Coyote Poets of the Universe

Artist Information

Biography

Contact: CoyotePoets@gmail.com
Contact: 720-292-8046, Andy O'Leary

Downbeat, September 2011
Pandora's Box Review
***1/2 (Three and 1/2 stars)
'These nine musicians, offering all original tunes on their fifth album, might be graduates of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests of the mid-'60s who have been transported across time to the present.
Along the way, they picked up influences ranging from globalists Paul Horn and Oregon to adventurous rock bands It's A Beautiful Day and Joy of Cooking to Ken Nordine's word-jazz.
Keeping listeners off guard, the Denver-based Coyote Poets loosely fit the contemporary jam-band mold even as "Blood and Bones" and "Quittin' Time" rumble with a blues heft unattainable to many conventional blues bands.'

Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat, September 2011



Coyote Poets of the Universe
(aka Coyote Poets or CPU)

For over ten years the Coyote Poets have been creating an exciting and emotional art form and a unique concert experience featuring outstanding musicianship and award winning poets. The sound is fresh, not quite retro, somewhere between rap and rhapsody, beat and bebop, reminiscent of early Zappa in spirit, and has been popular with all types of audiences.

Instrumentation includes: electric and acoustic guitars, violins, four and five string banjo, saxophones, electric fretless bass, flutes, oboe, clarinet, English horn, keyboards, drums, congas and other percussion toys. Multiple male and female vocalists create a lush and diverse sound.

CPU has enjoyed sharing audiences with bands like Uncle Monk, Potcheen, Blue Turtle Seduction, Public Property, New Vintage, Prymal Rhythm, Gypsy Swing Revue, George W Nixon, Parkin Lot, Catfish Whiskey, Aenka, Forests of Azure, Doo Crowder, and Sons of the Addicted..

Their music has received worldwide airplay on hundreds of broadcast, Internet, Satellite/Cable, NewAge, NPR, Jazz and CMJ stations, and critical acclaim in publications as diverse as Downbeat, JazzTimes, The Denver Post, Cadence, Progression, and Tandem / Corriere Canadese as well as Muzikreviews.com, AllAboutJazz.com, O'S Place.com and other web sites, and enthusiastic comparisons to artists as diverse as Ken Nordine, Frank Zappa, Massive Attack, Rickie Lee Jones, Neko Case, It's A Beautiful Day, Joy of Cooking, and The National.

Instrumentation

Josie Quick - Violin
Shannon Spencer - Drums
Andy O'Leary - Bass
John Rasmussen - reeds
Gary Hoover - Guitars.
Melissa Ingalls - Vocals
Robert MacLean - keyboards
Patty Shaw - Saxophones

Discography

Coyote Poets of the Universe record on the Square Shaped Records label in Denver, CO.

Coyote Poets of the Universe
SSR-0101, 2004

Movin' to the Moment
SSR-0102, 2004

Unmistakable Evidence
SSR-0103, 2006
Unmistakable Evidence placed #65 on the 2007 ZoneMusicReporter.com top 100 airplay charts, spending a month at #8, and five months on the charts

Callin' You Home
SSR-0104, 2008
Callin' You Home placed #74 on the 2009
ZoneMusicReporter.com top 100 airplay charts, spending a month at #10, and five months on the charts

Pandora's Box
SSR-0105
OUR FIFTH CD - 'Pandora's Box' - was released world wide in May 2011. Singles from the CD are available on iTunes, and other outlets, and the CD is available at Amazon, CDBaby, and other web outlets as a CD or MP3.

You can hear CPU on Pandora Radio, Jango and other Internet outlets.

CDs and individual tracks are available at CDBaby, Amazon, ITunes and dozens of web sites for digital download/streaming, as well as Twist and Shout and other Denver outlets.

Links

• Facebook
• Last.fm
• MySpace
• Jazztales.com

Audio

• Blood and Bones
  Listen   Download
• Pandora's Box
  Listen   Download
• Rescue
  Listen   Download
• History of the World
  Listen   Download
• Quittin Time - AL
  Listen   Download
• Cuando El Ray Nimrod
  Listen   Download
• Raff Riff
  Listen   Download
• Spellbound - smaller
  Listen   Download

Lyrics

• Pandora's Box
• History of the World
• Blood and Bones
• Rescue
• Quittin' Time

Video

Tomorrow Never Knows

Photo Gallery

Press

• Pandora's Box Review [+ Show ]
  

  ***1/2 (Three and 1/2 stars) 'These nine musicians, offering all original tunes on their fifth a... ***1/2 (Three and 1/2 stars)
  'These nine musicians, offering all original tunes on their fifth
  album, might be graduates of Ken Kesey's Acid Tests of the mid-'60s
  who have been transported across time to the present. Along the
  way, they picked up influences ranging from globalists Paul Horn and
  Oregon to adventurous rock bands It's A Beautiful Day and Joy of
  Cooking to Ken Nordine's word-jazz. Keeping listeners off guard,
  the Denver-based Coyote Poets loosely fit the contemporary jam-band
  mold even as "Blood and Bones" and "Quittin' Time" rumble with a
  blues heft unattainable to many conventional blues bands.'
  
  Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat, September 2011

• Pandora's Box Review [+ Show ]
  

  Sound - **** Composition - **** Musicianship - **** Performance - **** A decade-plus collabora...Sound - ****
  Composition - ****
  Musicianship - ****
  Performance - ****
  
  A decade-plus collaboration among a dozen coyotes around Denver,
  Colorado, yields this fifth outing loaded with 11 tunes promising
  to build upon online/airplay/chart successes of the group's
  last two discs.
  Together, their trademark multi-voice harmonies and innovative
  acoustic appointments are effective and respectful of one
  another's space. Individually, each soloist's appearance is
  noteworthy, whether it's Mellisa Ingalls singing or anyone else
  playing. No mile-high Manhattan Transfer here, these folks can
  tastefully shred as well as sing. Instrumentals such as "Raff-
  Riff" with it's driving flute/violin/piano leads, the flamenco-
  flavored "Quando El Ray Nimrod" and the English horn-haunted
  "Vermilion Cliffs" contrast with intricate, inviting, poetry-driven
  songs that reveal a smirking swagger sharper than most kids
  half their age.
  "Pandora's Box" opens just like one, full of fun. So are the
  rest; and by "Quittin' Time" -- a rotgut closer sure to bring
  out the lighters -- a "mean ol' gambler" is slyly slandered,
  sounding like "brother trucker". The liner notes read "Note:
  Adult language on this track." Pay attention folks: these
  people didn't miss a single detail.
  
  Phil Todd
  

• Pandora's Box Review
  

  **** Dana Milbank, May 2011 It is, in turns beautiful, strange and compelling.

• Pandora's Box Review [+ Show ]
  

  **** Performance, *** Sound O's Notes: As the title suggests Pandora's Box is a collection of many ...**** Performance, *** Sound
  O's Notes: As the title suggests Pandora's Box is a collection of many different contemporary pop jazz tunes. They open with a Capella on the title track, add Spanish influence on "Cuando El Ray Nimrod", and marry vocal harmonies with a funky back beat on "History of the World" including prominent banjo and bass lines. We also enjoyed "Raff Riff", the hard blues of "Quittin' Time" and the cool breezes of "Vermilion Cliffs" especially the crickets! As always, the Coyote Poets deliver an eclectic package.

• Pandora's Box Review [+ Show ]
  

  "... the Coyote's take it up a notch making outsider music that falls somewhere between electric 70s..."... the Coyote's take it up a notch making outsider music that falls somewhere between electric 70s English folk, late 60s Zappa and anything else they feel like. Look, put this on and fire up a doob. What else is there to say? Everything will be just right in the end."
  

• Pandora's Box Review [+ Show ]
  

  "A wonderful new incarnation of the band's style of music set to poetry. Steeped in the flavor of th..."A wonderful new incarnation of the band's style of music set to poetry. Steeped in the flavor of the American West but spanning the universe with sounds from the world."
  Mark Johnson, May 2011

Setlist

Our current set list includes tunes from our fifth CD - 'Pandora's Box'

Pandora's Box - Oh, Oh, Spooky
Spellbound - Latin Jazz Love Song
Raff Riff - jazz flute in 5/4
History of the World - Mankind in 5 Minutes
Cuando el Ray Nimrod - yup, a 15th Century Sephardic Cover
Rescue - Life's Hard - But You're Not Alone, Keep Breathing
Blood and Bones - Old Fashioned Rock and Roll
Surrounded by Cobras - New Mexico Twilight Zone
Vermilion Cliffs - Instrumental Tribute to the Rock Formations
Solstice - Dedicated to the Winter Solstice
Quittin' Time - Hard Blues (Adult Language)

We also cover other artist's material, such as The Doors, The Beatles, and Miles Davis.

Basic Requirements

Calendar