Keith Oxman & Frank Morelli - The Ox-Mo Incident (2021)

Tenor saxophonist Keith Oxman and bassoon virtuoso Frank Morelli find common ground on their new jazz-meets-classical quartet album, The Ox-Mo Incident on Capri Records. The unique project pairs the Denver jazz great with the Juilliard bassoon professor for an unprecedented outing featuring pianist Jeff Jenkins, bassist Ken Walker and drummer Todd Reid. Jazz and classical music have crossed paths myriad times over the decades, but rarely is the meeting as unconventional yet congenial as this unlikely partnership between Denver-based tenor saxophonist Keith Oxman and bassoon virtuoso Frank Morelli. On their debut release, The Ox-Mo Incident, the two gifted instrumentalists turn the novel conjunction of two strange bedfellows into an intoxicating sound and a charming conversation between like-minded souls. The pairing is a first for both Oxman and Morelli, and perhaps for jazz itself (if not, it’s beyond doubt a true rarity). The album’s title makes a playful reference to Walter Van Tilburg Clark’s 1940 western novel The Ox-Bow Incident and its cinematic adaptation starring Henry Fonda.