With an already well-established reputation as an excellent clinician, educator, sideman, student and performer at the young age of 23, saxophonist Adam Larson has successfully added the titles artist, composer and recording artist to his resume with the release of his debut album Simple Beauty.

Larson’s debut effort was released January 2013 and has already received notable recognition as both an ambitious and innovative project by The Jazz Police, Something Else Reviews, Everything Saxophone, All Jazz Sax and more.

The album features 9 full length compositions and two short intros (“The Vamp” and “Away Intro”) written by Adam and the guitarist on the album, Nils Weinhold.

The album opens with “The Vamp”, a minimalist intro that segues into “Good Day Without You” where Larson shines as a soloist. After is “Away Intro,” a solo introduction to the ballad “Away” where guitarist Nils Weinhold steps out with a heartfelt feature that builds into a solo by Adam, showcasing his command of the saxophone that belies his youth.

The rest of the tunes on the album range from exciting and rhythmic compositions to beautiful and soulful ballads all performed exceptionally by this young group of musicians.

The album features the talents of Nils Weinhold on guitar, Can Olgun on piano and rhodes, Raviv Markovitz on bass and Jason Burger and Guilhem Flouzat on drums. According to Larson, choosing the right players for the project was an important step in it’s production. “It’s something I thought about a lot when preparing to record this album. I’ve been very fortunate to work with and develop relationships with several amazing musicians over the past few years. I picked the individuals who I knew were deeply invested in the music, the bands vision, and were right for the job.”

Back in 2005, the Illinois-native Adam was one of Teen Jazz’s featured young artists. Since he has gone on to earn his undergraduate degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he is currently enrolled for his Master’s degree.

You can read our interview with Adam here or learn more about this up and coming saxophonist at his website.

Get Simple Beauty on Amazon

Title: Simple Beauty
Artist: Adam Larson
Date: January 16, 2013
Genre: Jazz
Label: Adam Larson Music Group

Tracks:

01 The Vamp
02 Good Day Without You
03 Away Intro
04 Away
05 Loophole
06 Simple Beauty
07 Odd Man Out
08 Strong Mind, Strong Body
09 No Words
10 Tiny Conferences
11 Song with a Bridge

Get Simple Beauty on Amazon

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Published by Shannon Kennedy

Shannon Kennedy is a vocalist and saxophonist living in Southern California. She is author of "The Album Checklist" and the founder of Teen Jazz. She has been contributing articles to music magaizines and websites since 2004.