International Jazz Masters Series

Dick Oatts Ensemble

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Last Show: Saturday 21 st January 2023

PizzaExpress Jazz Club (Soho)

Dick Oatts is a living saxophone legend. He became a member of the Thad Jones - Mel Lewis Orchestra in 1977 after a move from Iowa to New York City. Since then he has recorded and toured the world with many of the greatest big bands, small groups and artists in the history of jazz, such as Red Rodney, Bob Brookmeyer, Mel Lewis, Jerry Bergonzi, Fred Hersch, Dave Berkman, Terell Stafford, Jon Faddis  Lester Bowie, Joe Lovano, Sam Jones-Tom Harrell, Paquito D'Rivera, Tito Puente, Kenny Wheeler, and Gunther Schuller and Lalo Schiffrin, aswell as holding the alto chair in the bands of The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. He appears here as part of this powerfully swinging, creative band to release an album recorded in London 2019.

Oatts has also been featured as a guest star with the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra, Danish Radio Big Band, Norboton Jazz Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra, and the UMO Big Band in Helsinki. He has accompanied many of the legendary jazz vocalists including Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Neena Freelon, Mel Torme, and Milton Nascimento and recorded solos for pop artists Luther Vandross, James Taylor, and Everything But the Girl. He is professor of Jazz Studies at the Boyer School of Music at Temple University and has been an artist-in-residence at the Amsterdam Conservatory since 1997.

Band Line Up

Dick Oatts (alto saxophone)

Ross Stanley (piano)

Mark Hodgson (bass)

Stephen Keogh (drums)

Gareth Lockrane (flutes) (Jan 21 only)