Jon Gordon - Pointillism by Braithwaite & Katz

"Pointillism" is the first track from Stranger Than Fiction by alto saxophonist and composer Jon Gordon (September 17, 2021, ArtistShare).

On a nonet recording featuring ten original tracks from the musical heart and mind of a master, Gordon explores our warped modern existence and reality with all its astonishing, unpredictable twists and turns. The album's stellar band includes trumpeter Derrick Gardner, trombonist Alan Ferber, bass clarinetist John Ellis, guitarist/vocalist Jocelyn Gould, pianist Orrin Evans, and others.

One impetus for the record comes from a Leonard Bernstein quote: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." Stranger Than Fiction is an urgent, confrontational response to Bernstein's call to action. “I feel like we're in a crisis on many levels,” Gordon says. “And the only way you deal with these crises – the bullying and lies and authoritarian denial of reality – is by calling it out.”

“Pointillism” opens the album with gradually accruing fragments of sound from the horns, which finally give way to a tense duel between Gordon and drummer Ragnelli as the ensemble surges behind them.

A native New Yorker, saxophonist and composer Jon Gordon was born into a musical family and began playing at age ten. Classically trained, Gordon’s love for jazz was sparked when a friend played him a Phil Woods record. He began lessons with the legendary altoist while sitting in regularly with saxophonist Eddie Chamblee at Sweet Basil. Since attending Manhattan School of Music, Gordon has worked with the likes of Maria Schneider, Ron McClure, Clark Terry, Benny Carter, Phil Woods, T.S. Monk, Bill Mays, the Vanguard Orchestra, Bill Charlap, Ray Barretto, Mark Turner, George Colligan, Chico Hamilton, Jimmy Cobb, Ben Riley, Harry Connick Jr., Bob Mintzer, Bill Mobley, and the N.Y. Pops Orchestra, among many others. In November of 1996, he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, judged by Wayne Shorter, Jackie McLean, Joe Lovano, Jimmy Heath and Joshua Redman. He has released more than a dozen albums under his own name and is the author of three acclaimed books.