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Dick Oatts

Born and raised in the state of Iowa, Dick Oatts was brought up in a musical family. He was introduced to the saxophone by his father Jack Oatts, a respected jazz educator and saxophonist. After high school, Dick attended Drake University and in 1972 he began his professional career in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Oatts moved to NYC in 1977. Shortly there after, joined the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra. Since then, he has toured, recorded, and performed as a sideman in small groups with Bob Brookmeyer, Red Rodney, Eddie Gomez, Mel Lewis, Jerry Bergonzi, Joe Lovano, Dom Salvador, Vic Juris, Soren Moller, Terell Stafford, Ray Mantilla, Jon Faddis, David Berkman, Flim & the BBs, Ray Mantilla, Fred Hersch, Joe Morello, Lalo Schiffrin and several others.

His Big Band and large ensemble experience include Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orch,, The Mel Lewis Jazz Orch., Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Jon Faddis Jazz Band, Tito Puente, Lester Bowie, Sam Jones/Tom Harrell, Jim McNeely, Kenny Wheeler, Joe Lovano Paquito D'Rivera,and Gunther Schuller. Oatts has been a featured artist with the Metropole Orchestra, WDR Big Band, Stockholm Jazz Orchestra,Danish Radio Big Band, Millenium Jazz Orch., Norboten Radio big band, High Coast Jazz Orchestra, RIAS Radio big band, Concerto BouOrchestra, Mats Holmquist/Dick Oatts Orchestra, Rome Radio, UMO big band, Winnipeg Jazz Band, and the Wellington Jazz Orch. Oatts has accompanied such vocalists as Joe Williams, Sara Vaughn. Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Neena Freelon, and Milton Nascimento. He has recorded solos for R&B artist, Luther Vandross and Everything but the Girl.

As a Steeplechase recording artist, Oatts has recorded 10 solo CDs and 5 co-led CDs. He has recorded 3 CDs on the DMP label with co-leader and pianist, Garry Dial and another on the Temple Univ. record label entitled "That Music Always Round Me". Oatts and Terell Stafford are co-leaders on "Bridging the Gap" on Planet Arts. Dave Santoro and Oatts are co-leaders on "Meru" on Red Records.

For the past 35 years, Oatts has appeared at College Jazz Festivals as a soloist and clinician throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Mid-East, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and Taiwan. Oatts is a professor at the Boyer School of Music and Dance at Temple University and has been an "Artist in Residence" at the Amsterdam Conservatory since 1998.


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Live Review

Swing & Strings feat. Dick Oatts at Artimino

Read "Swing & Strings feat. Dick Oatts at Artimino" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Swing & Strings feat. Dick Oatts Ognissanti Suona Il Jazz Villa La Ferdinanda Artimino 27.11.2022 Per la quinta edizione della rassegna Ognissanti Suona Il Jazz, la splendida Villa Medicea la Ferdinanda di Artimino ha ospitato un nuovo progetto dell'arrangiatore e direttore d'orchestra Duccio Bertini, stavolta impegnato a fondere un quartetto di jazzisti con un ensemble d'archi. Operazione non facile, come sa chi abbia qualche conoscenza di questa prassi più volte tentata, ma che solo ...

34
Album Review

Mike Holober & Balancing Act: Don't Let Go

Read "Don't Let Go" reviewed by Jack Bowers


With Don't Let Go, pianist Mike Holober and the octet Balancing Act seemed to have found an ideal way to cross-breed classical motifs and contemporary jazz to produce a pleasurable listening experience. Then he added lyrics. Granted, not all lyrics are superfluous—even those that are either nebulous or indecipherable, as is too often the case here. It's simply that some listeners may be more receptive to an alternative in the form of, say, Marvin Stamm's trumpet, Dick Oatts' or Jason ...

5
Album Review

Dick Oatts: Use Your Imagination

Read "Use Your Imagination" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


At two adjacent points in this admirable recording, alto saxophonist Dick Oatts makes riveting, emotionally resonant sounds that transcend matters of style, execution and technique. These memorable moments stand apart from the customary pleasures and somewhat cerebral considerations of lending an ear to a jazz record. In both instances, Oatts' isn't intentionally tugging at heartstrings or trying to manipulate the listener's emotions. During the last forty-five seconds of the solemn “Lossofyou," Oatts vividly evokes the fragility of human existence by ...

Album Review

Mike Holober: Balancing Act

Read "Balancing Act" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Non è facile coniugare raffinatezza formale e tensione emotiva, meticolose orchestrazioni e libertà individuale, sottigliezze cameristiche e momenti jazzisticamente impetuosi. A capo del suo ottetto, Mike Holober offre un appassionante esempio di tutto ciò, realizzando il suo lavoro più maturo e ricercato, a distanza di sei anni dal precedente con la Gotham Jazz Orchestra (Quake, Sunnyside 2009). Pianista, compositore e insegnante al City College e alla Manhattan School of Music di New York, Holober s'è ...

12
Album Review

Mike Holober: Balancing Act

Read "Balancing Act" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Pianist/composer Mike Holober has had an active career with big bands (including HR Big Band Frankfurt, WDR Big Band Cologne, Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, and the Westchester Jazz Orchestra in the U.S.). So he brings a refined approach to the composing and arranging on this octet recording. He set himself an ambitious goal: to feature a vocalist, but as another frontline instrument rather than the primary focus. “I wanted to use a singer and lyrics in extended form compositions--not wrapped up ...

6
Album Review

Mike Holober: Balancing Act

Read "Balancing Act" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Conceptualizing and creating music is a delicate balancing act, leaving composers to strive for symmetry between head and heart, reasoning and intuition, and structure and freedom. Who better to understand that than Mike Holober? Whether penning a piece or playing piano, Holober has always shown himself to be mindful of the need to find harmony between those and other opposing principles. It's his ability to do so that, in large part, has made him such a hot commodity in the ...

Album Review

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer

Read "OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Questo disco ci è giunto con un po' di ritardo ma va assolutamente segnalato. È infatti uno dei migliori dischi dell'anno nonchè un omaggio al genio orchestrale di Bob Brookmeyer. Forse non tutti sanno che lo storico trombonista, partner negli anni cinquanta di Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan e Jimmy Giuffre, è stato uno di massimi orchestratori moderni: nel 1966 partecipò alla fondazione della Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, scrivendo decine di partiture, e nel 1990 ne divenne il direttore, quando la ...

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Recording

CD: Harold Danko, Dick Oatts, Rich Perry

CD: Harold Danko, Dick Oatts, Rich Perry

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey

Harold Danko, Oatts & Perry II (SteepleChase). Pianist Danko was a colleague of alto saxophonist Dick Oatts and tenor saxophonist Rich Perry in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis band and never got over them—with good reason. This successor album to Oats & Perry (2006) again teams the three with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Jeff Hirshfield. It reemphasizes the reasons that Oatts and Perry are admired among musicians and serious listeners for their inventiveness, passion and tonal qualities. In addition, it ...

180

Education

Saxquest to Present Free Master Classes with Eric Mandat, Dick Oatts, Jeff Coffin and Victor Goines

Saxquest to Present Free Master Classes with Eric Mandat, Dick Oatts, Jeff Coffin and Victor Goines

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

The St. Louis woodwind sales and repair shop Saxquest will host a free recital and master class featuring clarinetist Eric Mandat at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, October 2. Mandat (pictured) will perform solo works with piano for about an hour, then give a master class for an hour. Consider a leading composer and performer of contemporary clarinet music, Mandat is known for his use of extended techniques, such as multiphonics and microtones. His composing is focused on solo and chamber works ...

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Recording

Dick Oatts - Two Hearts (Steeplechase)

Dick Oatts - Two Hearts (Steeplechase)

Source: Master of a Small House

Ballad projects can be dangerous prospects for the sentiment-sensitive saxophonist. Dip too deep into the romance bag and the results run a strong risk of coming across as treacly or trite. Constrict the emotive spigot and the outcome can be construable as bland or aloof. Midwestern mainstay Dick Oatts is well-acquainted with negotiating such obstacles of temperament over a professional career that spans nearly four decades. Counting sideman and jam session appearances this is his nineteenth title for Steeplechase though ...

Patrick Cornelius
saxophone, alto
Reto Anneler
saxophone
Benjamin Deschamps
saxophone, alto
Orlando Madrid
saxophone, alto

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Fly With the Wind

BCM&D Records
2023

buy

Don't Let Go

Sunnyside Records
2022

buy

Constant Renaissance

BCM&D Records
2019

buy

Use Your Imagination

Steeplechase Productions
2017

buy

Balancing Act

Palmetto Records
2015

buy

All Members

From: Fly With the Wind
By Dick Oatts

When There Were Trains

From: Balancing Act
By Dick Oatts

Tuesday Overture

From: At This Time
By Dick Oatts

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