New Project on Tap!
Very excited to announce a new project with Chicago trumpeter Chad McCullough! We’re in the beginning stages of writing new music for this project. Join us for our debut performance on Nov 27th at the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center at the University of Indianapolis!
Two new gigs for my bands!!
I’ve got two new gigs for my groups coming up that I’m excited about. First, my quintet is performing with vocalist Typhanie Monique for the Brooks Middle School Jazz Night in Oak Park on April 7th, and on April 21st, my organ trio is performing for the Brookfield Jazz Society at Sawa’s Old Warsaw restaurant in Broadview. Come on out and hang with us on either of these nights!! Click here for more details on these shows.
The Sound of Joy Wins an Independent Music Award!!
Hey Everyone, I just found out that my tune The Sound of Joy won an Independent Music Award in the Jazz Song category!! This is really cool!! Now I need your help…you can vote for the song and it could also win the popular award. Just click here to sign up for the IMA email list to vote. Thanks everyone for your support!!
The Sound of Joy Nominated for Independent Music Award!!
Hey everyone, I just received some great news… one of my tunes from Suspended Reality – The Sound of Joy – has been nominated for an Independent Music Award!! I’m honored and excited about this!! And YOU can vote for the song!! Please click here to sign up for their email list, check your email (maybe spam folder) for the confirmation email from the IMA’s, then go back here to vote. And please let as many people know about this as possible!!
Thanks,
Mark
Mark O’Connor Quintet Fall tour
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to let you know that I’m in the middle of lining up a midwest tour for my quintet!! I’m really excited about this and hope you are too. More details to follow.
Mark
Mark O’Connor Quintet @ the Chicago Jazz Festival!!
I just found out that my quintet will be playing at the Chicago Jazz Festival!! We’re really excited to be a part of it!! We’re playing on Sept 3rd from 4:20-5pm at the Chicago Jazz Magazine tent – come on out and show us your support. We’ll be playing music from both of my cds – Suspended Reality & Mirage. It’s a short set so don’t be late!! Take care for now.
Musically Yours,
Mark
Chicago CD release party
Here are some photos from our recent release party in Chicago. Thanks to everyone who helped make this a huge success!!
Great Milwaukee CD release party
We had a very successful CD release party in Milwaukee at the Jazz Estate this past Friday night!! The band sounded great and a good time was had by all. Thanks to everyone who was there to help us celebrate. Please keep the buzz going by telling all of your friends about the new CD, facebook fan page and website. In the next week or so, I’ll be posting pics and audio from last night!! Take care for now. MOC
The Making of Suspended Reality
It’s been a long wait, but Suspended Reality is finally a …reality (bad humor, I know). All of us had a great time in the studio and I was excited to be able to record with Mark Maegdlin, Ben Lewis, Jon Paul, Tom Hipskind again. Our new addition to the band is Victor Garcia – a wonderful trumpeter who grew up in Chicago. And working with recording & mixing engineer Brian Schwab and mastering engineer Scott Steinman was a pleasure too!!
We spent three days in the studio recording, then two days mixing and three days mastering. Mark Maegdlin was in on all of it and he’s always wonderful to work with as a producer as well as a piano player.
OA2 Records is our new record label and they have been great!! When I got the artwork back from them, all I could say was WOW!! That’s one of the reasons I wanted to be on the label and they didn’t disappoint!! Now it’s on to planning the CD release parties… Check out the gigs page for dates and locations.
Until next time,
MOC
Welcome
Hey Everybody!! Welcome to my blog!! I’m really excited about the release of Suspended Reality and my updated website!! I’m going to use this blog as a chance to communicate with all of you on a range of different topics, helping you get to know me a little better as well as getting a look at what I’m up to lately.
Some topics will be aimed specifically at musicians and others will be more general in nature. I hope you get a chance to check this out often. My goal is to update it once every two weeks!!
Take care and thanks for your support!!
MOC
