In the early 90's, a waiter at Canter's Deli on Fairfax in Los Angeles by the name of Eric Gold spotted Lou Castro playing bass with English singer-songwriter, Paul Korda, in the infamous Kibbitz Room.
Mr. Gold, an accomplished musician(tenor sax) in his own right, was doing Monday nights there with his own jazz trio. He invited Lou to come play with him and his band which included a pianist(who shall remain nameless) and the drummer, Phil Smith.
Before long the pianist bailed and Mr. Smith suggested his friend, Bill Wiseman. Wiseman was from Akron, Ohio and had taught Jazz Guitar at the University of Las Vegas. He came on board and the musical sparks started flying between him and Lou.
In the meantime, Phil Smith left the band due to health issues and was replaced by Rick Parnell. Parnell was a well-respected rock drummer who had played with Atomic Rooster and Toni Basil, as well as portraying Mick Shrimpton in the movie, "Spinal Tap".
For the next two years this trio played every Monday night until Mr. Gold's untimely death due to pancreatic cancer. Then Mr. Castro left due to his own personal problems stemming from a diviorce. Wiseman carried on the Monday nights for another couple of years until he got an offer to tour with the swing act, Kid-N-Nic. It was here that he met drummer, Jim Xavier, a native of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Jim had studied with Thom Hannum and Jackie Santos, two well-respected teachers that were associated with UMASS at Amherst and Berklee School Of Music in Boston.
He and Wiseman later parted from Kid-N-Nic separately but soon began playing together once back in LA. Wiseman mentioned Lou to Jim and impromptu rehearsals were set up. The three journeymen with three distinctly different perspectives found that they had much in common. An idea had come to fruition, Oui' 3 was born!
In the short time that they've been together as a band, Oui' 3 has dedicated themselves to breathing new life into the classics, playing your "not so standard" standards, challenging each other to be better musical artists, and to seek new roads into the future of jazz as well as music in general.
http://www.myspace.com/oui3jazz