His uncle
Otto played trombone in the Las
Vegas show bands
for more than 40 years. Jeff has been
lead vocalist and has played trumpet, flugelhorn, and
flute
with several bands in the San Francisco Bay Area over the years.
After taking a long, nearly twenty-year, break
from the music scene to raise his family, Jeff has returned to
performing jazz. Since his return, he has performed
exclusively as a vocalist, featured with the Peter
Welker Sextet.
"I feel so fortunate to be in the company of so many wonderful musicians.
The
guys in the band are always world class. I'm having a gas! I feel right
at home," says the beaming Oster.
Jeff Oster uses
his voice like an instrument, as evidenced by his unique scat style. "I
approach the melody and scatting as if I were playing it on the
horn. In regards to
the melody or
chorus of a given song, I always want to make sure
the words - of the story - are clearly understood. Being predominately a
"note"
guy
for so long, I've made great efforts to enunciate and communicate the lyric.
It's always been a tug-of-war between words and music for me, and a bit
of a challenge at times... . But, hey, it's JAZZ and I'm having fun! What
a high! There's nothing like it."
|
Jeff's biggest influences
have been Mel Torme for his light, smooth treatments of the melody;
Jon Hendrix for his red-hot bebop; Sarah Vaughan for her incredible
tonal flexibility and range; Peter Welker, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan,
and Bill Evans for their innovative outside jazz stylizations;
and Woody Herman's big bands of the 60s for their driving SWING!
Artists Jeff has
performed and/or recorded with include:
Chris Amberger, Johnny Bamont, Matt Clark, Kevin
Dillon, Barry Finnerty, Kendrik Freeman, Bennett Friedman, Frank
Haggerty, Terry Haggerty, Tim Haggerty, Cliff Hugo, Manny Klein,
Pete Levin, Mark Levine, Fred Lipsius, Mel Martin, David K. Mathews,
Al Molina, Scott Petersen, Rob Roth, Jim Rothermel, Andrew Speight,
Randy Vincent, Bill Watrous, Peter Welker, and Dan Zemelman.
Artists appearing
on the Jazzed Media label include:
Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Terry Gibbs, Bill Holman,
Bob Florence, Bill Charlap, Brian Lynch, Hubert Laws, Marvin Stamm,
Bill Mays, Carl Saunders, Don Menza, Christian Jacob, Scott Whitfield,
Andy Martin, Lanny Morgan, Bobby Shew, Irene Kral, Jackie & Roy,
Bob Lark, Ron Stout, Jim McNeely, Mel Martin, Benny Carter, Frank
Tiberi, Jeff Hamilton, John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, Matt Wilson,
and Peter Yellin. |
