The Tennessee-born, New York-based baritone saxophonist Zoh Amba has been one of the most vital new voices in avant-garde jazz for the last few years. She was one of our favorite new artists in 2022, and she's been collaborating with a lot of people since then. In 2023, Amba teamed up with Chris Corsano and Bill Orcutt to release the album The Flower School. Last year, she got together with Steve Gunn, Jim White, and Shahzad Ismaily to form the supergroup Beings, and they released the album There Is A Garden. And this summer, Amba will release her new solo album Sun.
According to a press release, Zoh Amba decided to release Sun on Smalltown Supersound because of the label's connection to Peter Brötzmann, the late German saxophonist who she considered to be a "spiritual mentor." She recorded three of the album's tracks entirely solo, but she did most of the compositions with an ensemble that includes bassist Caroline Morton, pianist Lex Korton, and percussionist Miguel Marcel Russel. She says, "We spent days just playing together, and I was trying to mentally take notes of what naturally wanted to exist in this band -- before giving instructions or handing out sheet music. I wanted to see where we were all standing in life, right at that moment. From there, I started carving out the process with them."
The lead single from Sun is "Fruit Gathering," a brief and evocative instrumental that kind of quotes from "Taps." Below, check out that song, the Sun tracklist, and Zoh Amba's upcoming tour dates.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Fruit Gathering"
02 "Interbeing
03 "Ma"
04 "Forevermore"
05 "Seaside"
06 "Champa Flower"
07 "At Noon"
08 "Like The Sun"
09 "In Heart"
TOUR DATES:
7/10 - Braga, Portugal @ Gnration %
7/11 - Rotterdam, Netherlands @ NSJ Festival %
7/12 - Ghent, Belgium @ Ghent Jazz Festival %
7/28-30 - London, UK @ Cafe Oto (solo & collaborations)
8/05 - Oslo, Norway @ Oslo Jazz Festival ^
8/16 - Peitz, Germany @ Jazzwerkstatt Peitz ^
9/11 - Rock Island, IL @ Rozz Tox %
9/12 - Madison, WI @ North Street Cabaret %
9/13 - Chicago, IL @ Sound & Gravity Festival %
% with Sun ensemble
^ solo
Sun is out 6/27 on Smalltown Supersound
