New Album: ANDY OSTWALD TRIO Debut Solo Record, FIELD GUIDE

San Francisco Jazz Ensemble ANDY OSTWALD TRIO Releases their Debut Solo Record FIELD GUIDE through Digital Victrola Records, with Ravi Abcarian on bass.

Andy Ostwald is a San Francisco Bay area-based performer, teacher, and author of the book Play Jazz, Blues, Rock Piano by Ear. He performs as a bandleader, sideman, solo pianist, and as a member of Jeff Sanford’s Cartoon Jazz Orchestra. Now with his own ANDY OSTWALD TRIO he is proud to present their debut full-length release FIELD GUIDE on March 18, 2022. The album is a true Field Guide for that meadow we’ve seen before but never traversed, featuring intimate and intensely focused improvised musical travels through overlooked gardens and orchards of sound.

Andy Ostwald has toured the US and abroad with singer Diane Witherspoon and has performed at many of the San Francisco Bay Area’s notable venues, including the SF Jazz Center, Yoshi’s Oakland & SF, Kuumbwa, and the Great American Music Hall. In 2011, Andy Ostwald began performing with fellow Bay Area musicians Ravi Abcarian (bass) and Bryan Bowman (drums), and the ANDY OSTWALD TRIO was born. They largely developed their group sound while performing at Bocce Café in the North Beach district of San Francisco, an engagement that lasted for five years until 2016. It was during this run that the musicians honed their ability to interact freely and play off one another’s musical ideas.

As a fellow member of Jeff Sanford’s Cartoon Jazz Orchestra, trumpeter Eric Wayne knew the trio and offered to help them record and release their debut album through his own Digital Victrola label. Andy was prepared with a fully formed album concept, including the title FIELD GUIDE, which allowed them to get straight to the business of finding the best material for the release. Recorded during the pandemic, resources were scarce, and it was difficult to find a studio with a worthy piano; they decided to record in Andy Ostwald’s own home with his personal piano on an 8-track HD recorder. They were able to make the most of the home studio environment, with the craftsman-style wood house giving the recording a warm and full sound.

“Since starting Digital Victrola I’ve always had a desire to record a trio album,” says Eric Wayne. “Even though I’m a trumpet player I’ve always felt that the trio format is the distilled essence of jazz and improvisatory music. Every player has to be fully committed, has to listen with their entire body and mind. It was an honor to work with such musicians under the difficulties of a pandemic and limited resources and space, but I’m very happy to have ‘my trio album’ and I hope you will enjoy listening as much as I have.”

For more information please visit andyostwald.bandcamp.com/album/field-guide