Shuggie Otis

[alucard]

Everytime I listen to Shuggie Otis I an in awe of his talent and should put his small output more often on my playlist...'Freedom Flight ' The record and specially the title track are so ahead of their time (1971)and yes Zappa always the Talent scout had him quite early on his radar

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

I love the Inspiration Information record.
You are correct about Zappa, Shuggie played bass on Peaches En Regalia. I think he was 18 years old.

[headcrash]

Guy can play. Inspiration Information is probably his best IMO. He also released a record in 2018 called Inter-Fusion which features Carmine Appice and Tony Franklin.

[Mr.Krautman]

Years ago a friend of mine introduced me to S.O as an unknow musical genius.
Highly intrigued I checked a few of his solo records but really wasn't impressed by what I heard. Never went back to it.
Maybe I should try again... The "Freedom" track posted above is very promising and better than anything else I've heard from him before.
No doubt he's a good instrumentist (playing in F.Z's band is a good reference), but a genius ? Did I missed something ?

[alucard]

I love the Inspiration Information record.
You are correct about Zappa, Shuggie played bass on Peaches En Regalia. I think he was 18 years old.

He was actually still 15 during the recording sessions for Hot Rats

[alucard]

Years ago a friend of mine introduced me to S.O as an unknow musical genius.
Highly intrigued I checked a few of his solo records but really wasn't impressed by what I heard. Never went back to it.
Maybe I should try again... The "Freedom" track posted above is very promising and better than anything else I've heard from him before.
No doubt he's a good instrumentist (playing in F.Z's band is a good reference), but a genius ? Did I missed something ?

I wouldn't go as far as genius, but very talented indeed....what I like about him is his unusual approach to R&B or just music ...

[Munster]

Years ago a friend of mine introduced me to S.O as an unknow musical genius.
Highly intrigued I checked a few of his solo records but really wasn't impressed by what I heard. Never went back to it.
Maybe I should try again... The "Freedom" track posted above is very promising and better than anything else I've heard from him before.
No doubt he's a good instrumentist (playing in F.Z's band is a good reference), but a genius ? Did I missed something ?

I love his 1969 album with Al Kooper - Kooper Session - recorded when he was 15. But his later stuff doesn't grab me so much. I think it has a lot to do with style. Kooper Session was excellent blues and gospel while Otis then moved more into funk and soul.

[alucard]

I don't know much about his life, but for sure his father Johnny Otis and having listened and sometimes played with some of the best R&B musicians helped to forge his style quiet early ...his first record, co-written with his father but still he really has this perfect equilibrium and not playing a zillion notes or to show off....he could have gone the flamboyant way Prince did , but he chose to keep a low Profile for the sake of his music...

[Batchman]

This is not at all what I expected from what I thought I knew about Shuggie Otis (which I admit is not much). Real nice jazz-fusion, not strident but not too mellow either.

It's notable that he composed "Strawberry Letter 23", which was a hit for the Brothers Johnson; that song had a surprising middle section that sounded like it came straight off a Yes album.

[Lopez]

If I'm not mistaken, he was introduced by Carlos Santana and played a couple of numbers with the band in 1970 in Providence. I had no idea who he was then.