Search - Jeff Oster :: Live!

One thing that can be said about New Age trumpet maestro Jeff Oster is that no other New Age artist can groove like he can. Which means that his unique brand of that kind of music should translate well from the studio into the live arena. The just-released Jeff Oster Live!bolsters that notion, and but not just because Oster can groove. It's for another, rather straightforward reason: Oster's working band is downright tight. He's joined by Celso Alberti on drums, Frank Martin on keys, Todd Boston on guitar and for a trio of tracks, Jeff Taboloff on sax. Bass? That's handled by his longtime musical partner, the virtuosic Michael Manring. Oster picks tunes almost entirely from his last three albums, but takes advantage of the occasion to stretch out the performances to the 7-10 minute range, and everyone gets a chance to show what they've got. But what does get carried over from the studio renderings are Oster's big, atmospheric flugelhorn (or sometimes, trumpet) and a singularly funky brand of New Age jazz that values groove and improvisation more than his peers, setting himself apart and above them.