Okonski is another beautiful project born from the Durand Jones & Indications house with pianist Steve Okonski at the helm with support from fellow Indications Aaron Frazer and Michael Montgomery on drums and bass. Together the trio takes all of the jazz elements of Durand Jones & the Indications and puts them front and center, letting the songs take as little or as much structure as he (or perhaps the keys themselves?) please. After nearly two years, Okonski returns to us like a wanderer returning to their village, wiser, more lived, and with Homer-level volumes of tales.
The new single from Okonski’s upcoming sophomore album Entrance Music evokes Willie’s arrangement of Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” It’s laid back, beautiful, and effortless. And with a small, solid melody paired with the rhythm section as an anchor, Okonski is free to play and flourish around it, briefly returning to home base before taking off yet again like another chapter of the wanderer’s tale.