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Sax Appeal

Local musician promotes EP and upcoming jazz fest


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Tim Otto is a man of many horns, who incorporates the sounds of the sax, trumpets and trombones in his music.

Tim Otto is a man of many horns, who incorporates the sounds of the sax, trumpets and trombones in his music.

Tim Otto’s designs on pursuing his dreams of being an esteemed jazz performer took an unexpected twist when the casual surfer grew infatuated with the alluring shores and salty waves of Rockaway a little over a decade ago.

The married father of two remembered a fateful sojourn to the peninsula in which he and a close friend took to the local waters and performed all sorts of duck dives and Eskimo rolls that reminded Otto how much he enjoyed the beach life.

“This was right around the time of the real estate crash of 2008. There were a lot of houses for sale here. We could never afford to buy a two-bedroom apartment in the city, so I told my wife, ‘We should check it out,” recounted the Australia native, who proceeded to purchase a house in the heart of Rockaway Beach.

And though Otto continues to travel into Manhattan, where he works as a band teacher at The Trevor Day School on the Upper East Side, he has played a major role in Rockaway’s ongoing musical revival. He has been particularly active in enhancing jazz’s Q-rating.

Tim Otto (center) and his Free Ride cohorts, including drummer, John Bollinger (left) and tireless music maven and master bassist, Simon Chardiet.

Tim Otto (center) and his Free Ride cohorts, including drummer, John Bollinger (left) and tireless music maven and master bassist, Simon Chardiet.

Enthusiasts in search of a jazz show as recently as eight years ago, said Otto, were forced to trek out to Greenwich Village to get a sampling of the beloved blues and ragtimerooted genre emanating from the 19th Century Voodoo rhythms practiced by New Orleans-based African- American communities.

“There were very few places to play. It was very different not that long ago. There wasn’t much jazz at all here,” recalled the tenor saxophonist, who soon took the initiative to organize the annual Rockaway Beach Jazz Festival, featuring multiple bands along the boardwalk.

This year’s exhibition includes performances from baritone saxophonist and band leader, Claire Daly; renowned funky/experimental combo, Spin Cycle and The Lloyd Haber and Andrew Lamb duo, the former of whom has made numerous appearances at Thai Rock.

While Otto himself won’t be a part of the July 27 lineup at Low Tide Bar, he’ll be busy promoting his recentlyreleased four-track EP, Double Single. The contemporary jazz compilation— recorded last fall in Matt Walsh’s Oceanus Studio—saw the veteran instrumentalist join forces with members of his Free Ride band, led by ubiquitous bassist and allaround force of nature, Simon Chardiet and John Bollinger on the drums.

“It’s free grooves and a lot of improv. There’s a lot of interplay between the musicians,” he described when detailing the overall character of the album, which adheres to the free jazz stylings popularized by John Coltrane in the 1960s.

As a teenage student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Otto developed a deep admiration for the practitioners of free jazz. He felt undeniably drawn toward their ability to break down staid jazz conventions, such as regular tones, tempos and chord changes.

“When I was at the conservatory, it was pretty intense. Sonny Rollins was always a big influence. Pharoah Sanders is someone I really love to listen to with all his free, expressive and creative force in his recordings,” continued the versatile artist who can also play a mean piano and drums in addition to his facility in handling all the tenor instruments.

But the one record that totally rocked Otto’s world was Coltrane’s Giant Steps, regarded by many, such as reviewer, Lindsay Planer, as a watershed disc featuring the legendary composer and saxophonist’s frenetic technique, which helped make jazz increasingly mainstream. The effect Coltrane had on his peers—and future generations— allowed many of them to push jazz outside the limits of bebop, hard bop and modal varieties.

The connection Otto felt with the genre was almost instantaneous and even though he has served as a sideman in rock bands along his musical life’s journey, jazz was the one music category that has indelibly conquered his spirit and inspires him to continue writing and performing original content.

“Jazz is a very creative music. It’s an open source or form of music for creative expression. I just love the instrumentation as well. And the legacy of jazz is just incredible. What’s been written in that genre has gravitated me more to it than, say, rock or classical or anything else.”

Though visions of smoky basement dives with the all-too-familiar lowpitched reverberations of the double bass exude elements of sophistication and romance for jazz lovers around the world, Otto cautions that those who wish to be successful in playing avant-garde or standard tunes must learn to be team players.

In fact, the veteran performer submits that the formula for achieving long-term success isn’t all too different from working your way to the top as a desk jockey in corporate America.

“Show up on time and be professional, and always play the best you can. You want band leaders who want to work with you and want to hire you, so don’t be difficult; don’t be a diva.”

Years of traveling and pulling off the sometimes treacherous balancing act of acing his gigs while maintaining his regular day job has earned the 50-something-year-old a bit of leeway when it comes to charting his musical course.

Scoring club dates—i.e. weddings and/or private ceremonies—for instance, isn’t as crucial for Otto as it was in his younger days.

“I think now almost 40 years after I first started playing, I really try to narrow it down to what type of music I want to play and express. My teaching actually has given me the ability to sort of pick and choose a little bit, so I don’t have to do gigs I really don’t want to do.”

Double Single is a masterful byproduct of Otto’s newfound latitude, and it’s currently available on cdbaby.com.

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