Imagine, after nearly a decade off from music, older and wiser with a driving will to suceed but then having to jump back into a youth obsessed industry. Willie did just that and from that point rose to a level beyond many players dreams, making well received recordings with some of the World’s best musicians including Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Mike Keneally, Stu Hamm, Brannen Temple and Ephraim Owens, to name a few. Such an accomplishment has garnered Oteri increasing notoriety amongst his peers and fans alike and made him a rare anomaly in the music world.

Born and raised in central California Willie started performing in his 20s as a bassist and later developed a unique style on Pedal Steel Guitar (he now plays only guitar). Due to events mentioned above it would not be until 1995 when  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 style 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 released “Concepts of Mate Ma Toot”.

With good response for Jazz Gunn from critics and fans alike Willie wanted to further 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 Mastelotto, the rhythm section of King Crimson, and their work was later overdubbed with Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa) on keyboards and Ephraim Owens on trumpet. Final mixing was complete in early 2002 and “Spiral Out” was released on DIW Diskunion in 2003 and re-released in 2005.  (The first WD-41 redordings will be released on June 16, 2009 at CD Baby and iTunes)

Willie Oteri has collaborated and performed with Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, KingCrimson, John Lennon)  Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, XTC), Mike Keneally(Frank Zappa), Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel), Stu Hamm (Joe Satriani, SteveVai) and others including Ronan Chris Murphy (producer and musician), Brannen Temple (Sheena Easton, Kevin Paige, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson), bassist Chris Maresh (Eric Johnson, Abra Moore, Mitch Watkins), Mike Malone (Jimmy Smith) and Ephraim Owens (Erika Badu). The breadth of such performing and recording situations is a testament to his musical versatility and talent. In recent years, it is Oteri’s role as composer and band leader which has garnered him increasing notoriety coupled with a notable unique style on guitar.

Willie returned to Austin Texas in 2008 from nearly four years in Padua, Italy. In Austin he hooked up with longtime friend Dave Laczko to form WD-41 again exploring beyond the boundaries of various genres. 

For a more info please visit www.myspace.com/willieoteri and the fan site www.willieoteri.com

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"Startling and innovative with licks that are delightfully his own."

 ---Peoples Press

"Initially Oteri offers a more languid approach that creates mood, something rather lacking among this column’s CDs, with their in-yer-face anxiety to please.”

-- 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!"

--Guitarist Enrico Crivellaro

Partial Discography:

Willie Oteri “Spiral Out" 2003- 2005 DIW DiskUnion with Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Mike Keneally, Ronan Chris Murphy and Ephraim Owens.

"Destroying Silence" VenetoWest Records 2006.

"Jazz Gunn" Concepts of Matematoot 2000 with Brannen Temple, Chris Maresh, Ephraim Owens, Mike Malone, and Chris Tondre.

"Violet Crown" aka Seaman’s Quartet, Herkemer Music 2001 – Producer – Steel Guitar.

"Perseverana"JSW Records 1998.

Willy's Cry.... 1995.

 session work with, Cookie Marenco, Bob Seger, Violet Crown, Red Ragged Rose, Tony Levin, Mike Keneally, Stu Hamm, Jerry Marotta and more.

TV theme for "Fast Draw" 1983(?).

Dave Laczko Bio

Trumpeter Dave Laczko has been a member of the Austin jazz scene for almost 30 years, beginning in the trumpet section of Prime Swing, house band for the original Austin County Line Barbeque locations.  From 1987 to 2001, he hosted “Cookin’ and Relaxin’” on KAZI and was voted “Jazz Deejay Deserving Wider Recognition” in the 2000 Austin Chronicle Critics Poll.  When his radio show was taking off, Laczko began playing synth bass in The Fearless Jazz Duo with 47X Its Own Weight trumpeter/Prime Swing pianist Mel Winters.  This duo still plays today in Buda, TX.  From 1991 to 2004, Dave was in jazz music retail on the Drag and doing jazz history research for local authors, educators, movie directors and jazz fans who continue to cross his path.  Around 1998(?), DL helped form the Barons of Rhythm, a group that became part of the early jazz and swing scene developing at that time in Austin between various roots music groups and swing dance enthusiasts.  The Barons played steadily in and around the Austin area for about 3 years, with weekly gigs at the Carousel Lounge and The Federation Women’s Club, where Benny Goodman supposedly played in the early 30’s.

“I play by ear mostly, so listening is the key ingredient in what comes out of my horn.  To say I listen to a lot of music is almost an understatement, so some of that is going to come out, naturally.  My musical cohorts Mel (Fearless Jazz Duo) & Willie (WD-41)  both rely on listening as the primary source of their art so they can be free to improvise.  WD-41 is amazing to do with Willie, because we are both coming from as open a space as you can imagine.  As Branford Marsalis once said, “The music tells you what to play,” so I don’t really know what I’m going to play until I hear what Willie is doing.  He’s taken me places in my music that I’ve never been before, and what’s even cooler is that you can go to some of those places on our CD!”

LINKS

ttp://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Awards/BestOfAustin/index?SearchTerms=laczko

(text from link)—

Jazz Deejay Deserving Of Wider Recognition: Dave Laczko, KAZI 

(Critics Picks, Media, 2000)

For the past 13 years, Laczko has been a mainstay on the Austin radio landscape, anchoring KAZI's weeknight jazz programming. Laczko really knows his stuff, and he exudes a passion for the music that is evident in his intelligent and tasteful programming. He covers the jazz gamut from classic legends like Charlie Parker to the young turks of today. Without the confines of a strict playlist, Laczko lets this free form music guide him, although sometimes he can't resist the occasional theme, like his recent foray into Sax Week, or celebrating certain artists on their birthdays. Those music lovers who haven't checked out his show owe it to themselves to do so. Laczko is one of Austin's underappreciated treasures.  KAZI 88.7FM, 8906 Wall #203, 836-2887   www.kazifm.com

http://www.gyrofrog.com/jazzrad.php    

Jazz Radio in Austin TX last updated 2004

(text from link)

Cookin' and Relaxin' with Dave Laczko

 Monday*, 9:00 PM - Midnight

 What can you say about a radio show named after two classic Miles Davis albums? Obviously, the name means that this is a jazz show, although on the night I wrote this, the show kicked off with Earth, Wind, and Fire. On this same night, host Dave Laczko also played Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Benny Carter, Joe Henderson, and Jack DeJohnette, so he really draws widely from all over the jazz map. Not too many radio stations would be willing to play something like Miles Davis' On the Corner (perhaps his most controversial album), much less follow it up later with "Candy" by the Nat Cole Trio, but you could hear it all on "Cookin' and Relaxin'." Dave Laczko is also the jazz buyer at Tower Records, which places him in charge of the city's largest jazz selection.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dave Oliphant, Texan Jazz, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1996

Dave Oliphant, The Early Swing Music Era, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002 

Kevin Phinney, Souled American: The White Obsession With Black Music, New York, NY: Billboard Books, 2005

Richard Lawn, Experiencing Jazz, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, (2006) 2007

Dave Oliphant, Jazz Mavericks Of The Southwest, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2007