Chinese-Malay-Aussie Bassist Claims Her Place on the NY Scene with a Set of Cerebrally Edgy Dialogues feat. Ambrose Akinmusire and Obed Calvaire
Release Date: October 6, 2009
The title of Linda Oh’s debut CD, Entry, describes not only her emergence as a leader, but her arrival amongst the ranks of bassists who step out of the sidelines into the spotlight with a strong, cohesive vision. Alongside Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet and drummer Obed Calvaire, Oh offers a compelling three-way conversation in which she serves as both equal voice and steely anchor.
“So many musicians want to do everything with their first album,” Oh says. “Especially bass players who play upright and electric — Here’s me doing a funk tune, here’s me doing a swing tune…I wanted to steer completely clear of that and have something kind of raw as well as challenging. Basically, I knew I wanted to do something different.”
Though she achieves that goal musically throughout Entry, Oh’s backstory alone ensures her uniqueness, even on the globally-oriented New York scene. Born in Malaysia to Chinese parents and raised in Western Australia, she arrived in NYC three years ago having followed a circuitous route, culturally and musically.
Starting with classical piano lessons at age four, Oh’s musical dabblings progressed through various woodwind instruments throughout her school years before settling on the bassoon during high school. But at the same time, an uncle gave her an electric bass, which she played by day in her school jazz band at night, emulating Flea on Red Hot Chili Peppers covers by night.
Oh’s musical tastes had been forged through the influence of her older sister, who introduced her to “everything from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Faith No More to Fela Kuti to Jaco Pastorius.” That influence persists on Entry via the trio’s hushed, tender version of the Chili Pepper’ early-90s B-side, “Soul to Squeeze”, which closes the album.
Having split her attentions between bassoon and bass throughout high school, the time came to make a choice when Oh decided to further her studies. She settled on the bass and in 2002 was accepted into the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where she began playing the upright bass for the first time. (more…)
Think Free builds not only on the concept but also the personnel of its predecessors. Longtime compatriot Steve Cardenas returns on guitar, alongside trumpeter Shane Endsley, violinist Jenny Scheinman and drummer Rudy Royston. Each of them are composers and band leaders and bear impressive artistic résumés: Cardenas is a member of Paul Motian’s Sextet and Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra; Endsley is a rising voice on trumpet, well known for his work in Kneebody and alongside Ani Difranco; Scheinman has been widely acclaimed for her performance as both violinist and vocalist; and Royston’s training in both the conservatory and the church contributes to his soulful precision behind the kit. The addition of Scheinman’s violin to the quartet of trumpet, guitar, bass and drums had been in Allison’s mind since 2005. “In the past few years I was fortunate to play a lot with Jenny, often in collaboration with Rudy and Steve. We all felt an immediate and strong musical connection.” Allison continues, “I think an extremely important part of being a composer/bandleader is assembling an interesting combination of musicians. Duke Ellington and Miles Davis were masters of this. Their music is very much an extension of the rapport between, and personalities of, the members of their groups. It could be said that choosing the right musicians is part of the compositional process.”
