AVAILABLE NOW:
COMPOSER/SAXOPHONIST JOSHUA KWASSMAN SPINS THE
TALE OF FRIENDSHIP ON SONGS OF THE BROTHER SPIRIT -
HIS DEBUT ALBUM OF ALL ORIGINAL EXTENDED COMPOSITIONS
ON TRUTH REVOLUTION RECORDS
Featuring Guitarist Gilad Hekselman
"The
folk-like melodies evoke the Brian Blade Fellowship and early Pat
Metheny, but the construction of these through-composed songs also bring
to mind
Maria Schneider or Vince Mendoza" - Something Else!
The journey from adolescence to adulthood can be a harrowing one. For composer and saxophonist Joshua Kwassman,
that was true in a very literal sense, as a three-day bike trip, in
August 2010, with an idolized childhood friend collapsed into chaos and
shattered his youthful illusions.
While that trek itself found
Kwassman growing up in a hurry, his musical recounting of the
experience marks the debut of a remarkably mature young composer. Songs of the Brother Spirit, which will be released March 12 on Truth Revolution Records, spins
the tale of that friendship into a moving, richly-hued collection of
music influenced by composers from Ravel and Rachmaninoff to Maria
Schneider and Vince Mendoza. The disc climaxes in the three-part suite
"The Nowhere Trail," which follows Kwassman and his friend Justin
through that ill-fated bike trip.
"I learned to be an adult
through that experience," Kwassman says of the journey. "The essence of
this album is about going through our relationship and how that has
translated to my life."
Kwassman conveys this
autobiographical account through lush, modernist arrangements that
suggest an ensemble much larger and more varied than its six pieces. The
group assembled for the project includes the composer himself on a
variety of woodwinds, the ground-breaking guitarist Gilad Hekselman; guitarist Jeff Miles on "The Nowhere Trail Part I"; and the wordless vocals of Arielle Feinman, a classmate at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
The album is set at a time
when Kwassman still looked up to his friend, when the two bonded over
listening to jazz records for hours at a time. "We grew up together
through music, listening to Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter and Coltrane,"
Kwassman recalls. "I bonded to him deeply through this music. So when I
was writing the first piece on the album I was excited about sharing
with him, thinking we'd be able to bond over something I had created in
the same way we had with Miles."
Those early listening
experiences decided Kwassman on a path to jazz composition. He studied
at NYU, where he earned his Masters in the jazz program. He has since
received two ASCAP Young Jazz Composer awards and
performed with artists like Badal Roy, Ingrid Jensen, Mark Turner, and
Geoffrey Keezer. But his main focus is on his own music, which reflects a
wide range of influences from the innovative big band work of Maria
Schneider and Darcy James Argue to forward-thinking composers like Pat
Metheny and Brian Blade. Songs of the Brother Spirit
evidences a gift for vivid communication and transporting emotional
colors. As Kwassman succinctly says, "My goal is always to tell a
story."
| Joshua Kwassman's Songs of the Brother Spirit EPK |
Songs of the Brother Spirit Track Listing:
All songs composed by Joshua Kwassman
1. Our Land - 9:34
2. We Were Kids - 6:31
3. In Light There Is Song - 12:26
4. Interlude - 5:15
5. Meditation - 4:49
6. The Nowhere Trail Part I - 11:50
7. The Nowhere Trail Part II - 6:37
8. The Nowhere Trail Part III - 8:54
Upcoming U.S. Performances
March 23 / Vermont Jazz Center / Brattleboro, VT
March 26 / Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 / New York, NY
June 11 / Catalina's Jazz Club / Hollywood, CA
June 12 / Dizzy's / San Diego, CA
For more information on Joshua Kwassman,
please visit: JoshuaKwassman.com
For more information on Truth Revolution Records,
please visit: TruthRevolutionRecords.com
For media information, please contact:
DL Media· Maureen McFadden
Information and press materials (including album covers, promotional photos
and bio's) on all DL Media artists can be found at our new website: dlmediamusic.com
