This Davis-based cutting-edge septet was initiated in '91 after John Tchicai moved to Davis, California and placed an ad in the local music store about a rehearsal band he wanted to start.

It has consisted of the same musicians since '92, who are Mark Oi and Michael Grandi, el. guitars; Margriet Naber-Tchicai, keyboards; Jeff Simons, el. bass; Andrew Enberg, drums; Basho Fujimoto, conga's; John Tchicai, saxes, bass clarinet and flute. All perform vocally as well. Their current repertoire includes over 40 titles, most of which are original compositions contributed by (almost) all band members, but they also perform classics by Monk, Sun Ra, Parker, Fela Kuti and Dyani. The British B&W/X-talk label released the group's first CD, called "Love is touching" (no. BW055).

In '95, the group performed at the Knitting Factory in NYC, the San Francisco Jazz Festival and in various cities in Germany and Switzerland during a successful tour.

"You can learn about freedom through us, but you have to feel it to understand" - John Tchicai & the Archetypes

"... cool-burn modernism" - Fred Bouchard, Down Beat

"...the band applies intriguing spacious textures, bleeding colors and angular rhythms to Tchicai's poetic musical vision..." - Derk Richardson, SF Bay Guardian

"falls sich diese Musik berhaupt beschreiben lsst, dann mit jenem Begriff, der ab und an im amerikanische Jazz auftaucht: Cookin'" - Bert Noglik

In this lifetime, Michael Grandi, born in the desert and raised in the lion's den, chooses strings as the medium for communicating the music that he can't remember not having had in his head. He likes to have a nice balance between peace and turmoil, and this he finds in the Great City by the Bay, where he lives and from where he takes long relaxing walks on the beach with Kolene, his dog. He gains inspiration from music/work/love and life and he studied photography. Michael now plays with different people throughout the Bay Area and is starting a trio for his own music with drummer John Smeenk. He believes success is doing what you love and love what you do, and is itching to take off on inter-stellar travel.
Jeff Simons, who started out playing bluegrass-songs on the violin with his dad, stepped onto the road toward the great bass god when he was 12. Now, having a B.A. in English with a teaching emphasis, he performs in !Akimbo, a world/dance-band, and with Linda Book, a songwriter who writes songs for kids, and he also composes and records music for theater and modern dance. He is a strong admirer of the music of South Africa, especially of the bassists Baghithi Khumalo and Johnny Dyani. He loves the way their music exudes joy, and his Olga Nicolaevna too; both help him on his "Quest for Tone:
the quest for tone will prob'ly never end
the sound I hear is not what I intend
my amp is not the problem, nor my strings
it's all about the other, subtle things
it's true, I think, that fingers mold the tone
I'll play and wear through callouses and bone,
and someday if my aim is true and clear
I'll have the tone that's what I want to hear".
Mark Oi, who was a Michael Jackson-impersonator at a young age, learned music from a guy who played real good. He asked him "how do you do that?" and the guy said "like this". "Like this?""Yeah, like that". "Oh, I see". Mark holds a B.A. in Art Studio; he relaxes by listening to nice music and is passionate about art and philosophies. He checks out National Geographics, hoping to find a great place to live out his dying days, and he feels good by playing music and by being with friends. He plays in the "Free Association" and searches a A/H/B/W/MF (L/A L/D is okay) for ltr possible marriage. For now, Mark gains strength from a source: "wind blows
tearing up tones
marble my mind
with brass veined rhythms
looking for the big orgasm
machines and trains, sho's, associations, and Danishes
helping me find direction
not just a temporary erection"
Basho Fujimoto, inspired by the people in his life who taught him about love, began to play music once he discovered there were no rules. All at special moments in life, he picked up violin, drums, conga's, bongo's, percussion toys and harp, and he used to be singer in international-dance band "The Davis Heat" until realizing he had to get back to basics, returning to drums. His major interests are music, friends and art, and he plays with Mark in the "Free Association" (an experimental soul group in Davis, CA). Basho is a Jedi-Fitty-Puma Hawk, a proud third generation Hapa-Sansei, striving to become a Jedi-Knight. Therefore he will interrupt his training at the Tchicai School of Discipline, and live and work with Kodo, the Taiko Drummers of Japan.
Andrew Enberg feels good and successful, having control over his own destiny and spending time with Gina, his wife and major passion outside music. Plane rides, summer vacations in Michigan, award winning stints in jazz combo's as well as friends in the great and cloudy Northwest made him the drumming sports-lover that he is today. He has a M.S.degree in Plant Biology and played everything from cocktail jazz to heavy metal and everything in between. He even played in the backup band for a male stripper, where he had a dollar stuffed in his shirt by rabid pack of lonely house wives, but has never played anything more inspiring, challenging, exciting, and demented as what he now plays with Herr Tchicai and his fellow bandmates. He teaches himself to play the saxophone.
Margriet Naber likes to live in a place near streaming water. Born East of the North Sea, she feels well-placed in Northern California, and finds great inspiration in the music of Bela Bartok, in love and the great cosmos in- and outside herself. She finally began to play music when old enough to attend elementary school and recorder lessons, to be followed by piano- and saxophone lessons that all culminated in her B.A. in "Music and Movement/Eurythmics". At the Kunsthojskolen in Holbaek, Denmark, she earned a certificate in "New Music & Improvisation" and this course was taught by her current husband. Astrology is a major passion for her and Margriet hopes that someday the planets will stand favorable enough to create a music & dance-project, containing rhythmical improvisation in both art forms.
back to CD Love is Touching