Otherworldly.

That’s how I describe Jeff Oster. Even dealing now with a family emergency…..his music takes me to a place of immense calm. He is beyond gifted.

Jeff Oster’s name is one I’ve been hearing quite a bit recently – often as a session musician on a number of new releases produced by Windham Hill Records founder William Ackerman. However, I was also familiar Jeff’s own new release, “Surrender” which was chosen by the nationally syndicated Echoes radio program as the “CD of the Month” for September 2011. What distinguishes him from nearly every other musician in this genre are his instruments of choice - trumpet and flugelhorn. Jeff is charting new sonic territory in his expansion of these instruments into a context of electronica, downtempo beats, and loop based electro-orchestral bed tracks. Although the description of his music as “Miles meets Enya” is a good starting point, it soon transcends those references as various elements combine in audio alchemy.

He is joined by producer and engineering master Bryan Carrigan, who adds additional synthesizers, drum programming, and sound design, as well as having co-produced and co-written eight of the songs on this album. Also adding her own inimitable talents to a number of the compositions is vocalist Diane Arkenstone, who is an artist of note in her own right.

Trying to pick favorites on this CD is an exercise in futility, as literally every track is a winner. While there is indeed a dreamy, almost surreal quality to the music, it is infused with a cool urban vibe that makes it intriguing, entrancing, and irresistible.