Y-OTIS (NO)

"Why Otis?" – good question. So much so that it was frequently asked of the saxophonist and composer Otis Sandsjö (also in Lucia Cadotsch's "Speak Low" trio), and he made a band name out of it. With keyboarder Elias Stemeseder, bassist Petter Eldh and drummer Tilo Weber, the Gothenburgian from Berlin performs an often groovy avant-garde jazz, inspired by electronic music, hip-hop, a skipping J-Dilla CD on a long drive, or a Michael Jackson tune overheard in the shower. And even though Sandsjö's saxophone sound can bring back memories of Stan Getz, the eponymous Otis Redding also resonates. Or the tingling sensation that can arise in a fast elevator, the place Otis’s parents jokingly specify as inspiration for his name. After all, he was supposedly conceived in one. "An album," Spex wrote about the debut, "(...) that incidentally demystifies the concept of inspiration."