May I share our new video with you? I know u love drums and you love to laugh!
https://www.facebook.com/omar.hakim.5851/posts/10206425672699941

Dedication through music is always an honor.
Serving others through music has rewards beyond compare…

Bless u Pino…always in our heart

Dear Friends,
We are finally buckling down and writing new music. Refining happening daily. Solomon set to arrive soon to add his genius.
More info coming soon!

Rachel Z’s view #katebush I wrote this for RA Araya
Believe me…the Kate Bush show is a testment to all of us who believe in real music. She is schooling me in live performing too!
Firstly, She sings her vocals live and if you know these songs they are difficult, alot of lyrics and vocally challenging to nail pitchwise. She excels! I am also going to note here that when she sits at the piano I am LOVING the sense of space that she chooses to accompany herself for her songs. She also gets into meditative chordal riffs and linear riffs but these hip parts all serve the song. It is a real cool approach-pianist take note as this creates a mood. Piano can be so lonely…:-) Tori Amos,Shirley Horne, Peter Gabriel,Nate king Cole all use these techniques…it is so effective when the composer plays for themselves.

Secondly, the band is SMOKIN-
Not a Little bit smokin- Omar Hakim and Mino Cinelu L’Officiel lay down sensual complex grooves from an irish jig, to crosscultural Weather Report(with Victor Bailey) kinda stuff, to heavy prog rock. At certain points they just bust loose and the shit goes crazy! I don’t mean kinda bust loose-I mean the best grooving you have heard these two do-yes on a rock show!
Yup- she let’s them play…Another reason Kate Bush is the head bitch in charge right now!
Jon Giblin the bassist bows and grooves hard with them-he is unique in his feel and sense of space.
More pleasure for me personally happens from the keys and guitars who paint sonic landscapes of such beauty and taste that every sensibility is satified. Jon Carin and Kevin(keys) lay down unique pads, pianos, accordion(real),
Bagpipes(real) !
The synth textures took months of refined expert programming by Jon Carin who is highly skilled and rarely mentioned! He is a “virtuoso programmer” who makesand plays sounds which breathe,swell and dance around the vocals-a sonic warm bath!
I am super pleased by the refinement here-rare pleaures! YAY!!!

On top of all this, the guitars are folky and rocky with Frizzy strumming and David Rhodes playing “prog lead” ! DR has a gorgeous sonic concept for extended sustained grainy emotional guitarness! He rocks out too and has diversity in his playing- so cool! He also plays with Gabriel(we both played on the Growing Up Live Tour)…PS he sings great too but not on Kate’s show.
And u see I have not even mentioned the visuals…and sadly…I won’t because if she brings the show to the USA I want you to be as surprised and moved as I was the first time!
That said, I have watched 5 shows and will see #6 next Tues as trust me I am just starting to understand Kate’s music and what the visuals mean…to her…to me…to each individual. I can say that whatever hurts inside may be healed and whatever creativity you feel you might just have that set free. Kate throws down the gauntlet and says let’s all share this experience of creativity. I leave the show expecting more of myself and feeling smarter!

Omar, Rachel and Solomon take
A Break in Istanbul to perform a special concert for Jazz in Ramadan…thanks to Hakan Erdogan and His daughter Nazli. We will explore OZ with all-new perspectives from a sabbatical in which Rachel Z explored odd time hip hop jazz while touring and recording with with Terri Lyne Carrington and Lizz Wright in “Mosaic 2″…Solomon has been exploring songwriting and singing with Jose James, and Omar has been developing a 22 show run with Kate Bush in London to begin on August 26th…
We will incorporate some new sounds of Rachel’s secret synths(Cynthia) and Solomon on the moog lil
Phatty(thanks to Jason Daniello at Moog)

OZ plans to write and record this summer in the UK and release a new CD on April 19th,2015.
Thank you for supporting OZ by buying our music:-) luv u all!