Iris Ornig Releases “No Restrictions”

by Corey Brown Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Bassist/composer Iris Ornig has followed up her 2009 debut with the release of her second album, No Restrictions. The album, performed by Ornig’s own quintet, features eight straight-ahead, contemporary jazz originals and two covers, exploring “Brazilian music mixed with the more straightforward American-European jazz traditions”.

Ornig is a veteran of the New York music scene now, having arrived there in 2003 from Germany, and performing with some of New York’s best jazz musicians, including Gretchen Parlato, Ambrose Akinmusire, Joel Frahm, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mike Rodriguez, Rebecca Martin, Allison Miller, Sachal Vasandani, Helen Sung, Marcus Gimore, Dan Tepfer and others.

Ornig is releasing No Restrictions on her own label, and said the recording of the album was something special.

“Once we were in the studio, the recording session for No Restrictions came together so quickly, it was almost like magic. I know a lot of artists say that, but now I understand why,” says Ornig. “It was all the love and all the preparation before hand that got us to this magical point. I can’t tell you for how long I’d been intensely focused on finding the sound of this record, searching for the inventive notes, the wistful melodies, the harmonic thinking that would bind the compositions into a unified whole. Yes, interested, very interested, in what is the most modern approach for jazz but also in service to our listeners, the people who know my music and the new people we hope get to know us now. Engaging their hearts, and their minds, inspired me when I was writing and, once we were in the studio, the music just flowed from our souls.”