Summer is off to a stellar start for innovative saxophonist-composer Donny McCaslin.
Along with releasing his newest radically experimental album ‘I Want More’ — 25 years after dropping his ‘Exile and Discovery’ debut – McCaslin started touring with Elvis Costello in an ever-evolving reconfiguration of Costello’s catalog. While the live Costello collab hits The Met Philadelphia on July 14, McCaslin can’t wait to hit the road, too, for his own solo album.
McCaslin and his solo bandmates Jason Lindner, Tim Lefebvre and Mark Guiliana were the team that worked alongside David Bowie for his final album, 2016’s ‘Blackstar’. And while McCaslin learned the benefits of dealing with “discomfort” and integrating “danger” into music from Bowie, his current work with Costello is an equally organic process.
“Working with Elvis in that regard feels great,” said McCaslin one day into the Costello tour start. “My role as part of Elvis’ horn section expands from night-to-night, and is both organic and cohesive. Now that we’re familiar with the songs, we’re riffing in response to what his band is doing, and improvising as a section and as a soloist. All of those elements are in play to paint a complete picture.”
As a collaborator on projects where he is not the leader, McCaslin is a vessel. “You’re giving yourself over to the music,” he said. “Serving the moment and the music is my modus operandi, inhabiting each song deeply and letting go.”
To paint his own self-portrait, McCaslin has expanded his dialogue as a jazz-maker with the integration of electronic music, sequencers and synth-triggered rhythms. On ‘I Want More’, McCaslin redoubled that invention by joining forces with producer Dave Fridmann, famous for his amniotic fluid collaborations with The Flaming Lips.
“Twenty-five years since my start as a solo artist, I have changed so much, as a lot has happened in my life,” he said. “I’m developing my musical language while telling you about my journey. Certain things come into greater focus while expressing my truth. ‘I Want More’ is a moment where everything crystalized… and is part of a process being uncomfortable, pushing yourself away from any comfort zone.”
Not being sure where the next moment goes is a subject that Bowie welcomed in McCaslin’s recollection. “You know that you’re onto something when you’re uneasy as an artist,” said the saxophonist. “Going to a dangerous place, being on the edge is so exciting. And I couldn’t be happier as to how all that turned out on ‘I Want More.’
“The un-comfortability of knowing if something was going to work…. worked,” he added. “I went for it. Courage and fearlessness play in to it all, but so is that feeling of just letting the chips fall wherever they may.”
When saxophonist Donny McCaslin goes for it – be it with Elvis Costello at the Met or on his new album – it is a beautiful thing to behold.
For more information and tickets, visit themetphilly.com
