Will Vinson - Solo (2021)

"This is my ninth solo album (and my third release as a leader for Whirlwind). I recorded and mixed the songs on this album myself at Outlaw Sound in Adelaide, Australia, where my family and I spent the first 18 months of the pandemic.

The recordings were done in two chunks: one in May, one in August 2021, flanking an intense period which began with the death of my beloved father and was closely followed with an intense and wretched 31 days of solid police-guarded hotel isolation, a treatment the Australian government in its wisdom seems to think is totally normal for someone in my position. I wonder if you can tell which tracks were recorded on which side of that period - I’ll leave it to your imagination!

I took the photo myself at the very beginning of the pandemic, upon my exit from quarantine upon first arriving in Australia, so the only person I can hold responsible as a co-conspirator is my dear friend Ziv Ravitz, who mastered the album in August 2021.

Thank you for listening.

I mean, I always feel grateful when people take the time. But this time, there’s no smattering of genius sidemen to provide the meat and vegetables underneath my garnish.

This time it’s up to me to provide all the nutrition in one place - a kind of sonic Soylent Green, although I’m aiming for more of an Impossible Burger. Silly though this language might be, it does reflect something real: In all of these improvised pieces, to some degree or other, I’m aiming for what you might call spontaneous implied polyphony.

In my ear throughout is the master of the craft, JS Bach, who, in his solo music, managed to come up with single melodies which nonetheless created the impression of multiple voices complimenting and supporting each other.

As a saxophone player, you get used to pianists and guitarists having all the fun with improvised harmony. Well, now they’re all fired, so who’s laughing now? Well, probably them, as this album will probably sell about five copies. But if I can sell five and only see four of them reappear on eBay, I’ll consider it a triumph."

Will Vinson