Book Of Omens

The Seer gazed into the cosmic mirror of the sky, watching in awe as the sun, his heart, exploded with unimaginable force, a Supernova, expanding infinitely and consuming the universe in an inexorable wave of fire. Yet in the wake of this absolute destruction, stardust scattered throughout the heavens, and as ash and ember gathered together, a single rose sprang from a fragment of earth...

In the bursting of his heart, the explosion of his emotions, and the infinity of his love, the universe was reborn. - Epilogue: Rebirth, from Book of Omens. Featuring: Daniel Rosenboom - trumpet and flugelhorn Vinny Golia - tenor saxophone, alto flute, and contralto clarinet Jake Vossler - electric guitar Tim Lefebvre - electric bass and FX Matt Mayhall - drums Rosenboom...sets the controls even further out with the ambitious, genre-mashing Book of Omens...inspired by a myth about the end of time and rebirth of the universe, resulting in songs that range from ominously abstract to explorations of the scorched middle ground between free-blowing experimental jazz and dark metal...the work of a musician dedicated to exploration and expression, regardless of anyone's imagined boundaries. - Chris Barton, Los Angeles Times ABOUT BOOK OF OMENS Notes by Daniel Rosenboom and Gary Fukushima Book of Omens is, in essence, a concept album inspired by an original shamanic myth about the cleansing and reforming of a corrupted universe. The album presents a new sonic zodiac, with 12 distinct chords representing 12 different symbolic omens or zodiacal signs, each chord governing the harmonic astrology for an entire piece, resulting in a suite of 12 pieces, bookended by a prologue and epilogue that state all 12 chords in succession. As writer and pianist Gary Fukushima put it: The music is cataclysmic and chaotic, a terrifying sonic prophecy of universal destruction and rebirth. The aesthetics are undeniably metal, but Book of Omens is also expansive and deconstructive, an illustration of time and space falling into irreparable catastrophe, with moments of incandescent beauty amid violent bursts of raucous groove lashing out in their death throes. From an interview with Gary Fukushima: GF: How did you select the specific members of your band for this project? Can you say just a little bit about each player? DR: The players for Book of Omens were selected based on an intuition about how they would sound together as a band. In fact the entire project came about as a result of a desire to hear this specific combination of these five individual voices. Firstly, Vinny Golia and I have a long playing association. In fact, he's one of my greatest musical mentors. I started studying improvisation with him in 2004 and we've been playing consistently ever since in a variety of contexts, including his sextet and large ensemble, as well as my septet and in this project. But for me the choice to include him on this was more about hearing how he would sound with the other players in the group. Jake Vossler, is absolutely one of my favorite guitar players on the planet. We have also been playing together consistently since 2004, both in our hardcore-Balkan-jazz-rock PLOTZ!, and in a variety of other projects. Jake has one of the heaviest, gnarliest guitar sounds I've ever experienced, and is an incredibly sensitive musician. Coming out of a straight-up death metal background, he has seamlessly incorporated elements of Balkan music, Indian music, Blues, and avant-garde jazz and creative improvisation into a completely unique sound on the guitar. He's one of the most fluid improvisers I've ever played with, and studied a bit with Vinny as well. The two of them have a history of duo playing as well, so it was a natural choice for me. Tim Lefebvre has been one of my favorite bass players since I first heard him play in David Binney's band at the Blue Whale. I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him, so when we were introduced by Matt Mayhall, I asked him right away if he'd be into playing. He was totally open to the idea and seemed game for anything. The Bo