I really enjoyed Otis’s class visit today. Being a musician myself, I’ve seen plenty of artists perform different forms of music over the years. Otis’s style of music may not be very high on my preferences list, but I still really enjoyed his performance. You can see in the way he performs that he genuinely enjoys what he does and at the end of the day that is the most important thing because without passion, no matter how good you are, you can only do so much. I have never heard a live solo that sounded as multi-layered and diverse as Otis’s performance. The airy layers of his performance reminded me of a windy desert, the sounds of his finger on the metal keys, even though not really a part of the music, reminded me of the sound of strong rainfall. The array of different elements of music produced by his saxophone was absolutely fascinating especially knowing that it was all improvisation. It was also nice to hear from a musician in the industry about the different stages and challenges faced in music composition and production.