The Dam Jawn featuring Dick Oatts - Forward!

This recording, Forward!, is a special collaboration between a collective of stellar young musicians, The Dam Jawn, and their beloved mentor, Dick Oatts. This is a unique project in that it features imaginative and evocative compositions by all five members of The Dam Jawn. Special guest Oatts fits seamlessly into the ensemble. With five composers, the music has a wonderful variety of grooves, colors, and moods; yet all fit together into a collective group sound. The writing and playing merit repeated listening to this superb recording.

The Dam Jawn’s group sound reflects the strong musical and personal bonds these musicians have developed during the past few years. Their group name begins with “Dam” because all five musicians are living in Amsterdam. They spent a semester at Temple University in Philadelphia (hence “Jawn,” a common term of Philly slang). In Philly, where this group lived together, they developed a strong sense of musical family. They also worked closely with Oatts, and made a recording together (Master St.). On returning to Amsterdam, they continued to rehearse and workshop each others’ compositions. They made plans to further collaborate with Oatts, and in May 2023 they toured The Netherlands and Spain together, stopping at a recording studio during the trip. The fruits of this labor of love can be heard on Forward!

The Dam Jawn said about Dick Oatts: “Obviously, Oatts is a musical institution on his own and we felt so honored to have him join our group. But the most impressive aspect for us was to realize his humanity, his kindness, and how humble he is, being such a legend…. that was incredibly revealing and inspiring to us.”

The playing and composing on this recording are beautiful. The music covers a varied landscape, but is unified by the gorgeous ensemble sound. The rich sounds of alto saxophonist Martin Diaz and tenorman Frank Groenendijk are joined on the front line by Oatts’s alto and soprano. Fort’s guitar is often used as a fourth “horn,” adding harmonic depth to the arrangements. The sure handed, imaginative rhythm section of bassist Philip Lewin and drummer Nitin Parree provides a solid foundation throughout. Fort’s comping on guitar is sympathetic and in the groove. All members of the band solo with imagination, spontaneity, and passion.
Fort contributes four of the compositions: “Wayne’s Mind’s Eye,” “Song for Wong,” “Blues for Oatts,” and “Fairmount Park.” All four are tributes to musicians who have inspired Fort: respectively Wayne Shorter, bassist David Wong (with whom he studied while at Temple), and Dick Oatts. Fairmount Park is in Philadelphia, close to the house where John Coltrane lived during most of the 1950’s, and Fort felt moved to be in this sacred place. The four songs may be tributes, but all are very much in Fort’s own voice: well-crafted, poetic, and harmonically rich. The first two feature soaring solos by Oatts and deeply melodic solos by Fort, who navigates challenging chord progressions with grace. The poignant “Fairmount Park” features Fort’s searching guitar and a lyrical solo by Martin Diaz on alto saxophone.

Philip Lewin’s modern bossa, “Doors” opens with an imaginative, expressive tenor solo by Frank Groenendijk. Oatts is in classic form, freely phrasing in his own unique way. The composer contributes a soulful solo with his rich, woody bass sound. Groenendijk’s “Forward” opens with a lyrical introduction, followed by a powerful modal melody beautifully phrased by the front line. The composer features himself on an energetic tenor solo, and Diaz takes a harmonically beguiling turn on alto. Diaz’s “Maria’s Lament” features the composer on flute and soprano saxophone in a beautiful and evocative piece. Again, the ensemble playing is gorgeous, with Lewin’s bass sound and Parree’s sensitive drumming gaining force as the song develops momentum. Nitin Parree’s “Shifts” rounds out this recording with a rousing, energetic romp with a catchy melody. All the horns stretch out, pushed on by Parree’s exciting drumming.

The one song not penned by members of The Dam Jawn is John Hicks’s “After The Morning.” As a long-time New Yorker who spent many late nights at Bradley’s with Hicks, I was both intrigued and heartened by its inclusion. Many young musicians are not aware of the music of Hicks and several of his great peers. Fort told me, “I love John Hicks. I think I first heard his name some years ago when I was into the album The Audience with Betty Carter.” In his typical way, he “checked Hick’s work with Art Blakey, Peter Leitch, David Murray, and of course all the other albums with Betty Carter.” Fort’s commitment to this history, which he shares with his Dam Jawn colleagues, is a reason that this music has such a strong foundation, as these talented and dedicated musicians keep searching their way Forward!.