Zach Top Entrance Music [VINYL]

For Fans Of... John Carol Kirby, Pharoah Sanders, Bill Evans, Misha Panfilov, Bad Plus, EST. Highly anticipated sophomore album from the Jazz trio. Features members of Durand Jones & the Indications. Produced by Leroi Conroy. Vinyl housed in a tip-on jacket, coloured vinyl is Orange/Black Swirl. Debut LP ‘Magnolia’ has streamed over 2 million times. Previous collaborations with Pale Jay. Lots of support from the BBC, KCRW, Jazz FM, KEXP, and many more. After nearly two years, Okonski returns with Entrance Music — an album that finds the trio at the height of their improvisational prowess and celebrating the spontaneous and meditative. On the heels of 2023’s debut Magnolia, pianist and leader Steve Okonski has reconvened long-time musical collaborators (Durand Jones and the Indications bandmate Aaron Frazer on drums and bassist Michael Isvara “Ish” Montgomery) for another session in the spirit of artists like the Bad Plus, Gerald Clayton, and The Breathing Effect. Ultimately Entrance Music serves as an invitation to early hours, where songs linger in the doorway, announcing their presence before returning to the air, in a meticulous drift into the next. Recorded over a five day session, Entrance Music was one of the first albums committed to tape at Portage Lounge, Terry Cole’s studio in Loveland, OH. “It was a new setup, but with Terry behind the dials it was very familiar,” says Okonski. “I can’t emphasize enough how much Terry feels like a fourth member [of the band] because of the space he’s curating, the energy he is bringing, and the production ideas.” The energy and sound created with the Colemine label head at the helm makes for a listening experience equally at home with ECM or Stones Throw catalogues. Whereas much of the debut resonates with his time in New York, Entrance Music “feels a little less ‘on the streets at 2 A.M.’ and a little more nature-based…a little more ethereal,” says Okonski. “It’s definitely age, environment, and family — all of that does come through in the music.”