Dick Oatts

Richard "Dick" Oatts (born 1953) is a jazz saxophonist from Jefferson, Iowa. He became interested in saxophone due to his father Jack Oatts. To this day he still plays on the same Selmer Mark VI alto saxophone his father gave to him. He attended Drake University before beginning his professional career in Minneapolis in 1972 and in 1977 he joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band. He began releasing his own CDs in the 1990s and has been a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music since 1989 and recently joined the faculty at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2006.

Discography

 * All of Three (11/1997)
 * Standard Issue Vol.1 (06/01/1998)
 * Simone's Dance (01/01/2000)
 * Standard Issue Vol.2 (06/19/2000)
 * South Paw (12/03/2001)
 * Gratitude (10/07/2008)
 * Two Hearts (06/15/2009)

Oatts' work on reeds (soprano, alto & tenor saxophones, clarinet) became visible and accessible while he fronted the crossover jazz group, Flim & the BB's in the 1980s and 90s. In tandem with bassist, Jimmy (aka "Flim") Johnson, drummer Bill Berg, and keyboardist Billy Barber, Oatts rounded out the contemporary jazz foursome to release several popular albums (Flim & the BBs Vintage BB's Digital Music Products, Inc., 1991).


 * Flim & The BB's Tricycle (1982) *Tunnel (1984), *Big Notes (1985), *Neon (1987), *The Further Adventures... (1988), *New Pants (1989), *Vintage/best of (1992), This Is A Recording (1992)