David Ostwald's Hot Four

On Monday November 2, at 7:30 PM, The David Ostwald Hot Four will play a concert of traditional New York jazz, with an emphasis on swing and The Great American Songbook, in a Woods Hole living room.

Ticket holders will learn the concert's location, and other important information, by email about 24h before the show.

The David Ostwald Hot Four includes Danny Tobias on trumpet, Dan Block on clarinet and alto sax, Alonso de la Fuente, Jr. on guitar and banjo, with David Ostwald on tuba. These guys are some of the hottest, most accomplished, most in-demand musicians on the New York scene.

The Hot Four will draw from the same repertoire as Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, a larger combo that has packed the house at Birdland every week for over 25 years. It's a New York institution, featuring the works of Satchmo - natchmo! - and also music by Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke and others. One review says the band is a, "showcase of talent built on a love for jazz's timeless ghosts," and a "rollickingly good time." Another review said the band "evoke[s] a century-old sound with a here-today refreshing vivacity."

Ostwald started studying music at age 7. When his parents asked him what he wanted for his Bar Mitzvah, he said he wanted a tuba. His parents replied, "What do you REALLY want?" It took two years for his parents to relent - they finally bought him a tuba at age 15. When he went to the University of Chicago, he helped form a jazz band, the Cook County Doo-Dah Boys. After U of C, he went to law school so he could afford to have a family. In 1991, the New York Times published Ostwald's essay, "Louis Armstrong, Civil Rights Pioneer." He doesn't feel a conflict between his law career and his music - he says both careers require, "being able to listen to the other guy."

Danny Tobias, too, has been playing trumpet since he was a kid in New Jersey. He took music lessons in high school and college, where he began playing jazz gigs. He taught music in public school for 35 years. Now retired, he's a frequent player at The Ear's Sunday jam sessions, with Ostwald at Birdland, and, occasionally, at Mona's, in addition to the Ostwald band's regular Wednesday gig, 

Dan Block tuned into the Great American Songbook at age 14, went to Julliard, and joined the NYC jazz community, playing on Charles Mingus' last record, in orchestras conducted by Leonard Bernstein and Zubin Mehta, on records by Catherine Russell, Tony Bennett and others, and in over 30 shows on and off Broadway. He's known to drop into The Ear and Mona's when he's not busy with other projects.

Alonzo de la Fuente, Jr., is the only musician of the Hot Four that I don't know. He came to early jazz from modern jazz, which, he discovered, was, "something raw and human [that] most musicians can feel right away . . . you can’t help but smile when you hear it." He came to New York from his native Chile in about 2022, "to learn directly from the people and places that keep this music alive, and to try and be part of the community that surrounds it." 

Here's a video that captures the spirit of the Hot Four, featuring some hot Ostwald tuba, with Danny Tobias on trumpet, and two other guys you might recognize . . . https://youtu.be/AFQAjnWAY1U

This concert is covered by The Woods Hole Music, Inc., guarantee - Leave with a smile on your face or your money back!

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Woods Hole Music, Inc. hosts musicians from New Orleans, New York City, Nashville, Brazil, Europe, and wherever it can find mind-blowingly amazing players. The best way to find out about these concerts is to join the mailing list by sending a request to isen@isen.com. Woods Hole Music, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a registered Massachusetts charity that welcomes (but does not require) appreciative donations.