Listen
to or purchase the new TorCH album: Sounds
for Staying Home
Torch:
Seela (vocals), Jon Greene (drums) and Chris Vestre (guitar)
are the heart of TOrcH. All three were looking for an outlet
to play jazz. It started at the Elephant Room at the Monday
happy hours; a gig that never existed until Seela asked if her
new band could rehearse there...for tips...on the slowest night
of the week. The trio, surprisingly enough, can actually hold
it down and make those standards full and fluent. But with the
addition of Mike Porter on bass and Ephraim Owens on trumpet...well...you'd
think you just stepped into a time machine.
Influences:
Anita
O'Day, Carl Allen, Mary Margret O'Hara, Art Blakey, Jimmy Scott,
Mel Torme, Lee Morgan, Elias Haslanger, Oscar Peterson, D'Angelo...to
name a few that are floating about in our heads. Torch tends to
create a mood...a vibe, if you will that caters to the song, and
not wankability. Careful phrasing with spontaneous playing off
each other. All laced in smokey heart felt vocals.