Ep. 36: Quinsin Nachoff

*All podcasts formerly on SoundCloud redirected to Anchor.*  In this podcast, we'll be talking to jazz saxophonist and composer Quinsin Nachoff. His new album Pivotal Arc is released today on Whirlwind Recordings. Quinsin's music has been well-known for its unpredictability and innovation, for crossing boundaries between different musical genres and pushing the performers' barriers. The album is based around three main works. Firstly, a violin concerto features virtuoso soloist Nathalie Bonin, and a jazz-tinged unit comprising two giants of the New York scene (bassist Mark Helias and drummer Satoshi Takeishi), vibraphone player Michael Davidson, and a wind and string ensemble conducted by JC Sanford. The first movement is written as "an imaginary deconstructed and reconstructed Tango." The second movement is a ballad that combines both written and improvised sections and the third is inspired by Balkan folk music. The String Quartet (performed by the Molinari String Quartet) "represents some of Nachoff’s most intricate writing to date, allowing him to explore his deep attachment to the tradition and his engagement with contemporary iterations." As he recalls, "I like to keep up with what's happening now in quartet writing and this gave me the opportunity to explore some of those ideas – pitch axis, using quarter tones, etc., but still keeping a jazz influence because that’s a large part of my background.." The final work, Pivotal Arc, has been described as "Nachoff's extended reflection on the critical position we currently find ourselves in regarding climate change." It's perhaps the most traditional jazz-sounding work on the album with ample opportunity for interplay between the jazz unit and solos from bassist Helias, drummer Satoshi Takeishi, and Nachoff's tenor saxophone. With broad influences ranging from Strayhorn to Mancini, Bartók to Berg, this is a unique album that's refreshing and innovative to listen to from both the classical and jazz perspectives. Many thanks to: Quinsin for talking to me and his permission to use some extracts from the album in this podcast. Ann Braithwaite for bringing this really interesting project to my attention. CREDITS Music used in this podcast: 1 &2. Violin Concerto - Movement 1 3. Violin Concerto - Movement 2 4. String Quartet - Movement 1 5 & 6. Pivotal Arc Nathalie Bonin - violin soloist Molinari String Quartet: Olga Ranzenhofer - violin I, Antoine Bareil - violin II Frédéric Lambert - viola, Pierre-Alain Bouvrette - cello Quinsin Nachoff - tenor saxophone JC Sanford - conductor Michael Davidson - vibraphone Mark Helias - bass Satoshi Takeishi - drums, percussion Jean-Pierre Zanella - piccolo, flute, clarinet, soprano sax Yvan Belleau - clarinet, tenor saxophone Brent Besner - bass clarinet Jocelyn Couture - trumpet I Bill Mahar - trumpet II David Grott - trombone Bob Ellis - bass trombone Recorded at Studios Piccolo, Montreal, Canada Recording Engineer - David Travers Smith Assistant Engineer - Patrice Pruneau Edited, mixed and mastered by David Travers Smith Produced by Quinsin Nachoff, David Travers-Smith Executive Producer - Michael Janisch Pivotal Arc released 7 August, 2020 Podcast published 7 August 2020; interview with Quinsin recorded 31 July 2020. Quinsin's bio: http://quinsin.com/bio. Purchase Pivotal Arc here: https://quinsinnachoff.bandcamp.com. Citations taken from "About the Album," Pivotal Arc, https://quinsinnachoff.bandcamp.com (accessed 7 August 2020).