s breath.

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