In late November/early December I Recently had the opportunity to play at the new Jazz club in San Francisco called Keys on Broadway and this was with the Great Noel Jewkes quartet featuring Grant Levin, myself, and David Rokeach. The room sounds absolutely amazing and it was a supreme pleasure to play many of Noel's original compositions which are quite unique and beautiful.   Congratulations to Simon Rowe for opening up such a wonderful sounding space to hear Jazz.  

I will be playing there again with Noel for a string of nights starting in February (2/1/23-2/4/23) except I will be at Bird and Becket for that last Saturday 2/4 with John Calloway's group.  Hope you can make it out to some of these shows.  

Keys on Broadway Jazz Bistro
https://keysjazzbistro.com

Bird and Beckett
https://birdbeckett.com

Also you can catch me playing with Noel Jewkes Quintet at the Sound room on Friday 1/20/23.  

Buy Tickets here:
www.eventbrite.com/e/noel-jewkes-quintet-with-kay-kostopoulos-tickets-483843778767

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We used to call him "Cannonball Dundy" behind his back because he sounded a lot like an Australian version of Cannonball Adderley but the truth was that Andrew had his own sound that left a lasting impact on the Bay Area and global Jazz community.  As a former student and friend on the bandstand I can remember countless ways Andrew's wisdom  helped me in my development and understanding of the technical demands of Jazz also known as Black American Music.  I remember how on the bandstand he would play 30 choruses on a blues and never run out of ideas always playing music that was fresh and original.  True genius! I always knew that I had to bring my "A game" when playing with Andrew.  He taught me how to play in a big band, the role of the acoustic bass as a reference for dynamics within a jazz ensemble and also much of the history of jazz.   After attending the celebration of life event at Broadway Grill in Burlingame it was amazing to see how many different lives Andrew had influenced.  He raised the standard for musicianship within in the Bay Area music scene and I am so glad I had the opportunity to know and play music with him.  I only wish he could have stayed with us longer.  RIP Andrew Speight.   

Fog City Sessions was recorded at Noah Frank Studios in San Francisco.  

The Jazz Odyssey Ensemble

Vol. 1
https://soundcloud.com/olliedzz/3-little-words​
https://soundcloud.com/olliedzz/tyrone-take-1​
https://soundcloud.com/olliedzz/nobody-else-but-me-take-2​
soundcloud.com/olliedzz/when-sunny-gets-blue
​soundcloud.com/olliedzz/serenity
https://soundcloud.com/olliedzz/speak-low​

Vol. 2







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What a joy is was to try out these strings.  I read online that they were under rated strings that some bassists were avoiding because of the initial marketing as a "slap" string right out the gate I was very curious to give these strings a try.  After putting them on my bass, practicing with them and playing a few gigs I discovered that these strings did a great job of staying in tune, had a nice balanced evenly blended dark tone,  and proved to to be quite versatile.  The strings have a quick and precise attack but with a quick volume decay (when played pizzicato).  After the initial attack the volume decays rapidly which may be less suited or ballads but excellent for uptempo bebop and pizzicato soloing. This decay in the sustain of course can be negated by playing arco which projects the sound more evenly and responds kindly under the bow.  The synthetic core has a nice gut like quality in sound but with the same technique one would use to play pizzicato on a metal string (exterior of the the strings is (E-Steel, A-Aluminom, D-silver, G-silver) a good sound can be achieved.  When I tried slapping them I found they cut through the mix with a brighter tone and a nice bounce quality.  They lack the bright warmth and sustain of the Perpetuals and don't quite have the "tear drop" attack of the Chordas but for a gut sounding string they bow surprisingly well and produce a nice old school tone which I enjoyed immensely.  

More info:  http://pirastro.com/public_pirastro/pages/en/Evah-Pirazzi-Gold-00001/

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Stay tuned for the release of new original music in the near future.