Willie Oteri

_"Whatever is in Willie Oteri's water, I think it's high time that it was poured into the two dimensional cesspool which is what some of the homogenized and pasteurized modern music industry has become today." "Gone are the walls of conformity and the limitations of clichéd musical formats. What this stripped down skeleton of raw musical talent leaves us is pure musical spontaneity. This is pure back brain music with a brilliant cast. Tony Levin crosses the sound waves with skin maestro Pat Mastelotto and keys man Mike Keneally, all the while allowing Willie's guitar madness to take off and to subtly lay a musical platform for the Miles-esque trumpet of Ephraim Owens. Production genius, Murphy, is also released onto the recording with some Rhodes piano playing proving that music can once again allow the 'spirit of adventure' to breathe through it." To see a complete song by song review of Spiral Out please viist http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/woteri.htm ____________________________________________________________ ____ "Makes you wonder what Crimson would be like if Oteri took over Belew's guitar chair - possibly re-invigorated!"---Four Thumbs UP! -mannylunch Downtown Music Gallery NY ____________________________________________________________ _____ WILLIE OTERI, a California born and raised musian who at the start of his career played bass, flute and steel guitar while performing with popular west coast rock, blues and fusion groups. Just when his musical career seemed to be taking its final kick off towards fame the illness and subsequent death of his first wife put a stop to his chances where at one point his financial situation was so low that he had to give up performing and did not even own an instrument for several years. In odd times between carring for his wife and step son Willie would take work as a roadie or session man working with artists like Bob Seger, Neil Young, Doobie Brothers, Chaka Khan and The Tubes This mostly roadie and some session work kept Willie going and believing in a future in music and led to helping him write the theme for the 80s TV show Fast Draw working with name producers but fate won out leading toWillie having to put music aside for nearly a decade.After many years of not performing, he borrowed a guitar from a neighbor while living with his present wife on a sailboat near San Francisco and thanks to his wifes support started practicing and writing until, in 1995, he could release his first solo album “Willy’s Cry” for JSW; After a second release in 1998, (both albums are currently out of print) and wanting to widen his approach he moved to Austin Texas where he founded Jazz Gunn, (AKA MateMaToot) along with drummer Brannen Temple (Sheena Easton, Kevin Paige, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson), bassist Chris Maresh (Eric Johnson, Abra Moore, Mitch Watkins), Mike Malone (Jimmy Smith) on sax and Chris Tondre on second guitar. In 1999 Jazz Gunn published “Concepts of Mate Ma Toot”.With good response for Jazz Gunn from critics and fans alike Willie wanted to go further in this kind of experience, so he started looking for a top producer, someone who had worked in both jazz and rock to provide a more progressive and open approach than might be obtained from someone who only works in jazz. In his research he met Ronan Chris Murphy, who had worked with King Crimson and Chucho Valdes amongst others. In 2001, Willie met and recorded with Tony Levin and Pat Mastellotto, the rhythm section of King Crimson, and their work was later overdubbed with Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa) ..boards and Ephraim Owens on trumpet. Final mixing was complete in early 2002 and “Spiral Out” was born and released September 2003 on the Japanese label DIW.* ************************************************************ **** Willie Oteri may be best described as a musician and band leader who pushes players into new territory of exploration and creativity, as one reviewer at DGM stated "I have never heard Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) and Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, XTC) play so loose and free as they do on Willie’s “Spiral Out”." Always one to re-invent himself and not worried about genre labels Willie has produced records of Blues based Rock, Jazz Funk, Free Jazz, Progressive Rock and strange things in between. As German drummer Schroeder so profoundly stated, "Terms like that might be useful when you have to write reviews or announcements, but I don’t remember a single REAL musical situation where those stickers had a value of some sort." Dividing his time between Italy and the United States Willie Oteri is a guitarist, producer, sound artist, composer, nomad and living example of perseverana. His latest "Spiral Out" is with Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, XTC) Mike Keneally (Zappa) Ephraim Owens (Erikah Badu) and Ronan Chris Murphy (producer venetowest.com) on DIW records. www.willieoteri.com Willie has also worked with and produced recordings with Brannen Temple, Chris Maresh and many others. Google it if you are not sure. See willieoteri.com for more bio info. ************************************************************ ***** ____________________________________________________________ _____ Guitarist/Composer Willie Oteri is one of those rare people who have, to their credit, not one, but two careers as a musician. One which saw him on stage with names such as Doobie Brothers, Chaka Khan, Bob Seger and Neil Young among others, and a second, after a trip to hell and back (read more at willieoteri.com), that saw the emergence of an innovative bandleader and recording artist with names like Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Markus Reuter and Mike Keneally among others for colleagues and co-musicians. a heady conoction of freely improvised rock music which, like it's leader's experiences, can also take one to hell, heaven and back. - T.L. Mazumdar ____________________________________________________________ _----------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- Currnetly involved in "Willie Oteri and Friends" which at times may include any of the musicians mentioned at this site plus others from Italy, Germany, Japan and the United States. ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------SUPER SESSIONS: Willie has been a host and organizer of Super Sessions the worlds longest jam sessions The Super Sessions of 14, 24, 33 1/3, 45 and 78 hours non-stop improvisation. To date there have been four Super Sessions in Italy and two in the US and imitators in Japan and Sweden. Currently there are plans for shows in Austin Texas, the San Fransisco Bay Area and again in Italy. See myspace.com/supersessionsorg for more information. ____________________________________________________________ _____ Willie is also a Producer looking for odd new material from people who live for music. ____________________________________________________________ _____ ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------- As a guitarist the press and fans say it best; "Startling an innovative with licks that are delightfully his own." ---Peoples Press ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------- "It's not about the guitar, It's about passion."---S.T. San Francisco ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------- "Oteri seems to favor a very raw guitar sound, this is not a processed smooth tone, it has bite, and sounds like he just plugged his guitar into the amp and starts playing. About seven minutes in Oteri seems to just be egged on by the band, and his over the top playing is exciting to listen to, he just cuts it loose." --Eric Porter - ProgessiveWorld.net ____________________________________________________________ _______ "Initially Oteri offers a more languid approach that creates mood, something rather lacking among this colum's CDs, with their in-yer-face anxiety to please. In many ways this album (Spiral Out) gets closer to the spirit of Miles Davis than the album by Children on the Corner." -- Stuart Nicholson - JazzTimes ____________________________________________________________ _______ "Jamming with you must be one of the greatest things--your music sounds great, and it always amazes me how far you can stretch a musical idea. Brilliant!" - Enrico Crivellaro ____________________________________________________________ ______ “This is one of the most passionate and soulful electric guitarists I have heard in years!” ---Kenneth in London, CD Universe. See www.willieoteri.com ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "Bandleader Oteri is a formidable frontman who's more than willing to give some to the drummer, bassist and everyone else when he isn?t burning up his axe. Jazz Gunn is a sparkling jam band with an eye to the past but a most promising future."--Todd S. Jenkins - All About Jazz ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ____________________________________________________________ _____