1/11/18:</br>Alchemy Sound Project

Alchemy Sound Project is the greatest jazz band you’ve never heard . . . or, perhaps, heard of. But there it is. 

And here they come—this collective of 5 composer-instrumentalists who each write remarkable works for the same ensemble. 

They gather here in advance of recording their third album. The second—Adventures in Time and Space—isn’t even out yet. But the first one is in heavy rotation at my house and should be at yours. Reviews of “Further Explorations” dispense these adjectives: mesmerizing, symphonic, transformational, inspiring, intelligent, rich, meditative, soulful. The album is a sublime achievement that received ecstatic notice from Downbeat and made UKVibe’s Top Twenty for 2016.

We know one of the members well—

Pianist Sumi Tonooka inaugurated our salon series back in July of last year. She returns to Philadelphia after many years in New York and a 5-year sabbatical in Seattle—burnishing her performance and compositional chops all the while.

Salim Washington plays multiple wind instruments and teaches jazz at the university at Durban, South Africa.

Erica Lindsay is a saxophonist and Artist-in-Residence at Bard College.

David Arend is a freelance bassist working both East and West Coasts.

Samantha Boshnack plays trumpet with her own ensembles in Seattle and was just named to a 2018 Make Jazz residency.

Great players all, but serious composers also who met at a Jazz Composer Orchestra Institute residency and became both fast friends and striking collaborators. It’s the synergy of five exceptionally creative minds with diverse musical backgrounds and a shared reverence for the sonorous possibilities of a small ensemble. This is music that is both accessible and yet shocking in its range of sources and textures. Joining the ensemble’s leader-composers are Aaron J. Johnson, trombone and Craig McIver, drums.

This is a rare opportunity to hear a band I promise you will remember and should be hearing about long into the future.

@exuberance parties at Matt’s are by invitation only to provide a dignified, comfortable and acoustically ideal setting for worthwhile art and ideas. Cellphones and other devices are to be holstered during the performances. Between sets, conviviality rules.