The Orange Mighty Trio

Artist Information

Biography

The Orange Mighty Trio's special brand of chamber music spans from toe-tapping fiddle influences to lyrical melodies and often with unusual and intricate arrangements. Adventurous yet accessible, the group is known for their interaction, building to great improvised heights one moment, and then returning to a tightly scripted section the next. OMT has toured both coasts, playing Taste of Chicago and the Square Lake Film/Music Festival, as well as folk clubs, colleges and house parties. Their music has also been featured in numerous indie filmes.

PRESS QUOTES

"Violinist Zack Kline, pianist Mike Vasich, and bassist Nick Gaudette are all top-notch musicians who seem in particular sync to one another's quirks and are versatile enough to handle whatever their fervid imaginations come up with." -- MINNEAPOLIS CITY PAGES


"This is a highly spirited group of musicians on their way to a bright future." -- TWIN CITIES DAILY PLANET


"OMT meanders happily through jazz and chamber-music styles that would make the group equally at home playing the Dakota [Jazz Club], guesting with the Minnesota Orchestra or playing at a county fair."-- THE ONION

Instrumentation

Zack Kline - violin
Nick Gaudette - bass
Mike Vasich - piano

Discography

1. The Orange Mighty Trio [EP]
2. Infrastructure [full-length]

Tracks available to stream at http://www.orangemightytrio.com

Recently featured on:

Minnesota Public Radio-- 89.3 "The Current" and Classical, News stations. Regularly played on Radio Heartland show.

Bowed Radio podcast.

Official Website

http://www.orangemightytrio.com

Links

• Our Website
• MySpace
• MySpace
• Label Website

Audio

• Billy in the Lowground
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• Infrastructure
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• It Depends on the Context
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• The Long Zoom
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• Driving with your Eyes Open
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• Waltz of the Traffic Patterns
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Video

The Long Zoom (dir. Joe & Kris Swanberg)

Photo Gallery

Press

• "Infrastructure" CD Review [+ Show ]
  

  "Bluegrassical" is the fantasy term coined by the locally based Orange Mighty Trio for their particu..."Bluegrassical" is the fantasy term coined by the locally based Orange Mighty Trio for their particularly distinctive brand of music, which sure enough mashes up classical and bluegrass, as well as jazz and stray bits of world music. With references to Appalachia, Bach, Stephane Grappelli, and maybe Sun Ra skittering about, the OMT's all-instrumental stuff kind of sounds like the crew from Cold Mountain repaired to the parlor to play chamber music conceived on Mars. Violinist Zack Kline (who also plays in the Celtic-folk band Piper's Crow and spends a good bit of time in Chicago), pianist Mike Vasich, and bassist Nick Gaudette are all top-notch musicians who seem in particular sync to one another's quirks and are versatile enough to handle whatever their fervid imaginations come up with. For their first full-length CD, Infrastucture (whose release will be celebrated with this gig), those imaginations apparently were fired by expansion joints and transportation, suggesting either too much time on the road or overexposure to DOT news conferences. Regardless, it's spirited, evocative music that's far from pedestrian, ranging from the meditative, somewhat ominous "Point A" and lyrical "Waltz of the Traffic Patterns" to the darkly frenetic "Driving with Your Eyes Open" and outer limits hoedown of "Orange Line." Opening will be Mississippi Peace, a new band featuring local music vets Christopher Cunningham (guitar, vocals), Michelle Kinney (cello), Melissa Matthews (violin), and Graham O'Brien (drums). All ages.

• "Infrastructure" CD Release Promo [+ Show ]
  

  The Orange Mighty Trio is also unafraid to take risks on its first full-length disc, the new "Infras...The Orange Mighty Trio is also unafraid to take risks on its first full-length disc, the new "Infrastructure." Roughly equal parts jazz, chamber music and bluegrass, the instrumental album's titles carry a transportation theme, from "Waltz of the Traffic Patterns" to "Driving With Your Eyes Open." The group has already scored a pair of films, which feels like an ideal path. The Orange Mighty Trio plays the Cedar Cultural Center on Saturday with a new group, Mississippi Peace.

• Snippet from "Infrastructure" CD Release Promo [+ Show ]
  

  “Having fine-tuned its uncanny brand of orchestral roots music since 2007's debut EP, the Orange Mig...“Having fine-tuned its uncanny brand of orchestral roots music since 2007's debut EP, the Orange Mighty Trio finally has a full-length disc to tout, "Infrastructure...." Zack Kline... leads the group through 13 originals that rival Spaghetti Western String Co. in sweeping, cinematic quality.”

• What Radio Host Mark Wheat Says [+ Show ]
  

  "One of my favorite new discoveries in the music scene has been a band called the Orange Mighty Trio..."One of my favorite new discoveries in the music scene has been a band called the Orange Mighty Trio, who literally meld and fuse elements of folk, and bluegrass, and experimental jazz, and even classical chamber music into something completely new."

• Interview with Twin Cities Daily Planet [+ Show ]
  

  The beautiful thing about a truly gifted musician is that he or she can cut it in any style under th...The beautiful thing about a truly gifted musician is that he or she can cut it in any style under the sun. It’s even beautifuler when you’ve got a group in which all the players are that talented.
  
  Enter the Orange Mighty Trio, with Zack Kline (violin), Mike Vasich (piano), and Nick Gaudette (bass). They can play a symphony hall, then get out of their Sunday-go-to-meetin’ clothes, pull on some overalls, and throw down at a hoedown without missing a note. Oftenas with the magical “Billy in the Lowground”—they manage to do both at once and throw in much that’s in-between, including jazz and honky-tonk, all with amazing skill. No need to take my word for it: listen to their splendidly eclectic EP The Orange Mighty Trio and hear for yourself.
  
  Catch them in-person on July 20 at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Minneapolis, where they’ll be collaborating with a dancer for part of the evening. On their Web site, they list such influences as the Kronos Quartet, Radiohead, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and more. They sound—they say—like “a large fiddle, small fiddle, and a fiddle you play with keys attached to felted hammers.” Zack Kline sheds some light on things.
  
  How’d the ensemble get started?
  I met Mike at Macalester College, but we didn't play that much together then. Only did a few jazz gigs—including one for the Energy Park Business Association, which was a strange gig. Anyway, it wasn't until after college that we started developing our own music together. We played as a duo first, and [then] after a couple months with Nick, who I had met a few years before when we were co-teachers at a music camp. I was quite impressed with him [at the camp]: he was playing Bach cello suites on the bass. He had subsequently gone to Cleveland Institute for a bachelor’s and Master's and moved back to the Cities around the exact time we felt the need for a virtuosic bass player.
  
  How do you come with the material?
  The EP is all original, except [“Billy in the Lowground”], which is a traditional fiddle tune. With the exception of [“Prelude"], which we wrote together, I wrote the melodies and we developed them together, finding the right bass and piano parts. Typically, I would bring in a bare-bones melody and the group would add more sections or create an arrangement. It's nice, because I feel they will write better piano parts or bass parts than I would write. So, usually I only have to write my part and they can come up with theirs—and [it's] the other way around for their tunes. With “Billy in the Lowground,” we took a basic fiddle tune and re-composed it into something pretty complex. We just kept adding new things and trying new things until about six months later we arrived at the final form. It was a process of experimentation.
  
  Who studied what as their main genre?
  We each studied classical from the start and continued through college. Macalester was nice, because the program allows you to play lots of different types of music in addition to classical and you can be creative. I had one friend who did all Irish music for their senior recital and another who did half classical, half jazz. Mine were usually half classical, half my own stuff. At most schools you couldn't do that—or at least not very easily. In any case, starting with classical, other types of music seeped in along the way for each of us. Mike talks about being exposed to jazz and it being like a revelation. I got into the bluegrass scene in Colorado. Nick was doing some bluegrass in elementary school, and later, jazz and rock. As a creative musician, once you get the skills you need to play in bands, you can just soak up all the styles you like. That comes out in our writing.
  
  Is there a leader?
  The way we work and rehearse, we are very democratic and open to anything anyone suggests. On the other hand, I am somewhat leader-ish when it comes to doing the bookings and bringing in ideas.
  
  What about a live album?
  I just got a copy of our Cedar show last January with [guitarist] Dean Magraw and it certainly makes me think about it. We loved playing with Dean, and he fit in perfectly.
  
  What's next?
  Well, if we can, we want to teach each other the new stuff we've been writing and play it over the summer so we can be ready to record sometime soon.

• EP Release Promo [+ Show ]
  

  “Equally conversant in American fiddling, classical music and jazz improvisation, the Orange Mighty ...“Equally conversant in American fiddling, classical music and jazz improvisation, the Orange Mighty Trio … [is an] adventurous cross-pollination.” Or, so goes the press release, anyway. I don’t know about the pollination part (ain’t that something bees do), but I can tell you this: these fellas play damn good music. And, yes, it’s delightfully adventurous--sometimes playful, sometimes dark, sometimes airy--always fascinating. That’s Zack Kline (violin), Mike Vasich (piano) and Nick Gaudette (bass). And, if you like bluegrass, classical or jazz--never mind whether you’ve a taste for all three--you probably want be at the release gig for their CD debut, Orange Mighty Trio.

• Snippet from The Onion's EP Review [+ Show ]
  

  “OMT meanders happily through jazz and chamber-music styles that would make the group equally at hom...“OMT meanders happily through jazz and chamber-music styles that would make the group equally at home playing the Dakota, guesting with the Minnesota Orchestra or playing at a county fair.”

• Snippet from The Star Tribune's EP Review [+ Show ]
  

  “Combines mountainy roots music with urban jazz and hints of classical, careening between beautiful,...“Combines mountainy roots music with urban jazz and hints of classical, careening between beautiful, bold and a bit of bombast.”
  

• Snippet from The CityPages' EP Review
  

  “Cobbles together jazz, classical, and American roots into a kind of maverick chamber music.”

• Snippet from Twin Cities Daily Planet
  

  “This is a highly spirited group of musicians on their way to a bright future.”

Setlist

A typical set is between 45 minutes and an hour. Usually we play one set, but sometimes two.

A recent set included:

Billy in the Lowground
The Long Zoom
Infrastructure
Waltz of the Traffic Patterns
Northbound
Driving With Your Eyes Open
Hurtling Toward the Groove
The Junction
Csardas

Cover tunes we have done recently include:

Billy in the Lowground (Traditional Fiddle Tune)
Csardas (Hungarian National Dance)
Lonesome Fiddle Blues (basis of Devil Went Down to Georgia)
Music for a Found Harmonium (Celtic)

Basic Requirements

Calendar