Norman’s Harumph traveled a twisty path to jazzy debut LP ‘Threes’

avid Leach had a horrible first day at work. The upright bassist arrived ataNashville barhalf an hour early and still lost money on the gig.

“I didn’t know what I was doing. I paid for parking, and it cost me $15 because the NAMM trade showwas going on at the same time,” Leach told

“I think we made $10 that day, so I was in the hole $5. That sums up my Nashville experience.”

Hehad relocated from Norman to Music City, U.S.A., alongside fellow Oklahoma musician Kate Dinsmore. The duo were in a new relationship in an unfamiliar place. “What could go wrong?” Leach joked. The couplerarelysaw each other between working day jobs, and Leach was hitting the road as a sideman for John Fullbright. Luckily, the bassistwas finding bettergigs opening for Shovels & Rope, but the Okies still had a desireto return home.

“We knew that if we came back to Norman, we would have the right people to start the record we wanted,” Dinsmore said. “We weren’t even a band. He and I weren’t even a duo yet. We were just hanging out. When we came back, Dave knew exactly who he wanted, and I think it was just the right move.”

The duo sat across from me at Power House Bar in January, focused on Friday’s release of “Threes” and talked about their four-month trail run in Nashville like a distant memory. As bumpy as it was, the trial and error shaped the band. From countless shows in the metro area to repeatedly scrapping album art to find a fitting cover, Harumph hasn’t shied away from a challenge.

On the record

Leach and Dinsmore wasted zero timestarting a music project after returning from Tennessee. In early 2015, they ropedtogether a backing band and enlisted Travis Linville to record an EP. “Harumph” was bornshortly after, with assistancefromMarcus Spitz on trumpet and Kiel Dehnert on drums.

The home-recorded EP revealed the band’s jazz influences, which grew from when Leach and Dinsmore first met in the University of Oklahoma Jazz Band. The EPalso captured Dinsmore’s powerhouse vocals. Fun fact: You won’t find a more fierce voice in Oklahoma. Dinsmore’smom was a music director and dragged her to community choir practices at age 4. The musical theater bug bit her shortly after and she’s been singing since.

Harumph grew tofeatureAaron Daniels on bass and received help fromAlan Orebaugh, Fullbright and recording engineer Wes Sharon. In March 2016, Harumph and Co. packed into Norman’s 115 Recording studioand started tearing apart songs.

WhenHarumph walked into the studio, the band was a well-rehearsed live act and had a decent idea of how they wanted an album to sound. After all, they’d been cutting their teeth for months at The Deli. Every Wednesday, Harumph tackled their weekly residency set and bonded over “Red Cup” drink specials and a dice game that shares a name with the band’s new record. The rules for Threes are printed inside the album, if you’re curious.

“It’s a good game to play with friends while you’re drinking because you don’t have to remember much,” Leach noted.

“You only have to gamble with quarters, so it’s our style,” Dinsmore added.

Fullbright taught them the game and was also instrumental in the “Threes” recording process. The Bearden native and Grammy-nominated songwriter coproduced the record with115 Recording owner Sharon.

“Man, the two of them, they just know so much music,” Leach said. “I was sweating bullets the first day in the studio because after every song we’d talk about music history for about three hours. I’m like, ‘Oh no, we’re never going to make it.’ “

Better together

Fullbright and Sharon had good reason for the lengthy breaks. It gave everyone’s ears a restfrom analyzing songs. The downtime also gave the collection of friends and bandmates some time to relax together.

The record’s co-producers are no strangers to working with Harumph. Fullbright regularly invites Leach and Dinsmore onstage at his shows. Also, Sharon has hired Harumph to perform on other records. He called Dinsmore one of the best singers he’s ever worked with.

“I think the record changed a lot as we were making it,” Sharon told “I think they were a different band when they were done recording . ... It’s one of my favorite things that I’ve done. I’m really proud of it. It took a lot of courage for them to roll with it like they did.”

That confidence and openness to change ismost obvious on a song like “Move,” which sounds dramatically different on “Threes” than it did on Harumph’s debut EP. The relaxed number got sped up and transformed intoa peppy, almost surfy number.

Leach actually wrote “Move” on piano and it sounded similar to how it appears on the LP. Fullbright urged the band to return to the song’s early inspiration.

“That was the ice breaker moment in the studio, too,” Dinsmore said. “It was our first time as a band in a legitimate studio. We were all just so nervous and once that groove kicked in, it was like ‘Oh, it’s gonna be OK.’ ... They were willing to help us push the envelope more than we thought we could.”

The duo admitted it was ambitious to capture 11 songs with stellar production value in five days.

“We finished at 2 a.m., with our trumpet player falling asleep in his horn,” Dinsmore said. “But

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