Pianist Steve Okonski released his gorgeous album Entrance Music last year — a perfect collection of unpretentious jazz tunes that instantly lift the mood in any setting. This week, he shared “Easy,” a new song long in the making. Like Entrance Music, the track features Okonski’s Durand Jones & The Indications bandmates Aaron Frazer on drums and Michael Montgomery on bass, joined by the album’s producer Terry Cole on Hammond organ. The result is a delightful blend of jazz and instrumental hip-hop.
From Okonski’s bandcamp page
Written and drilled over countless soundchecks and rehearsals for a myriad of different bands, “Easy” initially seemed to exist as a sort of secret instrumental track for a fictitious hip hop album that was never released. It starts lazily, the piano floating around the drums and bass. A big staircase of sound emerges as the piano gradually steps down into an isolated drum beat. The track finishes with an almost hopeful coda, a shout chorus with the single note on the Hammond swelling to the climactic ending. “This track harkens back to late nights walking around the city without any real place to go,” Okonski says, “With no real purpose or destination in mind but ending up right where you were supposed to be.”
