Oteil Burbridge

Oteil Burbridge
Burbridge performing with the Allman Brothers Band in 2007
Background information
Born	(1964-08-24) August 24, 1964 (age 52)
Origin	Washington, D.C., United States
Genres	Southern rock, classical music, blues-rock, free funk, jazz, jazz fusion
Instruments	Bass guitar, drums, banjo, bass clarinet, piano
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Epic, Sanctuary
Associated acts	Dead & Company Les Brers Tedeschi Trucks Band Aquarium Rescue Unit The Allman Brothers Band Vida Blue Oteil and the Peacemakers BK3
Website	www.oteilburbridge.com

Oteil Burbridge (born August 24, 1964) is an American multi-instrumentalist, specializing on the bass guitar, trained in playing jazz and classical music from an early age. He has achieved fame primarily on bass guitar during the resurgence of the Allman Brothers Band from 1997 through 2014. He was also a founding member of the bands Dead & Company and The Aquarium Rescue Unit, and has worked with other musicians who include Bruce Hampton, Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, Bill Kreutzmann and The Derek Trucks Band, with whom his brother Kofi Burbridge is the keyboardist and flautist.

Burbridge has been recognized for his ability to incorporate scat-singing into his improvised bass solos. Burbridge endorses Fodera, Modulus, Sukop and Dunlop guitars and effects.

Burbridge was born and raised in Washington, D.C., to an African American family with some Egyptian heritage. His name, Oteil, means "explorer" or "wanderer". When he and elder sibling Kofi showed talent for music, their mother encouraged them with classical and jazz courses hoping to nurture their musical inclinations and keep them out of trouble. Kofi remembers Oteil's first drum set: a Quaker Oatmeal box, when he was only three or four years old. Both brothers were introduced to a wide variety of instruments, and became multi-instrumentalists, with both being taught to play the piano. Oteil gained proficiency on the bass clarinet, violin,and trumpet; however, bass guitar and drums became his instruments of choice (while Kofi developed a love for both flute and keyboards). Burbridge was also interested in the theater and became the co-host of a local children's television show called "Stuff". He was enrolled in the Sidwell Friends School, a well-known elite private school offering a higher quality of education than Washington D.C.'s troubled public school system and exposing Burbridge to the tastes and styles of a diverse student body. He graduated from Sidwell Friends in 1982.