For immediate release                   12 December 2005

OmniTone CD honored in Large Ensemble Jazz category

John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble "A Blessing" Nominated for Grammy®

                      (December 12, 2005 — Brooklyn, New York) OmniTone, the #1 independent recording label for "adventurous and listenable jazz," is proud to announce that A Blessing by the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble has been nominated in the "Best Large Ensemble Jazz" category for the 48th Annual Grammy® Awards to be held on February 8, 2006, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

"I had a feeling about this one — that it might get nominated – because it really deserves it," bubbles Frank Tafuri, president and founder of OmniTone Inc.  "There's no way for people who consider themselves real listeners to hear this record and not realize it's fresh, new, and truly groundbreaking!" 

Since its release in June 2005, A Blessing has garnered praise from reviewers around the world.

P       4 1/2 stars in Down Beat which describes the CD as a "gorgeous collection" of "meaty, smart, thoroughly baked bread for the soul"

P       5-star review and recipient of the prestigious "Choc" award in France in Jazzman magazine

P       Named in "The Year's Best" for jazz by the Chicago Tribune that writes that the CD is "austerely beautiful" and proposes that "percussionist Hollenbeck may have opened a new chapter in the evolution of large-ensemble jazz"

P       4 stars in the Irish Times that says "it's all done with striking clarity, authority and originality"

P       "A masterpiece."  —AllAboutJazz.com

On A Blessing, drummer, composer, and arranger John Hollenbeck redefines improvised music for large ensemble by taking the big band sound, energy, and force, and using it in a way that doesn't sound dated or generic to create personal, non-genre specific music for his eighteen-piece ensemble. 

The Grammy® nomination of A Blessing is the third on OmniTone, previously honored with nominations for Group Therapy by the Jim McNeely Tentet (in the "Large Ensemble Jazz" category) and Beyond the Line by the David Liebman Big Band (for "Best Instrumental Arrangement").

More information on A Blessing and OmniTone is available at the www.OmniTone.com.

OmniTone Inc, founded in 1999, is dedicated to releasing new recordings of "adventurous and listenable jazz" from today's foremost creative improvising musicians.  Through the label and its on-line store, OmniTone offers "All the tones, all the shapes, all the time..."  OmniTone CDs are available internationally at fine retailers and on-line.

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