The Oranj Symphonette is an experimental jazz-rock quintet from San Francisco, USA, formed from members of Tom Waits

Tom Waits

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

' band. They have released two albums.

The Oranj Symphonette

The Oranj Symphonette was formed by the members of Tom Waits 'band that used to jam in the middle of the recording sessions. They put two albums on the street, one of them cover versions of Henry Mancini

Henry Mancini

Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...

, in a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 version.

Led by cellist/bassist Matt Brubeck (son of Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck

David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...

), the group includes Joe Gore and manic multi-instrumentalist Ralph Carney

Ralph Carney

Ralph Carney is an American musician. While his primary instruments are various saxophones and clarinets, Carney collects and plays many instruments, often unusual or obscure ones....

. Individually these three have played with the likes of PJ Harvey

PJ Harvey

Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...

, the B-52's, Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot

Marc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...

 and more. Collectively, they met recording Tom Waits' score for the Jim Jarmusch

Jim Jarmusch

James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...

 film Night On Earth. They stayed in touch, and in 1993 began their reverent and loving deconstruction of Mancini's music. Joined by Scott Amendola

Scott Amendola

Scott Amendola is an American jazz drummer from the San Francisco Bay Area. His styles include jazz, blues, groove, rock and new music. He is considered central to the Bay Area music scene....

, they debuted at San Francisco's Radio Valencia in 1994. Things developed infrequently until 1996 when they recruited Hammond organ/accordion virtuoso Rob Burger and began honing their explosive live chops.

Debut Album

Their Gramavision/Rykodisc/hifi debut, Oranj Symphonette Plays Mancini, takes the work of Hollywood's most memorable composers and twists it in a way to make Henry proud. Cutting ties with the European symphonic tradition that previously dominated film scoring, Mancini made ingenious use of jazz and rock combos, swingin' pop idioms, ethnic instruments and oddball electronic devices.

The song "Charade" from the album "Oranj Symphonette plays Mancini" was used as the background song on the radio show of Pancho Muñoz ("el tumbadito") in the mid 90's on Radio Del Plata, Argentina.

The album blends weighty musicianship with swinging giddy fun, from the spy-punk rampage of "A Shot In The Dark" and the sleazy exotica of "Lujon" to the fearsome psychosonics of "Mr. Yunioshi" and the stunning beauty of Brubeck's cello on "Moon River." "Free Improvisation," notes Matt, "is a lot of fun for the musicians, but it has a tendency to leave the audience in the dust. However, when your original reference point is as well known as, say, 'The Pink Panther Theme', you don't lose people on the ride. There is a long jazz tradition of re-working popular songs into vehicles for improvisation. This band just gets its material from some unusual sources."