A saxophone is already a fairly demanding thing to operate. Josh Johnson also uses his to control a sampler or drum machine. A phrase can change the loop or effect around it, leaving him with more to deal with than the next note. On his third solo album, Animative, he is playing the machinery as well as the horn.
Johnson started on saxophone at eleven, growing up around Chicago after an early childhood in Maryland. He recalls hearing Lester Young through records his parents brought home and feeling that a musician was speaking directly to him. The sampler extends that original instrument’s job: the notes can also alter what the electronics do.
Animative follows 2020’s Freedom Exercise and 2024’s Unusual Object. Paul Bryan co-produced the new record, which arrived on physical formats and as a download on October 23; streaming follows November 10. The credits include Macie Stewart on violin, Meshell Ndegeocello on bass and Marquis Hill on trumpet. Johnson has worked extensively in other people’s bands, but the saxophone-and-sampler arrangement gives his own playing a particularly complicated job.
He names Eddie Harris and Mal Waldron among his influences in the label’s account. The credits spread across saxophone, synthesizer, sampler, drum synthesizer, piano, bass clarinet and guitar. Co-producer Paul Bryan helps put those parts into one recording; the saxophone’s triggering role connects some of them in performance.
The ten tracks run from Idiofone to Upstairs 2021. The interesting question is how much a single phrase can do in that setup. Johnson can play the horn and change an electronic part through the same action, making the next decision dependent on both. The resulting performance involves his breath and the electronics together. The equipment responds to a musician making decisions in real time.