About this project

Hello Friends, Family, and music enthusiasts!!! I am very happy to share some great news with you. A couple years back, I recorded an album of original music. I am thrilled with how it turned out - the end result is very fresh, unique, and, if I may say so, emotionally powerful. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Why do I not have a copy", you ask? Well, I was so excited about the outcome that I wanted to wait until the time was right to release it. In other words, I've been holding on to the album until our Debut Release would be more than just a stepping stone and instead serve as a launchpad to really get the band off the ground. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Well, besides the true importance of art, the fact is we cannot call the organizers of a festival and say "Our band is great, take or word for it and book us!" With a proper album, I will finally have something to send to magazines, critics, festivals, venues, radio stations, and fans of contemporary jazz. This is THE most important step in the process for us. As many of you know, I have been in New York for over a year now, and I have been working hard searching out the right people since I landed here. I have been patiently waiting till I was in the right situation, and the time is now. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Producing an album independently takes a great deal of work and expense. The recording engineer, mixing engineer, and of course, the musicians worked very hard to create what I think is a very beautiful piece of art. That part is all taken care of. All that is left is to master, design, and print the album. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, we are here because I NEED YOUR HELP... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW IT WORKS… You pick out a cool prize package on the right hand side of your screen, and pledge that amount to the project. Then if, and ONLY if, we receive enough pledges to meet our goal within the allotted time frame, your pledge goes through. You then receive that cool prize package, and we get to release the record! Again, we get zero funding unless the entire goal is met, so please spread the word to anyone who may be interested, even if they don’t know "yours truly". Everything is prepared: The donated funds will go to mastering the album, designing the artwork, photography, printing the CD’s, uploading to digital sites such as iTunes and Amazon.com, and then advertise, promote, and distribute the whole thing! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LET’S MAKE THIS RECORD TOGETHER! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE BAND These guys and I have been playing together for years, we are all great friends, moved to New York together from Los Angeles, and are very close, musically and otherwise. We are all multi-faceted musicians, who have played too many kinds of music together to even list. Notably, we have all studied jazz, composition, and many different kinds of music from other cultures together, especially Ewe music from Ghana. I am thrilled with how we connected on the album to bring these compositions alive. These wonderful musicians have their own albums out, have received rave reviews, and as a result are currently touring the world with various bands. Amino Belyamani-Piano, Sam Minaie-Bass, Qasim Naqvi- Drums. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE MUSIC Suite For Quartet is a seven-movement suite that is through-composed. In other words, it’s really one large piece, composed more like a symphonic work would be - even though the individual tracks do stand on their own as songs that could be played individually on, say, an online radio station. The band is a traditional jazz quartet - saxophone, piano, acoustic bass, and drums - but we use this instrumentation to take the music through several different elements that include traditional jazz, contemporary classical harmony, west African rhythmic structure, American folk melody, and rock grooves. I am proud that this project pushes boundaries while keeping to the heart of what we all really like about music. But it ain’t a science project, the band plays from a pretty deep place. Here is a link to some music of mine: www.myspace.com/ochionjewell --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks so much for being here!! I strongly believe that this band has something to offer to the world, and I cannot do it without your help. Remember, we don't receive ANY funding unless the goal is completely met. That probably won't happen without some 'significant' contributions, but any help at all is generous - and needed. Thanks so much, your help means the world to me, Ochion