Tenor saxophonist/composer Ned Otter sums up his approach to music like this:

“Sometimes you make music, and sometimes you make magic . . . I always strive for magic.”

In a field where artists are notoriously shortchanged in economics, opportunity and visibility, even exceptional talent, artistry and integrity provide no guarantees of career success. So Otter, who possesses all three of these qualities in plentiful supply, has taken significant steps in that regard.

“As I’ve observed my heroes, mentors and influences struggle for recognition in spite of their extraordinary abilities and commitment, I’ve learned that there’s significant work needed beyond the enormous challenge of mastering the horn and the art of composition.”

And while Ned has clearly met those challenges, he’s also worked hard to overcome the non-musical issues that confront all serious musicians in the often hostile environment of the jazz business. So, in addition to his studies and subsequent apprenticeships with such masters as Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Cedar Walton, Red Rodney, Shirley Scott and most importantly his mentor, role-model and longtime associate, George Coleman, Ned concurrently developed his computer skills and business acumen.

He founded Two and Four Recording Company in January 2000 and subsequently formed Essential Arts Concepts, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation dedicated to expanding public awareness of jazz and increasing the performing and recording opportunities for jazz artists, especially through applications of computer and Internet technology.

Otter has also established top-notch teams of professionals in both the business and artistic sides, including musicians like Coleman, Ahmad Jamal, Harold Mabern, Jamil Nasser, Gary Smulyan, noted photographer Jimmy Katz, legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder, and some of the best management, development, fundraising and legal minds in the jazz and fine arts business.

Two and Four’s first release was the aptly titled Danger High Voltage by George Coleman’s New Octet. Volume II, again featuring Otter, Harold Mabern, Gary Smulyan, Ray Drummond, Adam Brenner, Jim Rotondi and George Coleman Jr., is slated for release in 2003. The label’s second CD was Otter’s own So Little Time, featuring Coleman on three tracks, Tom Kirkpatrick on trumpet, and the superb rhythm section of Mabern on piano, Daniel Vitale on bass, and the late, great Billy Higgins on drums. Ned’s newest album, The Secrets Inside showcases his excellent arranging and compositional talents on two extended suites for five horns and rhythm. Title track The Secrets Inside and the Nothin’ But The Blues suite are original works, while the remaining selections are rarely performed works from the Nat Cole songbook, and a Mabern composition Waltzing Westward. The ensemble features Mabern, Jamil Nasser on bass, baritonist Smulyan, Zaid Nasser on alto, Jim Rotondi on trumpet, drummer Mark Taylor, percussionist Daniel Sadownick, and Adam Brenner alongside Ned on tenor.

In his liner notes, noted critic and commentator Stanley Crouch praises Ned for

“. . . his ability to swing, even when playing all of those notes, and the dark, solid sound that he gets while inventing his melodic variations.”

And Crouch succinctly sums up the album with:

“For those who want to hear some strong playing that features sophistication and soul, while reiterating the fundamentals of 4/4 swing, the blues, the ballad, and Afro-Latin rhythms, this will affirm your belief in the ongoing strength of jazz.”

A native New Yorker, Ned Otter first connected with music as a child through his parents’ record collection. His focus turned to jazz at the age of nine upon hearing his brother’s junior high school band play the Dave Brubeck hit, Take Five. At the age of 11, Ned began his studies on the alto saxophone, switching to the tenor five years later when he began to seriously study the art of improvisation. Upon graduation from New York City’s prestigious Performing Arts High School, Otter began his long and fruitful relationship with George Coleman, studying with the legendary tenor saxophonist for five years.

During those years, Ned also gigged around New York with renowned bebop trumpeter Red Rodney in the late ‘70s; and toured Europe and the U.S. with trumpet giant Clark Terry’s Big Band in 1981. He joined Coleman’s Octet in 1987, taking a brief respite in 1988 to tour the U.S. and Europe with the immortal Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band alongside another amazing tenorman, Sam Rivers and such notables as John Faddis, James Williams and Jerry Dodgion. Throughout the 1990s Ned freelanced in the U.S. and Europe with many fine artists including Cedar Walton, Shirley Scott and Junior Cook, as well as with his own groups.

Among the other jazz influences he cites are Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins,
Kenny Dorham the ballad playing of Hank Mobley, and “anyone who is creative and takes chances.”

Outside of jazz, Ned’s inspired by “acoustic, beautifully recorded music,” especially Debussy and Brahms, and the Assad brothers. He is also applying the techniques of the influential French classical saxophonist Marcel Mule to the jazz idiom. But the relationship with George Coleman has been the most pervasive influence throughout the past twenty five years, continuing in the present.

“I have obviously spent a lot of time listening to George Coleman and talking with him over the years and had the very good fortune to be in the right place to keep learning from him.”

Otter’s own words best describe his musical vision:

“What I want to do is go both ways when I’m playing. I mean that I want to have all of the harmonic resources under control but I also want to play as melodically as I can. I have learned over the years how to fill the bar up with plenty of notes and notes that I can back up theoretically, but I only want that to be a part of what I do. Melodic playing, the development of that horizontal line, is the big challenge that so many younger players avoid. They would rather bowl you over with a whole lot of harmonic things that they have worked out, which is fine, too. But for me, I want to go somewhere else. I want to play as melodically as I can.”

Armed with record label, website, corporate entity, and a network of individuals, organizations and government agencies in the U.S. and overseas, Ned is preparing for tours of the U.S., Europe and the Far East. With all of his preparation and planning taking shape, Ned Otter is ready for a full-throttle pursuit on behalf of his own and other fine artists’ loftiest goals.