Where Here Meets There – Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica Quartet – Exotica for Modern Living

by | Aug 9, 2015 | Pop/Rock/World CD Reviews

Where Here Meets There – Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica Quartet [TrackList follows] – Exotica for Modern Living IKI-003 ****:

(Brian O’Neill, vibes & percussion; Geni Skendo, flutes; Jason Davis bass; Shane Shanahan, percussion; Tev Stevig, tanbur & oud; Noriko Terada, percussion on tr. 4)

Mr. Ho’s chamber or full orchestra releases follow many different strains: Esquivel, John Barry’s spy music, crime jazz scores, exotic sounds of Les Baxter and Martin Denney, scores of Morricone, surf music, space-age and Playboy-martini-lounge fare.  This CD will be a wonderful trip back into the 60s and 70s lounge-type music area. One of the nine tracks on it sums it all up pretty well: “Would You Like Bongos With That Fugue?”

Gershwin’s jazzy Three Preludes for piano are on this Mr. Ho CD, with the second one titled “The Siamese Cat Song.”  Guess that’s a reference to some Disney animation.  Music of De Falla is also given a going-over with the assistance of such as Dizzy Gellespie and Chano Pozo in “Ritual Mallet Dance.” The album concludes with a Cal Tjader tune, “Black Orchid,” and naturally the vibes player gets to shine on this one. Great fun. Isn’t it nice we still have the same old two-channel stereo that sounds terrific when most of the rest of the listeners are making do with the more expensive and compromised (but more convenient) MP3s and streaming?

TrackList:

Chiseling Music, Sansaz; Maracatune for Chalco, Would You Like Bongos With That Fugue?, Ritual Mallet Dance, GERSHWIN: Three Preludes for Piano, Black Orchid

—John Henry

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