Oh! - Scolohofo (2LP Vinyl) [Tone Poet Series]

Oh! by Scolohofo.

There are supergroups, and then there are gatherings so effortlessly aligned that the only honest title is a single, wide-eyed syllable. "Oh!" by Scolohofo arrives as one of those rare meetings, a record whose very name feels like the sound a listener makes when the music opens up in front of them. Spread across four sides, it unfolds patiently, letting each idea breathe rather than rushing toward resolution.

What makes this pressing special begins in the room where it was born. The music was captured live-to-two-track on 30 ips analog tape across two July nights, the 30th and 31st, 2002, at the storied Sear Sound in New York City. That live-to-two-track approach means there is nowhere to hide and nothing to fix afterward; what you hear is a performance, committed in the moment, with all the interplay and tension intact. It is jazz as event rather than construction.

The sequence itself rewards a full front-to-back listen. It opens with the title track, "Oh!," followed by "Right About Now," setting a tone that is confident without ever showing off. Side B moves through "The Winding Way," "Bittersweet," and "Shorter Form," a stretch that lives up to those titles with music that turns, aches, and distills in equal measure. There is a sense of a group thinking together in real time, listening as hard as they are playing.

The second disc keeps that momentum. "New Amsterdam" and "In Your Arms" carry Side C with a mix of forward drive and warmth, while the final side stacks four pieces in a row: "The Dawn Of Time," "Brandyn," "Faces," and the closing "Oh I See." That last title lands like a knowing answer to the album's opening exclamation, bookending the record with a quiet wink and giving the whole program a satisfying shape.

This is a Blue Note Records release, ℗ 2003 and © 2022 UMG Recordings, Inc., with Blue Note® a registered trademark of Capitol Records, LLC. It has been cut directly from the original analog tapes, keeping the signal path faithful to those two nights at Sear Sound and honoring the immediacy of the original recording. For anyone who cares about how a record actually sounds, that lineage matters.

Housed in a gatefold jacket, it presents as a proper listening object, something to hold, open, and return to. If you gravitate toward jazz that values conversation over spectacle and captures musicians in genuine dialogue, "Oh!" belongs on your shelf and, more importantly, on your turntable. Cue it from the top, let all four sides play, and understand exactly why they called it that.

Pressing Details:
Recorded live-to-two-track 30 ips analog tape: July 30 & 31, 2002, at Sear Sound, NYC.

A Blue Note Records release; ℗ 2003 © 2022 UMG Recordings, Inc.
Blue Note® is a registered trademark of Capitol Records, LLC.

Cut directly from the original analog tapes.
Gatefold jacket.

Track Listing:
A1. Oh!
A2. Right About Now
B1. The Winding Way
B2. Bittersweet
B3. Shorter Form
C1. New Amsterdam
C2. In Your Arms
D1. The Dawn Of Time
D2. Brandyn
D3. Faces
D4. Oh I See

Artist: Scolohofo

Format: 2LP

Genre: Jazz

Label: Blue Note

Catalog Number: B0033844-01

Series: Tone Poet Series

Release Year: 2023

Country: United States

Condition: Sealed (New)