Tales from the Blue Lounge by Richard Underhill

The compositions are a somewhat diverse collection of 10 tunes with nothing too outrageous or too mundane - just solid joyful tunes filled with rollicking solos and a delightful feel all around. Some parts are positively Demonesque while others harken back to a New Orleans style.

This is an lp to get lost in and be totally happy about it. Highly recommended! Echo Weekly - Kitchener. 

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... 'Thankfully, Toronto-based saxophonist Richard Underhill's solo project contains the same kind of impish humour and way with a hook he often displayed as co-founder of the bop-rap ensemble, Shuffle Demons. Together Underhill and fellow saxman Bob Brough swing and swagger through The Old Guys, get bluesy on Blues For Suze and lay down a deep groove on Chillin'  Strongly recommended. ' #### John Sharpe - SCENE - London.

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'..Underhill returns to his roots with great style and verve. He crafts 10 marvelous originals providing a striking framework for himself and saxophonist Bob Brough to blow on at will.' The Jazz Report, Winter 2003

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"Shuffle Demons fans take note, Richard Underhill, founder of the avant bop-pop group just won a Juno for this, his solo debut instrumental jazz album. Recorded like a '60s-era session, Tales From The Blue Lounge was recorded live off the floor onto two-inch tape with classic equipment - a fact that goes a long way to explaining its likeness to great jazz albums of days gone by. It's good to see that Underhill hasn't left all the quirkiness of his youth behind as he can still colour outside the lines on tracks like "Surfing" and "Pegasus." For the most part though, Tales From the Blue Lounge is a warm vintage-styled groove album - "Big" has the feel of Mingus Ah Um up until the Hammond organ comes in - with lots and lots of fabulous saxophone."  By Brent Hagerman - June 03, 2003

'tales from the blue lounge' features 10 original compositions that touch on important modern jazz elements and reference jazz greats from Monk to Mingus to Ornette Coleman to Mancini.

Varied in arrangement style and instrumentation, these memorable compositions are brought to life by some of Canada's top jazz musicians.

Musicians featured on the album:

Richard Underhill - alto & bari sax

Bob Brough - tenor sax

Dave Restivo - piano/organ

George Koller - bass

Ted Warren - drums

Also Featuring:

Jake Langley - guitar

Reg Schwager - guitar

Artie Roth - bass

Barry Elmes - drums

Chris Gale - bari sax

William Carn - trombone

Josh Brown - trombone

Alexis Baro - trumpet

William Sperandei - trumpet

Luis Orbegoso - percussion

Jose 'Papo' Gonzales - percussion

Richard's Quickie Bio:

Richard Underhill - alto sax, bari sax / composer/ arranger.

The founding member and leader of Toronto's Shuffle Demons, Richard's distinctive sax playing can be heard on the Demons underground hits Spadina Bus, Out of my House, Roach and Hockey Night in Canada. He took this ground breaking Bop Rap ensemble from the streets of Toronto across Canada and to Europe playing jazz and rock festivals from Halifax to Vancouver and from Italy to Estonia from 1986 - 1997.

From 1997 to present, he has performed and recorded with Toronto jazz stalwarts like Wayne Cass, Steve Coven, and Norman Marshall Villeneuve, and is currently the leader and arranger for Blue Rodeo's Bushwhack Horns. In demand as a session player and sideman, he has written horn and string arrangements for and performed with Hawksley Workman, Wide Mouth Mason, Dr. John, Taj Mahal, Maria Muldar, Molly Johnson, Amos Garrett, Bobby Wiseman, Lorraine Segato, Neil Sedaka, Julius Hemphil, Mike Murley and George Koller to name a few.

'tales from the blue lounge' is his first instrumental jazz album.

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