Written by Small jazz groups with two saxophonists are a rare treat, and this is what you get with Joe Sanders’s “Parallels” featuring Logan Richardson, Seamus Blake, and Gregory Hutchinson.
Smaller groups with two saxophonists have made some of the most iconic jazz recordings, and to name only two for their absolute wonder, there is Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue” with John Coltrane (tenor saxophone) and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley (alto saxophone), and Oliver Nelson’s “The Blues and the Abstract Truth” with Nelson (alto and tenor saxophone) and Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone) – though in this latter case, it is a session where two jazz worlds collide, the present (post-bop) and a freer future. And in these cases, the rhythm section includes the distinctive sound of double bassist, Paul Chambers.
Of course, it is unfair to name only two unmatchable recordings, but the point is that there is, in some of the best moments in jazz, a chemistry or interplay between two saxophonists, taking turns as soloists in a chamber group, anchored by the bassist, and this may be the inspiration of Joe Sanders’s Parallels. In this context, Sanders’s live group is trimmed to a quartet with two saxophonists, as an extra pleasure.
On “Parallels” (Whirlwind Recordings 2024) Sanders as the leader of the group on double bass with drummer Hutchinson does more than hold it together; while they keep the house in order, as the rhythm section, Sanders is also up-front or equally in play alongside the two saxophonists. Four of the tracks were recorded live in the French city of Clermont-Ferrand at the Jazz en Tete Festival, in 2021, as his quartet. While Richardson and Blake take turns as soloists, more than this, they joyously wind and whirl alongside each other as a blend of horns without solos, and with Sanders as counter-guide on acoustic bass pulling each other in one way or going off on different planes, but never with a collision.
This takes trust, and it helps that Joe Sanders has known and played with Logan Richardson (alto saxophonist) since earliest studies together at the New School University in New York City, way back in 2001. Richardson has said that he even witnessed the Twin Towers terrorist attack on 9/11, in that first year. Sanders went on to study at the Brubeck Institute in California, under Christian McBride, then at the Thelonious Monk Institute, now called the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Performance (in Los Angeles). Many years later or in other words, these days, Sanders lives with his wife and children in the south of France, near Marseille; and Richardson (though now living in Los Angeles) first stayed in Spain for almost a year, in 2011, then lived in Paris for five years (where he met up again with Sanders who moved to Paris in 2014); so the camaraderie of Sanders and Richardson extends to their experiences as not only fellow jazz musicians as students since the starting of their careers, but now as seasoned players, with distinctions as African American expats in Europe, and not only based in France. Richardson moved on to Rome in 2017 (because of his Italian wife), so in this context, they have toured together across Europe, playing together not only in their own groups, but with so many others.
Seamus Blake also moved to Paris in 2017 and soon after, set up his own quartet “The French Connection” with Tony Tixler and other French players. Blake was born in England, but raised in Vancouver, Canada, and studied jazz at Boston’s Berklee College. With these solid French ties, a few of Sanders’s compositions refer to his new home, including “La vie sur la terre” (Life on the Earth), a shorter and relaxing or breezy song led by Sanders’ five-year-old son, Eliote, on melodica (making it a quintet and a family affair) coyly received by Blake and Richardson, it is a tune inspired by the open countryside with its simple melody like chirps and swirls by the horns (in the air), a lovely stroll in nature with friends, good wine and a basket of tasty treats; “J’ai” (I have) is a faster and more complicated trek in an unknown terrain, and with a city vibe, it has intrigue and drama resolved with the overall group’s cohesiveness with solos by Hutchinson and Blake’s best as a meandering quest.
Hutchinson is apparently the only member of the group without a noticeable residence in France. Or he could be better understood as a die-hard journeyman, like most musicians, where home is only on the stage. But that may change after this European tour. He is in a group that makes it worth considering.
Joe Sanders’s Parallels featuring; Logan Richardson, Seamus Blake & Gregory Hutchinson is on tour in Europe from mid-April and into May at dates and venues listed below.
April 13, Sunday—Salle Le Cresent Jazz Club, Macon, France
April 15, Tuesday—Golden, Palermo, Italy
April 16, Wednesday—Teatro Metropolitan, Catania, Italy
April 17, Thursday—Jazz Dock, Prague, Czech Republic
April 18, Friday—Bimhuis, Amsterdam, Netherlands
April 19, Saturday—De Singer, Rijkevorsel, Belgium
April 20, Sunday—Jazz Station, Bruxelles, Belgium
April 21, Monday—Nica Jazz Club, Hamburg, Germany
April 22, Tuesday—Opderschmelz, Dudelange, Luxembourg
April 23, Wednesday—BIX Jazz Club, Stuttgart, Germany
April 24, Thursday—Fasching Jazz Club, Stockholm, Sweden
April 25, Friday—Jazzclub Unterfahrt, Munich, Germany
April 26, Saturday—Impart Centrum,Wroclaw, Poland
April 28, Monday—Cabaret des Peches, Brno, Czech Republic
April 29, Tuesday—Sunset/Sunside Jazz Club, Paris, France
May 2, Friday—the bird’s eye jazz club, Basel, Switzerland
May 6, Tuesday—Sunset/Sunside Jazz Club, Paris, France
Tony Ozuna is a senior lecturer for the School of Journalism, Media & Visual Arts at Anglo-American University in Prague.
Last modified: April 14, 2025
