Video of the day: Joshua Jaswon Octet share ‘Swirl and Gather’ from new album Polar Waters
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
The British-born Berlin-based saxophonist shares the first track from his latest album, Polar Waters, which is released on 2 June via Ubuntu Music
British saxophonist, composer and arranger Joshua Jaswon releases his third album, Polar Waters, this summer with his Berlin-based contemporary jazz Octet. The ensemble features exceptional young musicians from Europe's leading jazz scenes: Anna Serierse (vocals), Marc Doffey (tenor and soprano saxophone), Jan Kaiser (trumpet and flugelhorn), Andrej Ugoljew (trombone), Johannes Mann (electric guitar), Sidney Werner (double bass) and Aarón Castrillo (drums).
The Octet’s collective sound is a part of its natural evolution and has developed through extended time living with and performing the music. Rather than writing for ‘voice and ensemble’ Jaswon has drawn out the distinct musical personalities of each musician and explored the fluidity of roles, sound colours and textural combinations in the group.
“As I started writing new music for the Octet, I wanted the compositional method to somehow relate more strongly to creative processes and approaches that had been informed and influenced by science and the natural world,” explains Jaswon. “These early ideas led to encountering the Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) and the three SciencePoetry (SciPo) anthologies. SciPo explores the creative common ground between science and poetry and I was hugely interested in collaborating with some of these writers to create a new body of work that traversed the borders between poetry, science and music.”
The official album launch takes place on Wednesday 20 September at PizzaExpress Jazz Club, Dean Street, London – for more info visit joshuajaswon.com