I just got home from a month long tour with Tom Misch. For those that don’t know, he’s a multi-instrumentalist and singer from the U.K. He’s released a few beat tapes and EPs and just dropped his debut album Geography. It’s fire! So I was asked to join only a couple weeks before and I was ecstatic about it when I got the call! I quickly checked out the music and before I knew it I’m on the west coast ready to start the national run. As soon as I arrive to the Warfield in San Francisco I realized just how large of a production was! There was a tour bus with 12 bunks, a trailer with a full lighting rig, multiple sound engineers and 5 killin musicians from London. Definitely a culture shock to say the least. We got through soundcheck and I got acquainted with the music and the chemistry with the band was immediately there!! I knew this tour would be ridiculously fun. The next show was Coachella and that was amazing!! I saw some of my favorite of all time perform. Daniel Caesar, Jorja Smith, Jamiroquai, and Beyoncé were definitely highlights for me! Such a dope hang! After Coachella it was smooth sailing. We drove the tour bus from Cali to Vegas, Colorado, Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, New York, Philly and DC!! Saw parts of North America I’ve never been to. We ended the tour with a Tiny Desk performance and a show in Dc! My parents even came through. Couldn’t have asked for a better ending to a fun ass tour! Such a blessing!

Special shoutout to Rudi Creswick on Bass, Joe Price on keys, Jamie Houghton on drums, Tobie Tripp on violin/guitar and of course Tom Misch on vocals/guitar!! Looking forward to the next one...

I always really look forward to going home for the holidays not only to see my family but because my little brother Brody always puts me on to some NEW music!! I’m gonna be real, I’m not getting any younger and as a jazz saxophonist a lot of newer stuff isn’t on my radar. I look to my baby brother to keep me up to date on the new dances and new songs lol So this past Christmas my brother Brody was playing this song “Church” by BJ the Chicago in the car and was like man they play this on the radio all the time. I was like wow never heard this but I love it!! He was like “yea it was cool like 2 weeks ago Brax” So I,m sitting in the back seat feeling like damn I’m really out of the loop. But I knew once I heard the song that firstly, I could definitely sing this song and secondly the chords to this song are so soulful that it could easily be interpreted acoustically in a jazz context. So when I got back to NYC in January I wrote an arrangement of it and recorded this with my band!! This song has such a great vibe to it that we will probably incorporate it into our live show!

Between Grover Washington Jr. and Cannonball Adderley I’m not sure who is a bigger influence on my playing. To me, they both have a very soulful and personal approach to how they play. The best quality of their playing is how they both really know how to make a melody sing! This is a quality I’ve always wanted in my playing. I first heard Cannonball Adderley on a soul record he made that was called “Mercy Mercy Mercy.” Some of the cuts off this album are “Mercy Mercy Mercy,” “Hippodelphia,” “Fun, “Games,” and “Sticks” (my favorite). I believe I first heard “Sticks” and it really stuck with me how much feeling he was playing with and the edgy sound he was getting out of the alto! The beautiful thing about Cannonball is his control and his ability to make the alto sound so different depending on the occasion but still always sounding like himself. I wanted that type of control and still strive for that everytime I pick up my horn. I still transcribe Cannonball solos because there is so much you can learn from him. I’m currently working on his solos from this album with John Coltrane.