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.\n', '

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.\n', '

Oteil performed regularly in a variety of D.C. bands as a teenager, gathering experience playing R&B, rock, Brazilian music and jazz among other styles. He moved to Virginia Beach and worked mostly in cover bands there, and subsequently became part of the Atlanta musical scene, where he played with different musicians and also became fluent in other genres of music.\n', '

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