Franc O'Shea

'Diverse, dynamic and rich. These are only a few of the descriptive words that come to mind after just one listen to Esprit. Esprit, the debut solo recording from UK-based bassist/composer/producer Franc O'Shea is a collection of nine originally composed pieces which fuse the sounds of contemporary jazz, bebop, funk, Latin and African influences. With the assistance of many of the UK's top jazz artists, O'Shea demonstrates that not only does he possess a real talent as a frontman, but also that his skills as a composer are second to none. O'Shea's bass work appears in a variety of formats from solo to full ensemble with string arrangement. With fretted and fretless basses O'Shea displays complete artistic control of his tools both with a commanding sense of superb tone and technical facility. O'Shea's proficiency as a bassist deftly moulds this journey into an impressive, first-rate recording. With this just his first outing, O'Shea has already established himself as a major player and an accomplished musician with a real vision for his music. I'm certain that we'll be hearing much more from Franc O'Shea in the future' - Cliff Engel, BASSically.net, USA

'With his 1999 debut album 'Esprit', the bass guitarist and composer Franc O'Shea proved that he could not only explore crossover territory without losing his jazz feel, and play the electric instrument with lightness and swing, but also keep company with some of the sharpest jazz talents in the land. Esprit features young horn masters Nigel Hitchcock, Gerard Presencer and Byron Wallen, with that formidable singer and pianist Liane Carroll also on hand. O'Shea is undoubtedly the kind of broadly skilled contemporary musician who doesn't neatly package his interests into convenient idiomatic bags. His compositions are mellow, melodic and reflect the best sides of jazz fusion' - John Fordham, Jazz UK magazine

'Generally regarded as one of the most talented bass guitarists of his generation. An experienced musician he has worked with a host of different artists including Steve Howe (Yes) and soulster Lisa Moorish, but his first love is undoubtedly Jazz. An impressive performer with a fluid and highly inventive style, his playing, along with his incisive compositions, puts him at the forefront of the British modern Jazz scene' - Paul Carmichael, 606 Jazz Club, London, UK

'If you happen to be a bass guitarist, you might be tempted to think that there's something magical about the way Franc O'Shea handles the instrument- in fact anyone listening to his new CD 'Esprit' would be likely to come to the same conclusion. This is very much a showcase for the many facets of Franc O'Shea's superb playing, from the insistence dance rhythms of 'Dance Architecture' or the blistering bebop of 'Bubbaloo' to the gentle peace of the unaccompanied 'Pearl (for Maria)'. A virtuoso performance indeed, with more than a little help from a galaxy of fine players, including at various points Gerard Presencer and Byron Wallen on trumpet; Nigel Hitchcock, Kevin Alexander and Julian Nicholas on saxes; pianists Mark Edwards, Liane Carroll and David Beebee; Robin Jones on guitar; and percussionist Tristan Banks (among others)' - Pete Martin, Jazz UK Magazine

'Franc O'Shea introduces a genuine rarity - a British electric jazz bass player who is not only brilliant, but leading his own band: I think it's fair to say that the Americans have got a bit of a head start on us Brits in terms of taking bass seriously when fronting a band. Thank God for players like Franc O'Shea. His debut album, Esprit is a vibrant slice of fusion - not crap 70s Moog noodling nonsense, but 90s electric jazz blending styles and influences from all over the globe, where - despite his considerable technical abilities- the compositions take precedence over bass pyrotechnics. The future is bright for Franc - watch out for him and when everyone else realises how good he is, remember where you heard it first' - Steve Lawson, Bassist Magazine, UK

'I really love this album. This is modern contemporary jazz at its very, very best. Franc O'Shea's brilliant vibrant bass playing guides some of this country's finest musicians to great heights on this excellent debut release…more please!' - Sarah Ward, Radio presenter, Jazz FM, UK

'Franc O'Shea is an accomplished, Brighton-based electric bassist whose music features a variety of attractive, often sinuous melody and a strong rhythmic underpinning (often funky but also pleasingly sensitive to both more abstract and straight-ahead swinging qualities). Here, he has drawn upon a fine range of musicians, some of whom will be well known to a wide audience. The album is nicely diversified, with the solo Pearl and pedal point, percussion-cushioned meditations of Bé for Baka equally engaging introductions to the fluency of the leader's post-Pastorious story-telling conception and sound. If the up-tempo, scat-fired Bubbaloo, with its cascading sax and trumpet figures, testifies to O'Shea's awareness of the modern main-stream, the legato string figures of the opening, dynamically rich and aptly named Esprit indicate his determination to offer music of many colours. There is plenty here to stimulate both body and soul' - Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal International, UK & Canada

'O'Shea is a muscular, technically adept player on electric basses, both standard and fretless. This release is a showcase for the diversity of his writing and playing, placing him in a variety of contexts in which, with the exception of a piece for solo bass, drummer Tristan Banks is the only other constant. The leader's technique and resourcefulness impress throughout, in pieces of bass driven funk featuring Nigel Hitchcock and Gerard Presencer to a swinging up tempo piece with trumpet Byron Wallen and the scatting Liane Carroll, and from hypnotic, world music-influenced minimalism to the jaunty Latin-tinged lyricism of the closing number' - Michael Kelly, Jazzwise Magazine, UK

'Big names in contemporary jazz - Gerard Presencer, Nigel Hitchcock, Byron Wallen - pass through O'Shea's debut album in bewildering profusion. His own bass playing and compositions are very impressive covering a remarkable range of styles' -Dave Gelly, The Observer Newspaper, UK

'Franc O'Shea is a Brighton-based electric bass player who has clearly invested an enormous amount of creativity and time in this eight-track blistering CD which features a wide range of players in various combinations, from London heavy-weights like Nigel Hitchcock and Byron Wallen to less established ones like altoist, Kevin Alexander, who plays superbly in both bebop and funk areas, and soprano player Julian Nicholas who delivers beautifully on the title track. There is a wide range of styles from an African feel in six on Bé for Baka to the infectious vocal unisons, from pianist/vocalist Liane Carroll on Bubbaloo. So much to enjoy, not least the return of those classic Fender sounds and a fine rhythm section, with drummer Tristan Banks, which grooves like mad' - Brian Blain, Musician Magazine, UK

'The musical artistry of bassist Franc O'Shea is DIVINE on his new album Esprit. Franc has appeared and recorded with band members of the "Who's Who?" of today's popular music' - Ron Garant, Bassics Magazine, USA

'This album is a cracker. Franc, Brighton-based bass player extraordinaire, has teamed up with eighteen or so musos and produced his first solo album. It’s world-class jazz and jazz-funk. There are hints of Weather Report and Geoff Lorber, a Latin track, a solo-bass composition, a bass and flute tune, and a very interesting and exotic bass and percussion track. The songs were all composed and produced by Franc, whose rippling bass weaves around some great solos. The drumming, by Tristan Banks throughout, is highly versatile and superbly funky, backing Franc's very melodic and sophisticated compositions (sometimes stunning). For jazz/jazz-funk aficionados this is a five-star wala, highly recommended and one of the most interesting albums of the year' - Matthew Clark, New Insight Magazine, UK

'Fans of Brand X and Jaco Pastorius's WORD OF MOUTH recording may well go for this in a big way. Although this is O'Shea's gig his electric bass is not up front 24/7, this is an actual band-- and the melodies turn corners you don't expect until afterwards. Orchestras pop up out of nowhere to humorous effect, sawing away at an odd but complementary angle in the opening "Dance Architecture"; there is definitely some scoring muscle going on here. I'm assuming O'Shea is responsible for that as well, because his bass does have all the freedom to wander where it wishes. In fact, if the rubato to "Pearl for Maria" (hope I used the right term there; it sounds like a rubato) is any indication, that's probably a six-string he's playing. Folks who recall Jeff Berlin, occupier of the bass chair for several Bill Bruford LPs in the late 1970s and early 1980s, will also rejoice, as O'Shea does not work out the more rubber-band tendencies of the modern approach (think Stanley Clarke, for example). Time also to give props to the other players, all of whom earn their corn chips: Tristan Banks is a whiz on the cymbals, adding a to-the-point and funky drum break to "Bubbaloo," and another standout on that one is pianist Liane Carroll, whose throaty vocal scatting recalls Cassandra Wilson. Satin Singh appends native percussion (Afro/Caribbean, sounds like) to "Be for Baka," giving it an inexorable, infectious sense of neutral drive: there is also a fine long meditation on the conga that recalls early, more raw Santana (you know, before Carlos started hiring vocalists, in fact before some of them were even born). At one point O"Shea floats tones across the percussion carpet and takes it out to the fade by adding on another repeating structure. Not everything is so high-suspension taut: "Lollapalooza" is very typical of the sort of thing one would hear on smooth-jazz stations, competent and funky but not too memorable, but then comes the jouncing "Abacus," which wouldn’t be out of place on one of those good middle-period Weather Report records like NIGHT PASSAGE or PROCESSION. Equal respect must be given to trumpet players Gerard Presencer and Byron Wallen, as well as Nigel Hitchcock's alto sax, navigating some heady arrangements with solid flair. I notice this CD gets a little more conservative as it goes along (the closer, "Espana y Cariba," has a similar if less contemplative air to Miles Davis' 1974 composition "Maiysha") but the good vibes remain, and O'Shea just keeps one's eyes and ears popping. Try this' - Ken Egbert, Jazz Now, USA

'Everything in his way of playing, composing and arranging of this young British player reminds us of Jaco Pastorius: he does everything he wants, and more, with his played in fretless bass, audacious virtuosity, that sometimes seems to challenge the maestro Marcus Miller (of course that the latter also plays other instruments, because he couldn't learn anything else from the bass). This album, in which excellent colleagues participate (good solos from Gerard Presencer, trumpet, Julian Nicholas, Nigel Hitchcock, saxes, or Mark Edwards, keyboards, among others), takes us in a journey through all the variants of jazz-fusion, from the funk tracks (Abacus y Lollapalooza) to others with a more flamenco sound (España y Cariba), flirting with African music (Bé for Baka) and a very appealing ballad (Pearl for Maria), which the bass dares to play without any accompaniment, proving that virtuosity is not necessarily opposed to good taste and sensitivity. Very ingenious in his compositions and with boundless swing in his playing, he likes sophisticated arrangements with very interesting lines, and he still can give us more when he goes beyond the tribute to the sound of his maestros' - Antonio Pamies, El Fingidor magazine, Spain