"When I compose or arrange, it's almost as if I'm working on a canvas creating a visual picture"
In 1992 Sam Newsome scored big points with his first album, Sam I Am released on the Dutch label Criss Cross. Already a highly respected saxophonist in the midst of a five-year stint in trumpeter Terence Blanchard's quintet, Newsome was roundly praised by the Penguin Guide to Jazz in its four-star review of the disc as a "tenorman of unpretentious authority" and a musician who possessed a "dark tenor tone and a penchant for fitting in with the band rather than dominating."
However, a few years later in 1995, Newsome laid down his tenor saxophone and picked up the soprano sax a bold, career-changing move that has paid off richly with his Columbia debut Sam Newsome & Global Unity, scheduled for release in February 1999. It's a fresh-sounding, richly-textured recording of organically nurtured New York fusion, a global amalgam of African, Brazilian, Indian, Latin and funk styles that the leader calls "cross-cultural jazz." Newsome and his Global Unity bandmates featuring wordless improvisational vocalists Elizabeth Kontomanou and Lisa Michel, bassist Ugonna Okegwo, percussionists Gilead Dobrecky, Natalie Cushman and Leon Parker and starring Amos Hoffman on the lute-like oud deliver a lyrical and highly charged percussive batch of six originals augmented by compelling renditions of Duke Ellington's "Caravan," Chick Corea's "Crystal Silence," Mongo Santamaria's "Afro Blue" and the spiritual "Go Down Moses."
"This music came about after I made the commitment to focus on playing the soprano saxophone," says Newsome, a Berklee College of Music grad who has gigged with trumpeter Donald Byrd, vibist Lionel Hampton and organist Jack McDuff. "With the soprano sax, I felt like I could sing more because the instrument has a vocal-like quality. I can get to the point more quickly and clearly on the soprano that I ever could on the tenor."
Making the switch to soprano saxophone wasn't easy. At first Newsome was playing both saxophones. "I was trying to develop my tenor sound, but the soprano messed up my embouchure every time I practiced it. My face would hurt all over when I woke up in the morning. Then as I progressed, I got inside the soprano more. I started to feel like I could just play music without thinking about licks. I'd blow through the horn and it was just me. I felt so free." It got to the point where Newsome, who couldn't wait to finish practicing the tenor, decided to let the big horn gather dust.
Since Newsome's calling card had been tenor, he had to spend a spell on the jazz scene sidelines until he developed new material. It was worth the wait. He started experimenting with his new sound by forming the bass-drum trio Motivik Development, then gradually began adding other players, especially percussionists who introduced exotic new acoustic sounds to the mix.
Writing with the soprano in mind, Newsome began exploring a range of world music sounds from Middle Eastern to Japanese folk. "Then I started to hear other instruments," he recalls. "I brought in a percussionist who played the berimbau and the djembe. I felt they blended well with the soprano." Once Newsome discarded the trap set from the band, which he felt was interfering with the clarity of the tunes, the music took on a momentum of its own.
A key figure in the development of Global Unity proved to be vocalist Elizabeth Kontomanou. "When I heard her, she knocked me out," says Newsome, who quickly enlisted her for the band. "The soprano saxophone has a very fragile quality, as does the voice, so they work well together. We both approach music in a very lyrical way. She's not trying to emulate bebop horn players, and I'm not either."
Newsome's original compositions include "Swedish Massage," a tune based on a Turkish scale in 5/4 time with an exhilarating bridge, and "It's Not The Size Of The Horn, But How You Swing It," a percussive number driven by a 7/4 groove. "When I compose or arrange, it's almost as if I'm working on a canvas creating a visual picture," Newsome explains. "My approach to writing is very in-the-moment. I feel more free that way, and it's a lot more fun."
 |
 |