STEPHEN
O'CONNOR/STREAM Reaching For The Sun InnerFocusMusic
Stephen O’Connor is a San Diego area-based guitarist
who has traditionally made his living in the studio, playing
music for a variety of film, television, and other media projects,
including theme parks such as Sea World and Universal Studios.
Then came 9/11, taking a big bite out of the entertainment
business that had been a prime client of O’Connor’s
commercial writing and playing. “It has left this giant
open space for the actual art of playing to come back. I had
put that aside for the last 20 years,” says O’Connor.
“I’m concentrating on playing the guitar and recording.
That’s where this album of Stream is coming from.”
The first recording by O’Connor and Stream was 2002’s
Trios/Duos, which saw him presenting a straight ahead
post-bop jazz recording featuring compositions made famous
by Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, and Joe Farrell.
It also included some of O’Connor’s original compositions,
which were good enough to whet the listener’s appetite
for more. This year O’Connor has expanded Stream to
a quartet format and recorded Reaching for the Sun,
which offers eleven of his own compositions.
The group’s sound is fairly laid back, but their approach
to the music is not necessarily that way. For example, listen
to the intensity they work up on “Dexter’s Deli,”
with O’Connor, saxophonist John Rekevics, and drummer
Ron Ogden trading fours. The track is a perfect example of
the energy that Ogden brings to this project. He is always
there to support O’Connor or Rekevics when they are
soloing, pushing them along, but never falling back on bombast
in order to do so. Rekevics, also a studio veteran, offers
a tenor sound that is definitive yet light, something you
might imagine a Paul Desmond-influenced tenor player to sound
like. His playing is always tasteful and he also provides
some excellent soprano work (check out “Blues in d’Skies”).
Bassist Jeff Rew was one of O’Connor’s first teachers,
and the two share a musical ability to communicate that sometimes
seems to border on telepathy.
As for O’Connor, he is able to provide improvisations
that sound organic, coming from his inner ear, never resorting
to the stringing together of preconceived runs and scales.
There aren’t too many guitarists out there now who can
match his pleasing tone, ability to improvise, and mastery
of a variety of styles, from bebop to more meditative styles.
Often using a Carvin solid body Allan Holdsworth guitar with
Thomastik-Infeld rope-core strings, O’Connor has a warm,
robust sound that envelops the listener and holds the ear.
Listeners seeking mellow fare will enjoy the CD from its
opening tracks, the interestingly titled “Dr. Germ”
and the melodically striking “Behold Their Hearts,”
while fans of more up-tempo fare will enjoy the slow-burn
intensity of “Black Mango” or the bouncy post-bop
sound of “Dexter’s Deli” or “In That
Mood.” There are also the requisite blues-based numbers
such as “Blue PM” and “Blues in d’Skies.”
Reaching for the Sun is an excellent album by a fine
group of musicians, and deserves to be heard widely. You can
check out sound samples on Stephen
O’Connor’s page at Jazzitude
Distribution, where you can also purchase this CD or his
previous one, Trios/Duos.
