Mr Ho's Orchestrotica's Brian O'Neill Interviewed at All About Jazz

Led by pianist and multi-percussionist Brian O'Neill, Mr Ho's Orchestrotica plays the kind of music you can listen to with your mother. She'll love the '50s atmosphere of The Unforgettable Sounds of Esquivel (Exotica For Modern Living, 2010)—while you'll pick up all the left-of-center global hints—and she won't even know it's good for her! It's good, indeed, wrought as it is from original charts from lounge/exotica avatar Juan Garcia Esquivel, transcribed from actual recordings by ear. For baby boomers, it evokes memories of '60s TV—the flashy big-band blowouts from everything from Bewitched to The Flintstones, with a residual feel of the likes of Stan Kenton's ensemble.

All About Jazz's Gordon Marshall spoke with O'Neill about the appeal of exotica, and what exactly exotica is, in the context of Mr Ho's Orchestrotica, and O'Neill's other projects.

Check out Mr Ho's Orchestrotica: Endless Bachelor Party today, at All About Jazz!