Born white, the son of Greek immigrant parents, and raised in a predominantly black neighborhood in Northern California in the 1920s, Otis decided as a youth that he'd rather be black.
The choice put him on a path to a life in music during which he created the sensually pulsing 1958 hit "Willie and the Hand Jive." It also gave him a deep connection to black culture that helped him discover such future stars of R&B and rock as Etta James, Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, Hank Ballard and Little Esther Phillips.
"Yes, I chose," Otis told The Times in 1979, "because despite all the hardships, there's a wonderful richness in black culture that I prefer."
Otis died Tuesday in the Los Angeles area, where he had lived for much of his life, said Tom Reed, a black-music historian. He was 90.
Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Otis continued leading a big band R&B, jazz, soul, gospel and roots-rock revue in recent years, literally and figuratively beating the drum for the music that fired his imagination.
"I get a wave of pride in America when I look back at what we've accomplished in the field of music," Otis told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2000. "People are going to wake up to this great reservoir of music we've created in America — cakewalks, one-steps, boogie-woogie, country and western. I had a bit to do with one of those traditions.
He produced Thornton’s original recording of “Hound Dog,” a song that would later become an even bigger hit for Elvis Presley.
“His band shows a different style on pretty much every new recording,” said Piero Scaruffi, author of “A History of Rock Music, 1951-2000.” “The reason is that Otis did not force his personality on others but worked with the personality of the others. He may not have been a great composer or performer himself, but he was an impressive conductor.”
Otis launched his professional music career as an 18-year-old drummer for bawdy barrelhouse pianist Count Otis Matthews, although he had never played the drums until then.
Matthews instructed him to simply pound out the syncopated “shave and a haircut, six bits” beat that would become the backbone of early rock `n’ roll. His mastery of it soon proved his ticket to other bands and eventually to headlining his own group.
Otis saw himself as curator of black popular music, which for him represented much more than a diversion or livelihood. His cross-country R&B reviews and his radio and television appearances were dedicated to delivering black music to white audiences.
“The music isn’t just the notes, it’s the culture — the way grandma cooked, the way grandpa told stories, the way the kids walked and talked,” he once said.
While he always returned to playing music, in later years touring with his sons Shuggie and Nicky, Otis’ eclectic interests also included politics, art and organic food.
He worked for years as deputy chief of staff to state Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally when Dymally served in the Assembly, state Senate, as lieutenant governor and as a congressman.
In later years, Otis spent much of his time painting and sculpting. He also opened an organic grocery store in Sebastopol in the early 1990s to sell his son Nicky’s vegetables, decorating the store with his own colorful murals.
Although he had little success selling groceries, he did draw large crowds to the market every Friday and Saturday night when he performed there with his band.
“It was a smashing success,” Gould said. “You had to make reservations three weeks ahead. It was amazing.”
Otis also had a regular show playing records on the nonprofit Pacifica Radio Network’s stations until failing health prompted him to retire in 2005.
In addition to his sons, Otis is survived by his wife, Phyllis, whom he married in 1941; daughters Janet and Laura; and several grandchildren.
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