Doug Ostgard played in a pit orchestra for legends like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Johnny Mathis. He’s been a professional musician in Las Vegas, and was part of rock band Heart’s 1980 world tour. His musical career has spanned more than 30 years, but it wasn’t until this year that he fulfilled a longtime dream.
“I always told myself ‘Some day, I’m going to make my own Christmas record,'” Ostgard said. Now, he has.
The CD “Tidings of Comfort and Joy” was recently released, and is getting air time on KRWM (Warm 106.9) and KWJZ (98.9). Even better, it’s a collaboration with his friend Steven Ray Allen, a Fall City composer who holds seven local Grammies, has his own recording studio, and best of all, plays guitar.
“When I first started getting into flute more, I really wanted to play guitar and flute music,” Ostgard said. He plays pretty much every other woodwind, too, theorizing “If I can play all the woodwinds, why wouldn’t they hire me?”
“Tidings” features the pair’s original compositions of traditional Christmas tunes for guitar with flutes, piccolo, recorder, Irish whistle, oboe, clarinets, bassoon, and saxophones. It’s their second album since Ostgard moved back to the area, and it moves the duo a little further into the jazz traditions from which they both came.
“I like to improvise in my style,” Allen said. “I love playing gigs with Doug, because anything can happen, and it usually does with this guy.”
Even in their improvisation, though, Allen, a classical guitarist, builds in a lot of structure, making their music more interesting, and more demanding to play.
In traditional jazz, there’s just a basic melody, or “head” to the song. “You play the head, then you play it over and over again while everybody solos, then it’s back to the head, and the song’s over.” Allen explains.
In their music, “Everything is through-composed,” Allen says, meaning that musicians are constantly expanding on the melody. They don’t get a nice long break while other performers do their solos, either.
Ostgard recalled how tired and achey he was after one of their first three-hour performances at Baker Street Books in Black Diamond, where he lives.
Allen agreed, saying “Part of the way through, my hand just stopped working. My nerves just said ‘I’ve had enough and I’m not doing any more.'”
Ostgard and Allen held their CD release party at Baker Street Books Friday, Dec. 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. They play at the book store every month or so, and hope to start doing more performances in the area.
“I think libraries, bookstores, and coffee shops are where we belong,” said Allen.
“Tidings of Comfort and Joy” is available for sale at Hauglie Insurance in Fall City, or online at CD Baby, or the duo’s website. If you can’t wait, you can check out a brief sample of the duo’s music below.
