The Ouzo Project

Jeff and George became the Ouzo Project as a rythme section for the likes of Denver cover band "The Heat" and Denver singer/songwriter/guitar slinger Jeff Norman. They were billed as "Jeff Norman and The Ouzo Project". After several years of playing clubs, festivals and fairs throughout Colorado, cutting a very cool CD which drew airplay on 96.5 the Mountain (Hey we dug it!) and generally just loving to hang out, everyone decided to take a break and pursue other interests. (Yeah I know, same old song right?) So Fall of 2004 they called it quits.Anyway, Jeff and George were sitting around pontificating over a bottle of Ouzo one night and came up with the idea of exploring their love of the Blues. They spent the winter of 2005 producing a blues compilation, some covers and some originals. It was a fun winter of 2 guys just hanging out and making noise. There weren't many copies made, and distribution was limited to their mothers and close friends, but the reviews were, uh wild! They were considering using that work to create a worldwide blues counter culture but quickly learned that beat up old used patrol cars, dark sunglasses and pork pie hats weren't vogue any longer. (Man, what happened to the good ole days huh?)Jeff had a gig playing upright bass with Jim and Vickie Jones and Ernie (Anything Strings) Martinez in Denver based bluegrass/folk/americana and all things acoustic "Reckless Abandon" (www.recklessabandon1.com). They still perform regularly all over the area. You can see them just about every other Saturday at the White Fence Farm in Denver.Enter "The Ouzo Project" version 2.2.1. Not feeling like they were busy enough with all of their other groups Jeff, Ernie and George decided to get The Ouzo Project back together in 2007.In 2007 while working on another show, members of the band stumbled across the amazing Phil Brock. In the spring of 2008 they decided to invite Phil to sit in at a show. (For those of you who happened to be at The Celtic Crossing in April you can say "I was There!") Phil's been with the band ever since. Phil was classically trained on the piano at 7, self taught himself the organ and played with a variety of bands since age 20. He's also certified in music by the Archdiocese of Detroit and is even the official organist for the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Colorado. Phil rips up the keyboard and we are proud to have him as our newest member!The Ouzo Project plays a good mix of material that includes covers and some originals. Their style and sound is very familiar, yet they are forming versions of songs we all know but have never quite heard in the way they play them. All of these boys love the element of creation and approach music with a flare for doing in a tasty sort of edgey way. They aren't trying to be "all that", just having fun. After all isn't that the Blues?