Tim O'Dell, saxophone
Saxophonist/Composer,
Tim O'Dell, was born in Lebanon, Oregon in 1966 and moved to Brunswick,
Maine in summer 2001 from the Chicago jazz scene. In Chicago, O'Dell performed
at such premier venues as the Jazz Showcase and the Bop Shop with some
of the city's finest musicians, and from 1993 to 2001 was Director of Jazz
Studies and Professor of Saxophone at Augustana College in Rock Island,
Illinois. O'Dell is the new Saxophone/Jazz Studies instructor at the University
of Southern Maine and is an active performer and composer.
O'Dell has performed in clubs and recital halls in New York, Boston and throughout the Midwest with artists such as Danilo Perez, Tim Hagans, George Garzone, Louis Bellson, David Berkman, John Carlson, Gunther Schuller, Willie Pickens, Muhal Richard Abrams, Tatsu Aoki, Ryan Shulz, George Russell, and The Temptations. He has been heard on Jazz Set with Branford Marsalis and in command performance for the King of Sweden.
As a recording artist for Chicago's Southport Records, O'Dell has been acclaimed by the critics (see CD Reviews). His 2001 release, Before My Life, features ten of Tim's diverse compositions for jazz sextet. In 1998 O'Dell was a featured soloist on the acclaimed Southport CD, Finally Elijah, featuring vocalist Elijah Levi and in that year Tim also released Live in Iowa City with his Chicago group, the Red Fire Ant Trio on TOE Records. The release of Windy Christmas, on the Chicago IEL label featuring Tim O'Dell with the Tatsu Aoki Quartet, was deemed best Christmas album of 1997 by JAZZIZ magazine.
Dr. O'Dell holds a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from the New
England Conservatory and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone from
the University of Iowa. At NEC he studied composition with Jimmy Giuffre,
William Thomas McKinley and George Russell; and saxophone with George Garzone
and Kenneth Radnofsky. At Iowa he studied saxophone with Ronald Tyree and
Paul Scea; and composition with Donald Martin Jenni.
REVIEWS:
"A young, new master of the saxophone has arrived, and his name is Tim
O'Dell . . . Before My Life is what contemporary jazz is all about
and is a showcase of perfect performances."
Lee Prosser --Jazz Review
" . . . Unexpectedly grand . . ."
Lloyd Sachs --Chicago Sun Times
"Elton Dean. Tim Berne. Tim O'Dell. Welcome to the exclusive club of outstanding sax players/composers/improvisers . . . a perfect album . . . This disc is a great blend of composition and improvisation and it swings! . . .Before My Life has a uniqueness of vision. O'Dell is the composer of Chicago." --Beyond Coltrane
" . . . A thinking man's player and composer . . .
Owen Cordle --JazzTimes
"This is a really fine recording, generous in terms of playing, with
considered compositions and a ton of spirit."
Jason Bivins --Cadence
" . . . Meditating on alto, Tim sounds like 'Trane did on Central Park
West . . ."
John Barrett --Jazz USA
"O'Dell is a conscientious craftsman, a disciplined player with a strong
sense of construction in his solos . . ."
Stuart Broomer --Cadence
"This is the sound of . . . expanding American art.
James Nichols --All About Jazz
" . . . A fine new voice on alto . . . loose and swinging and broadly
expressive . . ."
Stuart Broomer --Cadence
Contact:
USM School of Music
Faculty List
Tim O'Dell
University of Southern Maine School
of Music
37 College Avenue
Gorham, ME 04038
207-780-5265
songz@suscom-maine.net
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