Allison Au Quartet

SEP 19–22 | Saxophone Innovators

Sep 21, 2019

Joe Henderson Lab

PLEASE NOTE:
This page is an archive of a past production

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Original show description below.

Wielding a warm, pliable but cutting tone, Toronto-based alto saxophonist Allison Au is a rising force as an improviser, composer and bandleader. Since assembling her quartet a decade ago she’s steadily gained recognition with a welcoming, interactive group sound inspired by post-bop idioms, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, pop music forms and R&B cadences. She’s making her SFJAZZ debut in the midst of a prolonged winning streak, including scholarships for three consecutive artist residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Au earned her first Juno nomination for her self-produced debut album, The Sky Was Pale Blue, then Grey, which introduced the working band she brings to the JHL. Focusing on her original compositions, the album introduced an artist bristling with ideas. On the title track, she creates a sound collage using excerpts from a recorded conversation between John Cage and Morton Feldman. Her follow up album, 2016’s Forest Grove, earned the Juno for Best Jazz Album of The Year (Canada’s equivalent of a GRAMMY). And in 2017, her quartet won the 2017 Montreal Jazz Festival TD Grand Prix de Jazz, among other honors. Au’s newest album, Wander Wonder, is a showcase for her master’s touch as a composer, lilting seamlessly between advanced hard bop and lyrical impressionism, tinged with fusion-influenced electronics. Increasingly visible in the US, Au an artist rapidly coming into her own.

Au’s newest album, Wander Wonder, is a showcase for her master’s touch as a composer, lilting seamlessly between advanced hard bop and lyrical impressionism