Home » Jazz Musicians » ALO

ALO

ALO is more than a band. It’s a musical relationship that has endured for over two decades, with band members playing in numerous projects together and apart. Following the 2012 release of their freewheeling Sounds Like This, the band took time off to work on various side projects. Zach Gill (keys/vocals) toured the world with the band’s college pal Jack Johnson; Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (guitar/vocals) played shows with the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh; Steve Adams (bass/vocals) toured and recorded with Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers; Dave Brogan (drums/vocals) joined up with Utah band, Mokie. These and other endeavors have influenced the band’s new album Tangle Of Time.

More than previous releases, Tangle Of Time really taps into what makes ALO unique. It’s that special blend of classic songwriting and the ability to stretch out jams and distill dance floor grooves. It's heartfelt lyrics that make you smile, reflect and just want to sing along either way. It's four great musicians who all write and sing. And four friends who've been through a lot together and still support, challenge and inspire one another.

Entering Allegiant Records in San Anselmo, California this past January with co-producer Dave Simon-Baker, the four members decided they’d take a different recording approach. Instead of spending pre-production days jamming and co-writing, each member brought in their own demos, roughly three dozen in total, for the group to listen to, pick apart and eventually whittle down to the 11 songs that make up Tangle Of Time. Once they narrowed their focus, they turned their attention to arrangements and production techniques. Songs were tightened up, layers made more experimental and the end results validated their new approach.

Lebo described the shared respect and admiration the band felt during the recording process this way: "There are four strong opinions in the room, but playing together for so long we've all become pretty good at the empathy thing at this point; we can be very Zen about it. We truly value being together at this point in our careers, and whatever we get from our solo and side gigs, no matter how much fun we have, it's not this."

That sort of maturity, the ability to take stock of your friends, loved ones, and collaborators, and truly appreciate them is certainly one of the cornerstones of Tangle Of Time. Lebo, Adams and Gill first started playing music together in middle school, and then with Brogan right after college. Somehow, these relationships have lasted, evolved and been made stronger every year. One can almost hear the group releasing a satisfied existential sigh throughout the album, finding acceptance, love and contentment with the world they've built.

Read more

Tags

ALO
1

Recording

Guitarist Bobby Broom Serves Up A Platter Of Spicy Organ Jazz With 'Jamalot,' Set For May 24 Release By Steele Records

Guitarist Bobby Broom Serves Up A Platter Of Spicy Organ Jazz With 'Jamalot,' Set For May 24 Release By Steele Records

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

Acclaimed guitarist Bobby Broom makes a welcome return to one of his longtime favorite formats—the jazz organ trio—with Jamalot,a live albumand the second by his Organi-Sation,to be released May 24 on Steele Records. While the trio (which also features organist Ben Paterson and drummer Kobie Watkins) debuted on record with 2018’s Soul Fingers, they have been a working band for much longer; the new release features performances going back 10 years. Actually, Broom’s infatuation with the Hammond organ goes back ...

Recording

Backgrounder: Ray Bryant - Alone With the Blues

Backgrounder: Ray Bryant - Alone With the Blues

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Recorded in December 1958, Alone With the Blues was Ray Bryant's first solo piano album. Growing up, Bryant was deeply influenced by the church, and gospel always played a big part in his approach to jazz. His mother was an ordained minister in Philadelphia and made sure Bryant was with her in the pews. He began playing at age 6, and by 12 he was being paid to play at local events. Throughout the 1950s, Bryant was the house pianist ...

3

Recording

Australia’s Most Streamed Jazz Artist Connie Lansberg Soars With Her Self-Produced Album 'Alone With Bees'

Australia’s Most Streamed Jazz Artist Connie Lansberg Soars With Her Self-Produced Album 'Alone With Bees'

Source: Cyber PR

Australian jazz singer-songwriter Connie Lansberg has released her latest self-produced album Alone With Bees. Boasting an impressive 4.5 million streams on Spotify, Lansberg has solidified her position as Australia’s most streamed jazz artist, captivating audiences with her expressive voice, storytelling prowess, and ground-breaking approach to the genre. “Alone With Bees” is a 10-track jazz album that features seven original songs, written, arranged, produced, and performed by Lansberg. The album also showcases the exceptional talent of her longstanding quartet, including the ...

2

Performance / Tour

NYC Salon Concert With David Soldier, Jason Kao Hwang, Gene Pritsker & Robert C. Ford Set for Thursday January 11, 2023

NYC Salon Concert With David Soldier, Jason Kao Hwang, Gene Pritsker & Robert C. Ford Set for Thursday January 11, 2023

Source: Robert C. Ford

On Thursday January 11, 2023, at 7:30pm EST a concert will be held at the Sky Vault in the Financial District of New York City. It will feature original music and poetry by world class performers in an intimate salon atmosphere. This event is private but a free livestream is available via the Ticket Link below to the Facebook event page. Featured performers include David Soldier violin/acoustic guitar, Jason Kao Hwang violin, Gene Pritsker electric guitar and Robert C. Ford ...

5

Recording

Saxophonist Borys Janczarski Goes It Alone with 'Time Remembered'

Saxophonist Borys Janczarski Goes It Alone with 'Time Remembered'

Source: Borys Janczarski

Polish tenor saxophonist Borys Janczarski, who for some years co-led an excellent quintet with drummer Stephen McCraven, has since gone his own way with a quartet of which he is sole leader. This is their first release, Time Remembered, is available exclusively on Bandcamp. Interestingly, the album was made three and a half years ago, in July 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic was scaring the bejesus out of anyone who gathered together—to make music or anything else. It’s a shame ...

1

Recording

Martin Wind, Jim McNeely and Ed Neumeister 'Counterpoint' — Playful Dialogue Of Bass Instruments

Martin Wind, Jim McNeely and Ed Neumeister 'Counterpoint' — Playful Dialogue Of Bass Instruments

Source: Scott Thompson Public Relations

Some projects can't be planned, they just happen as a lucky coincidence. In the case of Martin Wind's new album Counterpoint it all started with an email he received from a musician in Europe. Wind, who has lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, for 25 years and has made a name for himself as a bassist and composer in New York City, recalls, “He suggested that we record an album together and asked if I could arrange some gigs in New ...

Video / DVD

Malo, the San Francisco Experience

Malo, the San Francisco Experience

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

San Francisco is most often associated with happenings, the Grateful Dead, LSD, the free speech movement, face painting, free love, the Summer of Love, underground newspapers and comics, Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company, Bill Graham, the Fillmore Auditorium, Jefferson Airplane, the Matrix, Carlos Santana, Haight-Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, Timothy Leary, psychedelic art and concert posters, Steve Miller and City Lights Booksellers. But San Francisco had a much more diverse music scene in the late 1960s and ...

1

Festival

Celebrity Series Of Boston Announces: Jazz Along The Charles 2023

Celebrity Series Of Boston Announces: Jazz Along The Charles 2023

Source: Stephanie Janes PR

Celebrity Series of Boston opens the 2023/24 performance season with the highly anticipated return of Jazz Along the Charles—a free jazz event open to all, featuring 25 local jazz ensembles, along the Department of Conservation and Recreation’s (DCR) Charles River Esplanade. With lead sponsors the Esplanade Association and the Richard K. Lubin Family Foundation, Jazz Along the Charles takes place on Saturday, October 7 from 2-4pm (rain or shine). Attendees can experience the event at their own pace, in their ...

1

Recording

Bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and drummer Mike Clark return on seasoned new outing 'Cantaloupe Island' beside guitar great Russell Malone, out now via Jazz Avenue 1

Bassist Leon Lee Dorsey and drummer Mike Clark return on seasoned new outing 'Cantaloupe Island' beside guitar great Russell Malone, out now via Jazz  Avenue 1

Source: Lydia Liebman Promotions

Renowned bassist Leon Lee Dorsey continues his prolific streak with the issue of Cantaloupe Island, the latest album to be released on his Jazz Avenue 1 label and a continuation of his bountiful partnership with revered drummer Mike Clark. On their sixth collaboration since 2019, the stalwart rhythm section brings in virtuosic guitarist Russell Malone for an invigorating nine-track program of compositions by Horace Silver, Wes Montgomery, Prince and more. Cantaloupe Island was released on February 17, 2023. Since joining ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Russell Malone

Jazz Musician of the Day: Russell Malone

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Russell Malone's birthday today!

Russell Malone's first guitar was a plastic green toy his mother bought him. Only four years old, Malone strummed the little guitar all day long for days on end trying to emulate the sounds he had heard from guitarists at church in Albany, Georgia. As a child, Malone developed an interest in blues and country music after seeing musicians on television like Chet Atkins, Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Roy Clark, Son ...

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.