Matt Otto

Matt Otto: Umbra

by Gary Fukushima
January 14, 2024

In his 30-plus years in music, Matt Otto has, in addition to mastering improvising and training his ear to near perfection, learned to write incredibly complex compositions, challenging in every musical aspect: melodic, harmonic, rhythmic. Yet even now, his composing continues to evolve. “I feel like it's maybe less evolution than like going back to my roots," the tenor saxophonist contravenes. “I started out being a mostly free player, and I'm missing as I get older more of ...

Matt Otto: Umbra

by Dan McClenaghan
August 9, 2023

This music--nine Matt Otto originals--has the feeling of shadowy sounds. Shapes without defined borders emerge. On the opener, “Little Things," the core trio--the leader plus bassist Jeff Harshbarger and drummer John Kizilarmut--are joined by Fender Rhodes player Matt Villinger and guitarist Alex Frank. The electronic resonance gives the sound an alluring and shadowy blur, as does the guest guitarist. Saxophonist Matt Otto boasts a large discography. Notable selections include two previous Origin Records releases, 2009's Red (review here) ...

Matt Otto: Soliloquy

by Don Phipps
November 28, 2017

A soliloquy according to the dictionary is “an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers....." No more apt title could be assigned to Matt Otto's wonderful album Soliloquy. Reminiscent of Matisse's use of color, Otto uses his music to paint a cool canvas of evocative sounds that describe thoughts that populate his world. The result is a string of absorbing and varied compositions that give pleasure to the ear and inspire the mind. ...

Matt Otto/Andy Ehling: Reunion

by Don Phipps
November 27, 2017

A Los Angeles import whose left an indelible mark on the Kansas City jazz scene, tenor sax and composer extraordinaire Matt Otto continues his run of successful jazz explorations with Reunion, a collaboration with 30-year friend and Bay Area, CA alto saxophonist Andy Ehling. Otto's music has always seemed a bit out of place in the more swing, blues and bop oriented jazz that populates much of the Kansas City scene. Thankfully, the gifted Otto's subtle, sensitive folk-oriented ...

Matt Otto with Ensemble Iberica: Iberica

by Dan McClenaghan
March 8, 2017

Saxophonist Matt Otto presents the ambitious Iberica, a trip into the sounds of music from the Iberian Peninsula--Spain and Portugal. Ensemble Iberica joins him, a guitar trio that adds--in addition to their guitars--the cavaquinto, the oud, and the Cuban tres, crafting a delicate yet expansive soundscape in this tranquil, flowing, chamber jazz outing. This is Otto's first Origin Records outing since 2005's Red, a superb quartet recording, featuring the tenor saxophonist with a guitar/bass/drums rhythm section. Iberica has ...

Take Five With Matt Otto

by AAJ Staff
April 16, 2009

Meet Matt Otto:Born in 1967, Matt Otto was exposed to music at an early age, his mother, a music major in college, played classical viola and his father sang and played bluegrass banjo. He began playing piano at three and saxophone at nine.

By 15 he was playing his first local jazz gigs. After High School, Matt attended Indiana University, Berklee College of Music, received his B.A. From The New School for Social Research and his M.F.A. From ...

Matt Otto: Red

by Dan McClenaghan
September 26, 2005

Saxophonist Matt Otto is Los Angeles-based these days, but for his fifth CD, Red, he got together with some musical running mates from his time in New York: guitarist Greg Toughy, drummer Qasim Naqvi, and bassist Danton Boller. Considering its standard jazz lineup of tenor sax and a rhythm section, the band has crafted quite an original sound.The set of eight Otto orignals sustains a hauntingly restrained mood from start to finish, churning along in a cool fluid ...

LAJC Residency at Blue Whale Part II: Thompson/Otto Duo, Ariel Alexander Group, Matt Otto Quintet

Source: Los Angeles Jazz Collective
January 10, 2012

LAJC Residency at Blue Whale, Part II, Blue Whale, Los Angeles, CA, Wednesday, January 11, 8pm Leonard Thompson/Matt Otto duo (CD release) Ariel Alexander Group Matt Otto Quintet Leonard Thompson/Matt Otto Duo Pianist Leonard Thompson grew up listening to jazz via his father Rex, a well known jazz pianist in Orange County, and eventually followed in his dad's footsteps, after a brief flirtation in college with becoming a geologist. Sexy rocks couldn't pull him away from ...
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