THE NEW JAZZ SECTION (Germany)

by Patrick Van de Wiele

American singer Angela O’Neill is always swinging and founded the octet Outrageous8 in 2015. That band consists of top studio musicians, who really know what swing is.

This is also their third release, which shows them in an adventurous, ambitious mood after 2 years of isolation due to Covid-19. The members of Outrageous8 are all veterans of the Los Angeles jazz and big band scene.

O’Neill says she wanted to capture the pent-up emotions and frustrations of the pandemic on this album. The title refers to the recordings of the music in the garden of singer Al Timss. That music and the vaccinations were the green light to be optimistic about the future.

Angela O’Neill can be heard above the band on six of the songs, including the swinging ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed to His Face’, the assertive ‘Cry Me a River’, ‘Come Rain or Come Shine’ which ends cheerfully, and on the enthusiastic ‘Hallelujah I Love Him So’.

Al Timss is a guest on the exuberant ‘I’m Gonna Live Till I Die’, followed by the instrumental ‘Now and Again’. Singer Bill A. Jones does that on the beautiful ‘On a Clear Day’, and Jackie Gibson is guest vocalist on the bossa nova-like ‘It Might As Well Be Spring’. It closes with the blues of ‘When the Sun Comes Out’.

A nice discovery that proves that there is enough talent that we do not know here. Mandatory for fans of big band music!