1 CD
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€ 19.95
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Label Criss Cross |
UPC 8712474141821 |
Catalogue number CRISS 1418 |
Release date 01 March 2024 |
“This was a dream band to write for and play with,” alto saxophonist Michael Thomas says of Manuel Valera, Matt Brewer and Obed Calvaire, his A-list rhythm section on Illusion of Choice, his Criss Cross debut, and fourth leader album. “These musicians can play any style and sound like it’s the only thing they play. I wanted to explore these different areas and cohere them into an album, not sound like tunes stuck together for a CD. Everything was on the table. I wasn’t afraid to develop whatever ideas I came up with, and see where they went.”
The encounter gestated in spring 2023, when pianist Valera – who’d recorded Vessel (Criss-1416) in January – suggested to label proprietor Jerry Teekens that he match Thomas with this band. They met when both played with Dafnis Prieto’s big band in 2017. Soon thereafter, Valera started calling Thomas for gigs with his quintet. Thomas reciprocated, calling Valera for engagements with the Terraza Big Band (he’s co-led it with bassist Edward Perez since 2015), which recorded five of Thomas’s charts on the 2019 Grammy-nominated One Day Wonder. Also in 2019, Thomas made the live recording Event Horizon with a quartet featuring trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Johnathan Blake, and the studio date Natural Habitat (with pianist Julian Shore, Glawischnig and Blake). Both showcase his original music, as did the self-released The Long Way from 2011.
Although Illusion of Choice features an assembled-for-the-occasion ensemble rather than the working bands documented on his earlier albums, Thomas, 36, considers it “the strongest thing I’ve done so far.” During the four months preceding the September 2023 recording session, Thomas generated eight originals tailored to the tonal personalities of his protean collaborators. They live up to the leader’s ballyhoo, nailing the shifting meters and intervallic challenges of his high-degree-of-difficulty pieces with panache and creative spirit
The Album was recorded September 14, 2023 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, Astoria, N.Y. Recording engineer Mike Marciano did the editing, mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NY. Photography by Anna Yatskevich.
Grammy-winning saxophonist, composer, and arranger Michael Thomas has been an active member of the New York City jazz community since arriving in 2011. Holding degrees from the University of Miami, New England Conservatory, and The Juilliard School, Michael has performed throughout the United States and abroad, including tours in Central and South America, Europe, Japan, and Russia. He has appeared as a sideman with Brad Mehldau, Dafnis Prieto, Nicholas Payton, Miguel Zenón, Etienne Charles, and Jason Palmer, and Michael’s talents can be heard on over 30 recordings. According to the New York Times, Michael writes “energetic, tuneful music for both combos and large ensembles”, and All About Jazz describes his playing as “a particular revelation, as he provides superb, well-crafted solos”.
Michael has been commissioned by school and professional ensembles throughout the United States and abroad, and he is currently a member of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop in New York City. Since 2015, Michael has co-lead the Terraza Big Band, and the ensemble’s GRAMMY-nominated debut One Day Wonder, was released in May 2019 on Outside In Music. Michael’s work has been recognized by DownBeat magazine as well as the Keep an Eye competition in Amsterdam, NL, and in 2020 he was chosen by the USAF Airmen of Note as the winner of the Sammy Nestico Award. Michael also participated in the New York Youth Symphony’s First Music commission series in 2016, and he continues to work as an arranger and orchestrator for clients around the world. In addition to his work as a big band composer, Michael regularly leads his quartet, releasing the two-CD live album Event Horizon in May 2020 on Giant Step Arts. His follow up studio recording, Natural Habitat, was released in March 2021 on Sunnyside Records.
Since September 2018, Michael has been a faculty member at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music as an Artist Teacher of jazz saxophone in the Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Institute.
Michael is a Boston Sax Shop performing artist.
Grammy-winning saxophonist, composer, and arranger Michael Thomas has been an active member of the New York City jazz community since arriving in 2011. Holding degrees from the University of Miami, New England Conservatory, and The Juilliard School, Michael has performed throughout the United States and abroad, including tours in Central and South America, Europe, Japan, and Russia. He has appeared as a sideman with Brad Mehldau, Dafnis Prieto, Nicholas Payton, Miguel Zenón, Etienne Charles, and Jason Palmer, and Michael’s talents can be heard on over 30 recordings. According to the New York Times, Michael writes “energetic, tuneful music for both combos and large ensembles”, and All About Jazz describes his playing as “a particular revelation, as he provides superb, well-crafted solos”.
Michael has been commissioned by school and professional ensembles throughout the United States and abroad, and he is currently a member of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop in New York City. Since 2015, Michael has co-lead the Terraza Big Band, and the ensemble’s GRAMMY-nominated debut One Day Wonder, was released in May 2019 on Outside In Music. Michael’s work has been recognized by DownBeat magazine as well as the Keep an Eye competition in Amsterdam, NL, and in 2020 he was chosen by the USAF Airmen of Note as the winner of the Sammy Nestico Award. Michael also participated in the New York Youth Symphony’s First Music commission series in 2016, and he continues to work as an arranger and orchestrator for clients around the world. In addition to his work as a big band composer, Michael regularly leads his quartet, releasing the two-CD live album Event Horizon in May 2020 on Giant Step Arts. His follow up studio recording, Natural Habitat, was released in March 2021 on Sunnyside Records.
Since September 2018, Michael has been a faculty member at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music as an Artist Teacher of jazz saxophone in the Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Institute.
Michael is a Boston Sax Shop performing artist.