When musicians encounter dark days, the creative spirit often helps in washing away the dust of everyday life. Saxophonist and composer Noah Preminger has, over the course of 20 albums as a leader, been able to turn whatever life was dealing at the moment into engaging creative encounters - music inspired by the Mississippi Delta; reworked scores of his namesake Otto Preminger; interpretations of the works of Chopin. The creative process, like for the listener, always brought light to the challenges of the day, or as pianist Christian Sands calls it, facing dragons.
With a title like Dark Days, you might expect something pained and somber, but here Preminger faces his dragons with expressions of beauty and excitement, impactful from the start. To accomplish this the tenor saxophonist is joined by guitarist Ely Perlman (a current member of Christian McBride's Ursa Major group), bassist Kim Cass and top flight timekeeper Terreon Gully, for originals that have a Middle Eastern feel, a celebration of his son Nash, the feeling of Barcelona, one of his favorite places, and a reimagination of a piece by trumpeter Don Cherry.
WBGO's Daybreak host Gary Walker spokt with Noah Preminger about his latest release.
Noah Preminger talks to Gary about the message of Dark Days.
Noah Preminger describes what it was like to live in Barcelona.
Hear a track each morning @8:20AM, another feature made possible by the members of WBGO.
You can SEE Gary Walker's entire conversation with Noah Preminger below:
