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Jazz Articles about Chris Oatts
Dial and DeRosa: Keep Swingin'
by Jack Bowers
Keep Swingin', a splendid new album from pianist Garry Dial and drummer Rich DeRosa, features “the music of Charlie Banacos." Charlie who? you may ask. And the answer is, there are jazz educators, and then there was Charlie Banacos, whose talent and ingenuity in the classroom influenced and inspired countless jazz musicians for more than fifty years. During that time, he designed more than a hundred courses of study and wrote half a dozen books on composition and improvisation.
read moreChris Oatts: Personalities
by Victor L. Schermer
Saxophonist Chris Oatts is a graduate of the jazz program at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance and the nephew of revered saxophonist—and faculty member of Temple University—Dick Oatts. This reviewer heard Chris Oatts at Chris' Jazz Café (similarity in the names purely coincidental) in September, 2021, with his quintet featuring one of his teachers and mentors, Terell Stafford, on trumpet. In that set, Oatts stayed within the bebop/hard bop traditions and showed exceptional sophistication, inventiveness, and resilience ...
read moreChris Oatts Quintet featuring Terell Stafford at Chris’ Jazz Café
by Victor L. Schermer
Chris Oatts Quintet featuring Terell Stafford Chris' Jazz Café Live and Streaming Philadelphia, PA September 10, 2021 This was the reviewer's first time at a live performance in a jazz club since the start of the corona virus pandemic a year and a half ago. A few weeks before, Chris' Jazz Café, the iconic downtown Philadelphia jazz club, re-opened to live performances. The pandemic is still evidenced by masks being ...
read moreNick Lombardelli: Secret Suite
by David A. Orthmann
Nick Lombardelli's debut recording as a leader heralds the arrival of a prodigious composer, arranger and instrumentalist. Secret Suite is a five-part work that deftly fuses composed material and the improvisations of nearly everyone in an eight-piece band, including drummer Matt Scarano who initiates “Solid Ground" and caps off “A New View," the suite's final movement. Utilizing jazz and classical techniques, Lombardelli writes vivid melodies that evoke a variety of moods, often stretches his compositions beyond easily ...
read moreNick Lombardelli: Secret Suite
by Kyle Simpler
It's easy to see the influence of blues and popular music in jazz. After all, many jazz standards were originally popular songs, and blues is where jazz music originated. Classical music, though, has also featured prominently in jazz, but it doesn't always get the same level of recognition. However, some of the greatest jazz musicians and composers, such as Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, and Dave Brubeck have all been influenced by classical music. In keeping with this tradition, Nick Lombardelli's ...
read moreChris Oatts Quintet at Chris’ Jazz Cafe
by Victor L. Schermer
Chris Oatts Quintet Chris's Jazz Cafe Philadelphia, PA June 23, 2017 Philadelphia keeps churning out great musicians, and one of those who is beginning to generate considerable interest is Chris Oatts. A graduate of Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance, he is the nephew of legendary saxophonist Dick Oatts, but make no mistake about it: Chris Oatts is a force to be reckoned with in his own right, forging his own style and ...
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