<\/p>\n
From <\/strong>Los Angeles For woodwind players, breath is everything: the lifeforce of artistry, the thing that furnishes sound with personality. But a few years ago, the Los Angeles saxophonist Aaron Shaw realised he was becoming increasingly breathless. In 2023, aged 27, he was diagnosed with bone marrow failure, meaning he wasn\u2019t producing enough oxygen-carrying red blood cells. A change of approach was required.<\/p>\n Shaw had risen quickly. He studied with Kamasi Washington<\/a>, worked alongside Herbie Hancock and Anderson .Paak, and tutored Andr\u00e9 3000<\/a> in music theory. Shaw works regularly with LA bandleader Carlos Ni\u00f1o<\/a>, and played on his 2024 new-age jazz album Placenta and last year\u2019s collaboration with poet Saul Williams. In turn, Ni\u00f1o has produced and played percussion on Shaw\u2019s forthcoming debut album And So It Is, which has something of the West Coast jazz haze you find in both Ni\u00f1o\u2019s and Washington\u2019s music. But Shaw\u2019s sound is actually a lower, darker fog, which he navigates with quiet caution.<\/p>\n Shaw mostly plays tenor saxophone and alto flute on the record. It is easier for him to play the latter \u2013 less breath is required \u2013 yet he persists with his original instrument, floating, Lester Young-style, over the top of Chick Corea\u2019s Windows to the Soul, and battling through long sustains on Heart of a Phoenix. Throughout the record you hear a young musician coming to terms with the end of one musical road, and cautiously feeling around for what comes next. Intimate loops and unexpected flourishes on flute provide optimistic notes on this remarkably open record. Hugh Morris<\/em><\/p>\n
Recommend if you like<\/strong> Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Shabaka Hutchings\u2019s flute music, the Coltranes
Up next<\/strong> Debut album And So It Is released 13 February<\/p>\nThis week\u2019s best new tracks<\/h2>\n