This recording is the second disc in the band's series, Exotica for Modern Living. Referencing the exotica of Martin Denny, Milt Raskin, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich among others, Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica—as a vibraphone quartet—presents an original third-stream collection of updated jazz, chamber, and world music reaching towards the South Pacific via Asia, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Latin America. Led by multi-percussionist, vibraphonist and composer Brian O’Neill (Mr. Ho) with bass flute/woodwinds (Geni Skendo), percussion (Noriko Terada), and acoustic bass (Jason Davis).
Originally a mixture of jazz, latin, polynesian, and exotic sounds once popular in the 1950s and 1960s, exotica music became the lounge music of choice for armchair travelers, hi-fi lovers, cocktail-party hosts, and anyone else obsessed with modern living, polynesian-pop culture, and [sometimes imaginary] far-away places. It is this concept of "escapism" that is at the core of the group's sound, a modernization of the original exotica genre.
While the Orchestrotica does perform classics by the original artists of the style—Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, Les Baxter, Milt Raskin, and Cal Tjader—the group focuses on original music written by Mr. Ho.
http://orchestrotica.com
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