Sam Gendel's Nonesuch debut album, Satin Doll, is out now. On this futuristic homage to historical jazz, three musicians—Gendel on saxophone, Gabe Noel on electric bass, and Philippe Melanson on electronic percussion—engage in simultaneous synchronized sonic construction / deconstruction of jazz standards, including songs by Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and Duke Ellington. "A woozy, blissfully twisted album," says the Los Angeles Times. "The avant-garde trailblazer pushes the boat out to glorious extremes," says the Guardian. "A searing new language for sax." Gendel has released a new video for the track "Glide Mode," which you can watch here.
Sam Gendel's Nonesuch Records debut album, Satin Doll, is out now. Recorded in Gendel's native California, Satin Doll is a futuristic homage to historical jazz. The album features three musicians—Gendel on saxophone, Gabe Noel on electric bass, and Philippe Melanson on electronic percussion—engaging in simultaneous synchronized sonic construction/deconstruction of jazz standards, including Miles Davis' "Freddie Freeloader," Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," and Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll." "A woozy, blissfully twisted album," says the Los Angeles Times. To pick up a copy of Satin Doll head to your local record store, the Nonesuch Store, iTunes, and Amazon, and listen at Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.
With the new album comes today's release of a new video for the album track "Glide Mode," here:
"The avant-garde trailblazer pushes the boat out to glorious extremes," says the Guardian's four-star review. "Satin Doll is his most fully formed album yet and pushes this experimentation to its furthest extreme, his sax sounding like melting wax. The original melodies and movements of these standards can seem buried so far beneath Gendel’s production as to be unrecognisable, but this is the beauty of his work. A searing new language for sax."
"Satin Doll deconstructs jazz standards in a woozy crunk of dense electronic synthwave dreamscapes," says London Jazz News. "A lush and complex sonic experience."
"Sam Gendel plays like a student at the altar of spiritual jazz," says Pitchfork. "His songs are just a little too psychedelic to sit in the contemporary jazz section, but his music is as studied and controlled as his counterparts in post-bop." "In the spirit of Miles Davis or late-career John Coltrane," says Fader, "Gendel aspires to a transcendent form of jazz." KCRW says: "Sam Gendel makes poetry in musical motion [and] speaks to our time and beyond."
Sam Gendel is a musician and producer living in Los Angeles, CA. He is most known for his work with the saxophone, though he is proficient on multiple instruments. His work is diverse and includes significant collaborations with a wide range of artists including Ry Cooder, Blake Mills, Sam Amidon, Perfume Genius, Moses Sumney, Knower, Vampire Weekend, and inc. no world. Gendel's previous discography includes the critically praised Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar with bassist Sam Wilkes and 4444.
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