Out of the vault... Live on Echoes!

We were touring with FLOW (Oster was in the group, I was playing bass and keys, and Vin was playing duets with Will) in the fall of 2017 when an opportunity opened for the three of us to do an evening of playing at a church (The 1867 Sanctuary) somewhere in New Jersey. Inexplicably we said yes, and also inexplicably we convinced Vin to play electric guitar. We had no material and had never played as a trio before. What could go wrong?

We played a sold out FLOW show at Carniegie / Weill Hall on Friday night, and wandered to New Jersey for our Saturday improv adventure. During soundcheck at 1867 we were feeling things out and played for a bit. When we wound down I asked Vin's wife how it sounded and she told us we'd been playing for a solid twenty minutes. I guess we were on to something. Five more audience members showed up and we started to play the show for real... and we WERE on to something.

The next day we wandered into the studio at Echoes to record a Living Room concert with FLOW. Jeff had, in his infinite wisdom, convinced John Diliberto that the trio should record as well. We had no material and had played once as a trio.

This is what happened.

Any proceeds will be handed over to Echoes with great haste.

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PLEASE buy this music and support the amazing Echoes radio show here:

Victoria Place: Echoes Live 23 | Echoes Store
echoes-store.myshopify.com/products/victoria-place-echoes-live-23
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Here's how John Diliberto introduced us:

"Collectively, they don’t have an album out and only have a couple of live performances under their belts, but the master musicians of Departure have been making music for a long time.

They are trumpeter and flugelhorn player Jeff Oster who has several solo albums and is the “O” in FLOW, the supergroup with Fiona Joy, Lawrence Blatt and Will Ackerman.

Tom Eaton is the co-producer and engineer on most Will Ackerman projects and released a couple of acclaimed ambient albums. He won the ZMR Awards Best New Artist trophy in 2017.

And Vin Downes, a post-WIndham Hill guitarist who has been produced by Will Ackerman. The three musicians have gotten together to explore ambient improvisations, and we caught one of their first performances live on Echoes."

John Diliberto

Hear and buy it and more on:
Victoria Place: Echoes Live 23
echoes-store.myshopify.com/products/victoria-place-echoes-live-23