Jeff Oster

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Jeff Oster is New Age trumpet and flugelhorn player. He is also a composer, arranger, and producer. Oster's style has been often described as "Miles Davis meets Pink Floyd." He is three time winner of the Independent Music Awards and ten time winner of the Zone Music Reporter Awards (formerly NAR LifeStyle Music Awards). He was a featured artist on the Laura Sullivan's Grammy Award winning Album Love's River.

Jeff Oster
Jeff Oster
Background information
Birth name	Jeffrey Oster
Born	1957 Danville, Illinois, USA
Genres	Jazz, New Age, Ambient, Funk
Occupation(s)	Trumpet and flugelhorn player, composer, arranger, producer, registered principal financial services
Instruments	Trumpet, flugelhorn
Years active	2003-present
Labels	Retso Records; Artist Garage
Associated acts	FLOW, Blue Eternity, Departure
Website	http://jeffoster.com/

Early life

Oster selected the trumpet as his instrument at age 8 while he lived in Highland Park, IL. As he told his parents "I want to play the melody." After moving around in his youth, from 1973 to 1975 he was a student at the Coral Gables FL High School and a member of their highly regarded and award winning Cavaliers Band of Distinction under the direction of William Ledue. Ledue was influential in his formation as a trumpeter and got him his first job playing "Taps" at the funeral of a veteran. In 1978, at age 19, Oster discovered Chuck Mangione's album "Feels So Good" which led him to order a Yamaha Flugelhorn that he still plays today.

After high school he performed with a three piece power rock trio in Miami. By 1979 he was in Los Angeles and performed in big bands and as a horn player with R&B bands the Contours (Do You Love Me) and Bobby Day (Rockin Robin). For several years he also performed with a casino lounge band that toured Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and Atlantic City.

During this time, Oster wrote singer/songwriter music and unsuccessfully tried to get them covered by other artists. After struggling ten years living in Los Angeles he decided turned to writing original music. In 1987, at the recommendation of a friend, Oster passed his Series 7 exam, became a financial advisor, and decided to save enough money to hire professionals to record his music.  

New Age transition

By 2003, Oster started writing instrumental horn music when he purchased a personal computer with music creation software on it. After uploading performances of that music to MP3.com, he found that four songs were downloaded at a rate of 40,000 per month and were on the website’s Top Ten Downloads list.

Oster connected with Will Ackerman, the founder of Windham Hill Records, an artist Oster had been listening to and playing along with since 1979. In late 2003, Oster and Ackerman recorded four of these tracks on his debut extended play (EP) album AT LAST. The title song from AT LAST won the Best New Age Song award at the 5th Annual Independent Music Awards in 2006.

Oster and Ackerman added five more songs to the mix and released Oster's first full length album titled RELEASED in 2005 which garnered the 2005 Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Instrumental Album awards at the NAR Lifestyle Music Awards, voted on by broadcasters.

Continuing musical career

In 2007 Oster teamed up again with Ackerman on TRUE. The first track of the album, Saturn Calling, won the 7th Annual Independent Music Awards' Best New Age Song in 2008. The album also won the Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Instrumental Album awards at the NAR Lifestyle Music Awards. Bill Binkelman writing for the Zone Music Reporter said of the album "Brimming with the sheer love of making music (all types, moods, and tempos) True is a celebration of passion, artistry, soul and engineering/production wizardry. This being only his second full-length release, one is left to ponder the heights Oster (and company) may reach. Highly recommended. Rating: Excellent"

Oster's SURRENDER album, released in 2011, garnered him Zone Music Reporter's Album of the Year and Best Chill/Groove Album awards. The Echoes' staff selected the album for their 25 Essential CDs for 2011. New Age Music World's John P. Olson said "And while one can say SURRENDER is designed as a new age fusion album with a strong urban jazz influence, closer inspection reveals a style of its own... Recommending SURRENDER was truly an easy decision. Jeff Oster has a fine album, plus the chances of SURRENDER becoming an award winning album at the Independent Music Awards or Zone Music Reporter makes this release extra noteworthy."

In 2015 Oster released his album next. It received Zone Music Reporter's Album of the Year and Best Chill/Groove Album awards Charlie Ambler of vice.com said "Jeff Oster's music is fantastic, and the title track for his new album is a tight, minimalist, New Age haze of a tune where trumpets drone over a slow and funky beat. The song features guitarist Nile Rodgers, who's worked with Daft Punk and David Bowie, among others, in case that name drop will make you a little more comfortable listening to this."

In 2016, Oster also released Jeff Oster LIVE! from performances at The Fenix in San Rafael. Reviewer Michael Diamond said of the album "Jeff Oster Live! captures virtuoso performances by one of the best bands I’ve heard in a long time. While I’m grateful to have been there for the recording, I’m equally grateful that it is now available for everyone else to enjoy. Most highly recommended!"

In 2018 Oster released REACH. The album has received reviews such as from Rotcod Zzaj from Contemporary Fusion Reviews who said "I give Jeff and his musical compatriots a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of a (perfect) 5.00… meaning it also gets my “PICK” for “best inspirational album" and Jazz Monthly writer Jonathan Widran who said "it’s not total surprising that as his life enters a new phase (an empty nest being one of the personal elements), he would dig deeper into this musical soul and challenge himself to – title alert – Reach for something fresh."

Collaborations

NASA

In 2007, Oster took the sound rendering of data collected by the Cassini spacecraft's radio and plasma wave science instruments as the basis for the song "Saturn Calling" which appeared as the first track on his album "TRUE." The song received the Best New Age Song award at 7th Annual Independent Music Awards in 2008.

Blue Eternity

Oster also performs with Michael Manring (founder of the group Montreux) and Carl Weingarten (a founding member of the progressive rock group, Delay Tactics) in a group called Blue Eternity. They perform at venues such as the Fujitsu Planetarium at De Anza College in Cupertino, CA.

Laura Sullivan

In 2012, Oster was a featured artist on two tracks of Laura Sullivan's Grammy Award winning album Love's River. Music reviewer Michael Diamond said, "Another award winning musician and frequent Ackerman collaborator, Jeff Oster, adds soulful trumpet and flugelhorn on “Awakening to Love. I’m always impressed with Jeff’s ability to sculpt sound with these instruments in a way that provides just the right ambience to enhance the piece perfectly. In duet with Laura’s evocative composition and performance, it is one of my favorite tracks on the album."

Pete Seeger

In 2013, Oster and other artists wrote and performed music on Pete Seeger's spoken word album Grammy nominated The Storm King, which was the last album Seeger released before his death.

FLOW

In 2015, guitarist Lawrence Blatt invited pianist Fiona Joy Hawkins and Oster to record with him at William Ackerman’s Imaginary Road Studios to create an album emblematic of past iconic Windham Hill ensembles, with Ackerman and Tom Eaton serving as co-producers. Once the trio began recording, it became clear that Ackerman could be an essential part of this group as an artist as well as producer. The group was launched as a four-piece group when Ackerman agreed to take a more foundational role. The band's name is an anagram of the initials of their names.

Flow has one self-titled album which was released on October 6, 2017. The album was #4 in Billboard's New Age Album chart on October 28. The album received the ‘New Age Album of the Year’ at the 16th Annual Independent Music Awards show at New York City's Lincoln Center on April 3, 2018. It held the #1 position on the ZoneMusicReporter's (ZMR) Top 100 Radio Airplay Chart for two months, was nominated for and won two ZMR awards, ’Album of the Year’ and ‘Best Contemporary Instrumental Album’, at 14th Annual ZMR Awards show on May 12, 2018 at Loyola University's Roussel Hall in New Orleans.

Deepak Chopra

In 2017, Deepak Chopra, a prominent figure in the New Age movement, together with Kabir Sehgal and Paul Avgerinos published a book on the core values that the United States has represented as a destination for those who sought a new life and freedom to thrive. The book, titled "Home: Where Everyone is Welcome," featured 34 poems and was accompanied by a CD of twelve songs inspired by immigrants cultural contribution to the United States. Along with Chopra, Sehgal, and Avgerinos, Oster and Ackerman co-produced the CD with Oster performing on three tracks.

Departure

In 2018, Oster began performing with FLOW's co-producer Tom Eaton and guitarist Vin Downes in a group they named Departure and appeared on an Echoes streaming "living room concert." One of the songs performed in the streaming concert appears on Echoes album, Victoria Place: Echoes Live 23. Departure has also performed at the 1867 Sanctuary Arts & Culture Center in Ewing, NJ.

Influences & Style

Oster has said "As I've grown, I've been inspired by Bill Chase, and Herb Alpert, and Miles Davis and Chris Botti, along with Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, Will Ackerman, Yes, U2, and today by artists such as Kendrick Lamar."

Oster's style has been often described as "Miles Davis meets Pink Floyd" or "Miles Davis meets Enya." Middle Tennessee Music explained it as "This music is a top shelf blend of ambient jazz and funk with the sweetest Horn tones you’ll find this side of the big pond…probably on the other side, too!...Soothing frequencies, ambient atmospheres, and master musicianship combine to form the ultimate configuration of funk grooves and soulful, jazzy vibes."

Financial services career

Oster also has a 30 year career in financial services:

• 1988-1994: as Senior Vice President and National Sales Manager with Independent Advantage Financial, where he was "Salesman of the Year" six years in a row;

• 1994-1997: as a Senior Vice President - Investments with Prudential Securities, where he was in the top ten nationally in the firm in personal annuity and insurance production and in 1996 led his branch to the number one position in the nation in annuity sales;

• 1997-current: as a Registered Principal and Branch Manager with Raymond James Financial Services with $350 million in assets under management

Over the course of his career, Oster has helped his clients invest over $500 million in a variety of investment products and guided the placement of more the $1 billion in annuities. He has been responsible for the sales training and management of more than 200 account specialists.

Former CEO of Raymond James Financial Services, Dick Averitt, said “Jeff has taken a very complicated subject, the annuity, and done a great job of helping clients understand how it’s best used...Perhaps it’s his ability to understand complex matters, like musical rhythms, pattern and tone, and make them clear. I don’t think his talents are mutually exclusive.”

Discography

• AT LAST (EP, 2004)
• RELEASED (2005)
• TRUE (2007)
• SURRENDER (2011)
• next (2015)
• Jeff Oster LIVE! (2016)
• REACH (2018)

References

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