Aspiring jazz musicians are brought up to believe that DJs are the enemies of ‘real’ musicians. The logic being that people who play real instruments are loosing all their gigs to these interlopers that just play their favorite tunes all night.

As a youngster I sort of bought into this notion. Somewhere along the line I had a brutal falling out with jazz, realizing that if I transcribed another Sonny Stitt solo I was going to combust. As Kool Keith once mysteriously pointed out, ‘Sonny Stitt ain’t makin’ you rich’, but for me it was more like, my fanatical obsession with Sonny Stitt, Hank Mobely and the like, is killing me inside. Instead, I decided, I’d play rip-your-face-off noise music for a decade or so to clear my system, which I did. Somewhere along the line I began listening to some friends of mine who were recommending the sounds of Dubstep, Grime, and sound system music from the African Diaspora and everywhere else people have laptops and/or PA speakers. I was hooked! For me it was a kind of noise music, but people like it! Bass and sound system music succeeds at being politically radical, and spiritually fun, in ways that other progressive sound culture fails, so I’ve been getting it in trying to find a home for the saxophone amidst these sounds.

Below please find some samples of what I’ve come up with as a function of my inquiry into the exact location of the intersection between noise music, sound system music, and the saxophone. The fellas in ZS and I put together an EP of the current line up remixing the past line up. It’s called The GRAIN EP and it’s out on Northern Spy Records on April 28th. And Diamond Terrifier draws from Footwork and Whiz Kalifa to get at some ambient/Juke hybrid going on my new record ‘The Subtle Body Wears A Shadow’, out on Terrible Records on May 30th!

It’s an honor to be posting up on the Dutty Artz blog, sharing this music with folks who have the context to hear where some of these sounds may be coming from, and I look forward to the response!

Also! ZS plays tonight at Cafe Dancer on Orchard between Broome and Delancey on the LES. Come through and blow us up!

And here is a nice ZS remix by DJ Zebrablood who will be spinning! Enjoy!