Jason Lindner keys · Tim Lefebvre bass · Zach Danziger drums · Donny McCaslin sax
“It’s a fresh wind that blows against the empire.” In many ways, these nine words encapsulate the ethos of Donny McCaslin, whose escapades on the tenor saxophone have both embraced and sometimes repudiated contemporary notions of jazz—often simultaneously, with a deep understanding of what has come before and what lies ahead. Although he garnered widespread acclaim for his stint as bandleader for David Bowie’s swansong LP Blackstar, McCaslin’s journey to that point encompassed numerous milestones of an up-and-coming jazz musician with boundary-pushing ambitions.
McCaslin began playing the saxophone at 12 in Santa Cruz, CA, and during his teenage years, he performed in his vibraphonist father’s band. His talent inevitably led him to a full scholarship at Berklee College of Music, a four-year stint with Gary Burton’s quintet, and another three-year stretch with Steps Ahead. Additional collaborations with Maria Schneider, Danilo Pérez, The Gil Evans Orchestra, and Elvis Costello also dot his resumé.
The Bowie gig, secured through Schneider’s recommendation, ultimately lit the fuse and supercharged McCaslin’s aspirations to take his music in exhilarating new directions and carve new pathways in what used to be called jazz fusion. For McCaslin, this meant leaning into a hybrid of jazz and art rock, which is evident in his two most recent albums.
First came Blow (2018), which introduced searing electric guitars, various programming, studio effects, and provocative lyrics, followed by I Want More, a return to instrumental music but produced and mixed by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT, Tame Impala, Mercury Rev, Sleater-Kinney), bringing a distinctly non-jazz consciousness to the creation process. The result was so striking that Jazzwise declared the album “…a uniquely hard-hitting, studio-driven recording that organically brings together elements from electronica, post-rock, jazz, and improv more persuasively than almost anything before it. Another blow for the revolution in McCaslin’s head. New music is always just around the corner, underscoring the insurgency in the music to come.”
