The studio at 122 West Loveland Avenue was not an unfamiliar space for
Steve Okonski, the leader of his eponymous trio Okonski. Ever since the
Colemine label set up shop in Loveland, Ohio it has been a host to a
number of groups passing through town, including Durand Jones and the
Indications who all of this trio’s members have connections to. After
setting aside some time in winter of 2020, Okonski, trained initially as
a classical pianist, invited Michael Isvara “Ish” Montgomery and Aaron
Frazer to work on an album that was initially planned to be beat driven
and fully composed trio instrumentals.
After finishing this first session with some improvisations, a second
week was booked in the summer of 2021 to try and capture some more of
that spontaneous energy. During this session, the tracks were all
improvised and recorded live to a Tascam 388 during several late nights
at the Colemine HQ. They were structured to allow the group’s collective
intuition to fully shape the melodies and arcs of the music.
The album opens with Runner Up, where a triumphant yet melancholic
melody in the piano leads to a more reserved B-section driven by the
drums and bass of Frazer and Montgomery.
As you journey through the remainder of the album you are met with a
plethora of evoked and explored emotions. The calmness one has walking
down a moonlit street after midnight, the connection one has for a
person who comes into their world for just a moment or a lifetime, and
the nerves and catharsis one feels when starting upon a new, unknown
journey.
Magnolia closes with Sunday, a track that was recorded late into the
night at the close of their first recording session. Without the
spontaneity of Sunday, the remainder of Magnolia would likely have never
come to fruition.
Magnolia was composed from the heart and from the spirit of those in the
studio those late nights in Loveland. It is the culmination of an
emotional and artistic release that was not afforded or recognized
before the band sat at their instruments, and because of that it is
introspective, meditative, spiritual, and new.
Tracklist:
1. Runner Up
2. Field Museum
3. Old Friend
4. Dark Moon
5. Song For My Sister's Son
6. Walking To A Home
7. Sunday