Forward! The Dam Jawn & Dick Oatts

• 1 Wayne's Mind's Eye 09:32
• 2 Song For Wong 08:14
• 3 After The Morning 08:52
• 4 Doors 06:52
• 5 Blues For Oats 05:22
• 6 Fairmount Park 06:21
• 7 Forward! 05:49
• 8 Maria's Lament 08:09
• 9 Shifts 06:48
• Total Runtime 01:05:59

Info for Forward!

This recording, Forward!, is a special collaboration between a collective of stellar young musicians, The Dam Jawn, and their beloved mentor, Dick Oatts. This is a unique project in that it features imaginative and evocative compositions by all five members of The Dam Jawn. Special guest Oatts fits seamlessly into the ensemble. With five composers, the music has a wonderful variety of grooves, colors, and moods; yet all fit together into a collective group sound. The writing and playing merit repeated listening to this superb recording.

The Dam Jawn’s group sound reflects the strong musical and personal bonds these musicians have developed during the past few years. Their group name begins with “Dam” because all five musicians are living in Amsterdam. They spent a semester at Temple University in Philadelphia (hence “Jawn,” a common term of Philly slang). In Philly, where this group lived together, they developed a strong sense of musical family. They also worked closely with Oatts, and made a recording together (Master St.). On returning to Amsterdam, they continued to rehearse and workshop each others’ compositions. They made plans to further collaborate with Oatts, and in May 2023 they toured The Netherlands and Spain together, stopping at a recording studio during the trip. The fruits of this labor of love can be heard on Forward!

The Dam Jawn said about Dick Oatts: “Obviously, Oatts is a musical institution on his own and we felt so honored to have him join our group. But the most impressive aspect for us was to realize his humanity, his kindness, and how humble he is, being such a legend…. that was incredibly revealing and inspiring to us.”

The playing and composing on this recording are beautiful. The music covers a varied landscape, but is unified by the gorgeous ensemble sound. The rich sounds of alto saxophonist Martin Diaz and tenorman Frank Groenendijk are joined on the front line by Oatts’s alto and soprano. Fort’s guitar is often used as a fourth “horn,” adding harmonic depth to the arrangements. The sure handed, imaginative rhythm section of bassist Philip Lewin and drummer Nitin Parree provides a solid foundation throughout. Fort’s comping on guitar is sympathetic and in the groove. All members of the band solo with imagination, spontaneity, and passion.

Fort contributes four of the compositions: “Wayne’s Mind’s Eye,” “Song for Wong,” “Blues for Oatts,” and “Fairmount Park.” All four are tributes to musicians who have inspired Fort: respectively Wayne Shorter, bassist David Wong (with whom he studied while at Temple), and Dick Oatts. Fairmount Park is in Philadelphia, close to the house where John Coltrane lived during most of the 1950’s, and Fort felt moved to be in this sacred place. The four songs may be tributes, but all are very much in Fort’s own voice: well-crafted, poetic, and harmonically rich. The first two feature soaring solos by Oatts and deeply melodic solos by Fort, who navigates challenging chord progressions with grace. The poignant “Fairmount Park” features Fort’s searching guitar and a lyrical solo by Martin Diaz on alto saxophone.

Philip Lewin’s modern bossa, “Doors” opens with an imaginative, expressive tenor solo by Frank Groenendijk. Oatts is in classic form, freely phrasing in his own unique way. The composer contributes a soulful solo with his rich, woody bass sound. Groenendijk’s “Forward” opens with a lyrical introduction, followed by a powerful modal melody beautifully phrased by the front line. The composer features himself on an energetic tenor solo, and Diaz takes a harmonically beguiling turn on alto. Diaz’s “Maria’s Lament” features the composer on flute and soprano saxophone in a beautiful and evocative piece. Again, the ensemble playing is gorgeous, with Lewin’s bass sound and Parree’s sensitive drumming gaining force as the song develops momentum. Nitin Parree’s “Shifts” rounds out this recording with a rousing, energetic romp with a catchy melody. All the horns stretch out, pushed on by Parree’s exciting drumming.

The one song not penned by members of The Dam Jawn is John Hicks’s “After The Morning.” As a long-time New Yorker who spent many late nights at Bradley’s with Hicks, I was both intrigued and heartened by its inclusion. Many young musicians are not aware of the music of Hicks and several of his great peers. Fort told me, “I love John Hicks. I think I first heard his name some years ago when I was into the album The Audience with Betty Carter.” In his typical way, he “checked Hick’s work with Art Blakey, Peter Leitch, David Murray, and of course all the other albums with Betty Carter.” Fort’s commitment to this history, which he shares with his Dam Jawn colleagues, is a reason that this music has such a strong foundation, as these talented and dedicated musicians keep searching their way Forward!. (Bruce Barth)

Dick Oatts, alto saxophone
Martin Diaz, alto saxophone
Frank Groenendijk, tenor saxophone
Joan Fort, guitar
Philip Lewin, double bass
Nitin Parree, drums

Recorded at Studio Smederij on May 15th, 2023
Engineered by Bernard Schomaker
Mixed and mastered by Udo Pannekeet at Wedgeview Studios, Netherlands
Produced by The Dam Jawn

The Dam Jawn
is a band formed by five young people from the Amsterdam jazz scene, including the Catalans Martín Díaz and Joan Fort. The group is based on shared experience in the USA, and more specifically in Philadelphia, where they arrived as students from the prestigious Amsterdam Conservatory. They not only trained there, they also forged a common project based on that experience. At the Jamboree, they will present the first album from this line-up, with the collaboration of the legendary alto saxophonist Dick Oatts, who has also guided them in the creation process. The Dam Jawn is a quintet who play their own tunes and arrangements inspired by the energy and magnetism of both the current Philadelphia scene and its glorious musical past. ‘Jawn’, by the way, is a typical Philadelphia slang word that can be used to refer to just about anything.

Dick Oatts
Born and raised in the state of Iowa, Dick Oatts was brought up in a musical family. He was introduced to the saxophone by his father Jack Oatts, a respected jazz educator and saxophonist. After high school, Dick attended Drake University and in 1972 he began his professional career in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Oatts moved to NYC in 1977. Shortly there after, joined the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra. Since then, he has toured, recorded, and performed as a sideman in small groups with Bob Brookmeyer, Red Rodney, Eddie Gomez, Mel Lewis, Jerry Bergonzi, Joe Lovano, Dom Salvador, Vic Juris, Soren Moller, Terell Stafford, Ray Mantilla, Jon Faddis, David Berkman, Flim & the BBs, Ray Mantilla, Fred Hersch, Joe Morello, Lalo Schiffrin and several others.

His Big Band and large ensemble experience include Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orch,, The Mel Lewis Jazz Orch., Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Jon Faddis Jazz Band, Tito Puente, Lester Bowie, Sam Jones/Tom Harrell, Jim McNeely, Kenny Wheeler, Joe Lovano Paquito D'Rivera,and Gunther Schuller. Oatts has been a featured artist with the Metropole Orchestra, WDR Big Band, Stockholm Jazz Orchestra,Danish Radio Big Band, Millenium Jazz Orch., Norboten Radio big band, High Coast Jazz Orchestra, RIAS Radio big band, Concerto BouOrchestra, Mats Holmquist/Dick Oatts Orchestra, Rome Radio, UMO big band, Winnipeg Jazz Band, and the Wellington Jazz Orch. Oatts has accompanied such vocalists as Joe Williams, Sara Vaughn. Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Neena Freelon, and Milton Nascimento. He has recorded solos for R&B artist, Luther Vandross and Everything but the Girl.

As a Steeplechase recording artist, Oatts has recorded 10 solo CDs and 5 co-led CDs. He has recorded 3 CDs on the DMP label with co-leader and pianist, Garry Dial and another on the Temple Univ. record label entitled "That Music Always Round Me". Oatts and Terell Stafford are co-leaders on "Bridging the Gap" on Planet Arts. Dave Santoro and Oatts are co-leaders on "Meru" on Red Records.

For the past 35 years, Oatts has appeared at College Jazz Festivals as a soloist and clinician throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Mid-East, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and Taiwan. Oatts is a professor at the Boyer School of Music and Dance at Temple University and has been an "Artist in Residence" at the Amsterdam Conservatory since 1998.

This album contains no booklet.