Nick May Releases A Vibrant Cross Of Jazz And classical
- R.A.G.
- 29 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Nick May, known as a virtuoso performer on the saxophone, has recently put out a new record featuring compositions from some outstanding composers like Sebastian Zhang, Stewart Beatch, Darius D. Edwards, Spencer Arias, and more.
A lot of these performances are super enticing and have a way of popping out at you with a brilliant vibrancy as pianist Alex Siu Lun Li and Nick bring together piano and saxophone in a set of pieces that grab you.
Right from the very first track, "White Socks", composed by Sebastian Zhang, you get a great feel for some of the color and bright tonalities and sounds that come flying at you in such a playful manner that you can't turn away from it.
This track was a brilliant one to introduce the record with, simply because you're getting some of these great staples that you hear throughout the rest of the release, even though it is built from different composers' works.
This track, in particular, brings out a wonderful and vivacious feel.
Pieces like "Where Will My Flowers Go?", composed by Darius D. Edwards, bring out different forms of emotion and mood with a smoother and more melodic sensibility that feels like it bleeds into elements of jazz at times.
This was wonderful because it's great to get a feel for the different approaches and how Nick can perform almost in character for each different piece.
"Echo Dash", composed by Jennifer Higdon, is one of my favorites simply because it brings the tones of the piano and saxophone to a different place. It's a slightly scattered feeling at times, but it all falls together like puzzle pieces. This one also blends a jazz with classical composition approach, and I definitely feel right into it.
As the record unfolds, you get all of these different fields and just lively pieces of work with performances that are spot on but always have a passion behind them.
I love hearing performances like this because they remind you what can be done on the instruments.
The saxophone is an amazing instrument, but a lot of us have heard it in pop, jazz, or even rock. To hear it in these kinds of settings lets it come through differently. The tone and dynamic balance between the piano and the saxophone complement each other, and you get to hear that in all of these different pieces.
There's a good chunk of songs in the last half of the record composed by Spencer Arias.
The four pieces go together directly and are confluent with each other, but each has a different aesthetic.
Although everything on this release was really enticing, invigorating at times, engulfing, and brought such beautiful Textures together and unique ways, these four pieces are telling a story, and the titles of them explain.
"You, Me, Us, You Broke My Heart", "You, Me, Us, You Set me Free", "You, Me, Us, You Taught Me How To Fly", and "You, Me, Us - You + Me = Us".
These final four pieces of the release really sore.
Each one is intense in its own right, and the final piece of the batch really showcases some of Nick's impeccable attention to bringing a certain kind of intensity to performances on the instrument.
This whole record was beautifully done and displayed so many moods that it was very easy to get stuck in.
Definitely check this out, and you can see exactly what I mean. For fans of the saxophone, especially, you will absolutely love diving through this record.
Released via Neuma Records, you can listen at a few different places below.