“One of the most gifted and transformative alto saxophonists of his generation” (DownBeat), Logan Richardson is a boundless artist who continues the distinguished tradition of Kansas City jazz innovators, following in the footsteps of Charlie Parker, Bennie Moten, and Count Basie.
An epochal experience as a teenager at a Max Roach performance set Richardson’s trajectory as a jazz musician, and he was working professionally by 16, performing with the likes of the legendary Jay McShann and the Kansas City Symphony.
Since his move to New York at the turn of the 21st century, Richardson has an in-demand sideman and collaborator, working with Jason Moran, Stanley Cowell, Joe Chambers, Stefon Harris, Gerald Clayton, and Nasheet Waits, among others, and is a member of the visionary NEXT Collective.
With the release of his 2007 debut Cerebral Flow, the altoist established his career as a bandleader that has taken him around the world and yielded a succession of albums including the 2015 Blue Note session Shift featuring guitar giant Pat Metheny, 2018’s blues PEOPLE, 2020’s Afrofuturism, and his most recent releases for the WAX Industry label, a trilogy consisting of Holy Water (2023), Sacred Garden (2024), and The Science of Superstition (2024). Through it all, Richardson’s searching, lyrical alto sound has grounded the experimentation with its soulfulness, creating a sublime alchemy of the organic and technological, marked by overarching emotion and depth.
His music has embraced a kaleidoscope of influences and means of expression, from densely layered electronic production to aggressive rock-informed fusion and myriad global inspirations. Bringing his disparate array of compositions to life is his working ensemble named after his Ropeadope album blues PEOPLE, featuring a lineup including keyboardists Javier Santiago and Miles Lennox, bassist Frescia Belmar, and drummer Ronald Bruner Jr.
For his Joe Henderson Lab appearance on July 25, Richardson presents his new live project A Living Score, a system of performance that merges improvisation, storytelling, technology, memory, and place into a single living work. Through this amalgam of saxophone, electronics, sound design, and improvisation, the audience will experience a new work created in the moment by a preeminent voice in modern music.
Logan Richardson performs A Living Score on 7/25. Tickets and more information are available here.
Sign Up for the SFJAZZ newsletter!
Get the latest on upcoming concerts, the monthly online SFJAZZ Magazine, new videos, playlists and more!