Dick Oatts

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Dick Oatts, 2015

Richard Dennis "Dick" Oatts (born April 2, 1953 in Des Moines , Iowa) is an American jazz saxophonist (tenor, alto and soprano saxophone), as well as clarinetist, flutist, pianist and keyboardist.

Live and act

Dick Oatts grew up as the son of jazz saxophonist Jack Oatts in Iowa and studied at Drake University. He began his professional career in Minneapolis in 1972 ; In 1977 he moved to New York and became a member of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Big Band . In the 1970s and 1980s he also worked in the bands of Bob Brookmeyer (1981 to 1984), Al Porcino , Ray Mantilla (1982 to 1986), Bill Mays and Teo Macero as well as with Flim & the BB’s . He also played from 1986 with Garry Dial in one of the last Red Rodney bands before he died. With Dial he then formed a quartet that still exists today; in the 1990s it recorded a number of albums for the Steeplechase label.

Oatts can be heard as a sideman on records by Gary Smulyan in 1993, Ted Rosenthal , Paquito D'Rivera , Hendrik Meurkens and Vic Juris , and he has also worked on big band productions by Joe Lovano ( Rush Hour , 1994 and Celebrating Sinatra , 1996) and by Joe Henderson ( Shade of Jade , 1992/96) and in Europe (including UMO Band ). In 2012 he delivered the quintet album Lookin 'Up, followed two years later by Sweet Nowhere with pianist Harold Danko . In 2016 he played with Mats Holmquist for the Herbie Hancock -Hommage A Tribute to Herbie + 1 . A year later he recorded Use Your Imagination for SteepleChase with trumpeter Joe Magnarelli . Over the years, Oatts has also played and / or recorded with greats like Joe Lovano, Red Rodney , Fred Hersch , Jerry Bergonzi , Eddie Gomez , Jon Faddis and many more. He has played large ensembles with Tito Puente , Lester Bowie , Kenny Wheeler , the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the WDR Big Band, the Norrbotten Big Band and others. In the field of jazz, according to Tom Lord , he was involved in 213 recording sessions between 1975 and 2018.

Since 1989 Oatts was on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music . He is a professor at the since 2006 Temple University in Philadelphia , where he at Boyer College of Music and Dance , the Jazz Studies care. He was also artist in residence at the Amsterdam Conservatory.

Discographic notes

  • All Of Three (Steeplechase, 1997), with Dave Santoro , James Oblon
  • Standard Issue Vol. 1 (SC, 1998), with Dave Santoro, James Oblon, David Berkman
  • Simone's Dance (SC, 1999), with Bruce Barth , Dave Santoro, James Oblon
  • Standard Issue Vol. 2 (SC, 2000), with Harold Danko, Dave Santoro, James Oblon
  • South Paw (SC, 2001)
  • Bridging the Gap (2011), with Terell Stafford
  • Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, The Temple University Studio Orchestra: Luck Be a Lady (BCM + D Records, 2017)
  • Use Your Imagination (2017), with Joe Magnarelli , Anthony Wonsey , Ugonna Okegwo , Chris Smith

Web links

Lexical entry

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed November 23, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Oatts, Dick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oatts, Richard Dennis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (tenor saxophonist)
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Des Moines , Iowa