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Willie Oteri

"I'm mostly self taught. I learned Jazz on the street as well as rock and blues. If you are fine with that then we can talk. I'm fine with it." Already established as a guitarist why change horses? Why not? Is reinvention a key to the creative process? Oteri explains, “I've always been an explorer and this need for change drives me to new frontiers. While some are cautious about change for me it's about accepting it.” Oteri's flute and sax work became his focus recently after a purchase of a new flute in 2016 and a couple of tenor saxes in early 2017. “I played flute in my late teens after borrowing my sister's flute, since she was not very interested in it, and played professionally for several years in the early part of my career along with guitar, bass and pedal steel, whatever seemed to be needed. Around this same time, I had an old Conn sax that I played for maybe a year until both the flute and sax needed more work than I could afford at the time. (see tragedy and time off from music in bio below) When I came back to music after several years off I focused on guitar for a few reasons, one being I was living on a sailboat with not much space and guitar was small enough to use on the boat and compose. I did not think about getting back to flute and sax until I had produced a few guitar-based albums but alas, here I am and looking forward to recording and performing anyway I can get it out” Willie Oteri is an anomaly in the music world having survived tragedy and financial hardship that forced him to quit music as a profession in the early part of his career. After nearly ten years away from performing and most of this time not even owning an instrument Oteri came back to music, first part-time then full. Older, wiser and as eager and excited as anyone to again have a life of music. With a small budget he released two well-received blues/rock albums in the late ‘90s before moving to Austin Texas where he quickly befriended some of Austin’s top Jazz musicians leading to the 2000 release of Willie Oteri’s Jazz Gunn, Concepts of MateMaToot with Chris Maresh, Brannen Temple, Michael Malone and Chris Tondre. Wanting to further pursue the freedom of electric Jazz and improvisation Oteri contracted producer Ronan Chris Murphy (King Crimson, Chucho Valdes ) to produce Spiral Out (2003-2005) a modern jazz album featuring King Crimson and Zappa alums Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto and Mike Keneally with the added help of Austin trumpeter Ephraim Owens in an improvised environment.

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"Whatever is in Willie Oteri's water, I think it's high time that it was poured into the two dimensional cesspool which is what some of the homogenized and pasteurized modern music industry has become today." —-Bruce Stringer (Music street jounal) "This is one of those CDs that entirely deserves to be heard by anyone who likes to live inside exotically compelling musical environments. It's rather beautiful too."—Gapplegate Music" ...goes beyond anything Charlie Parker or Miles Davis did during even the most experimental years of the Be-Bop jazz era, although there's some of that influence in this album, also

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Album Discography

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Ghosts of Texs Past

Self Produced
2022

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Ghosts of Texas Past

Self Produced
2022

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Mind Meld

Self Produced
2021

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Reflections

Self Produced
2020

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Evolution

Self Produced
2017

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Reflections

From: Reflections
By Willie Oteri

Song of the Sea Witch

From: Willie Oteri's Jazz Gunn -...
By Willie Oteri

W1-A

From: Temi Per Cinema
By Willie Oteri

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