Album Notes

Ice-9 is an acoustic trio featuring the eclectic mix of
harmonica, upright bass, and the guitar and vocals of songwriter Michael Tanzillo. Uniquely employing the harmonica as a second voice Ice-9 does a mixture of blues, country, and swing. There's alot of interplay between the harmonica and vocals backed up by solid bass playing. Bass player Slim also lends another layer of singing to the mix. Ice-9 plays both originals and unusual interpretations of other peoples songs. They run the gamut from upbeat toe tappers to slow bluesy numbers.

-----
Reviews and comments
-----
From Stephen Seigel of The Tucson Weekly

Ice-9's Time Out is pure bare-bones, traditional country, with mere guitar, bass, harmonica and vocals the only sounds you'll hear, save the bass and drums on the live version of "Over The Rainbow'(yes, that one). Tanzillo has a lonesome croon reminiscent of Hank Williams or Dwight Yoakam that suitably fits the Bo Diddley beat of stomper "Cruel Dance" as well as it does a ballad like "Innocence" or the singer/songwriter-ly "The Things I Do For Me".

___



From Breezy (CD buyer/listener)

For those of you who have not heard it yet, Time Out by ICE-9 is a great CD. I listened to it yesterday on my drive home. These guys are way above the level I would have assumed (they all have regular jobs?) Then again it's mostly only three of them. The mostly blue-sy, or even bluegrass tunes include only a guitar, harmonica, and bass (with vocals). Their sound is very unique and not easy to describe. They may object to the terms blues and bluegrass. I refer to the sounds not the lyrics. Here Michael (singer/guitarist) is way to hopeful to be a "real" blues man. His songs are about love won, not lost, the joy of having a child and such. They even think to cover Over The Rainbow (dreams really do come true).
Finally, there is one more soulful tune of less happy intent "I Know" (ain't no use in your hanging around no more) which is the only tune written by a woman, Barbara George. Great tune, maybe best on the CD. Anyway in case you have wondered, harmonica player Richard (whose sound is prominent throughout) is terrific and extremely talented. What could these guys accomplish if they really set their minds to it.