“I can’t think of another alto saxophonist with a sound quite like Sam Braysher’s” **** Dave Gelly, The Observer
“Braysher’s cool, modernist twist on old songs is just superb” Simon Adams, Jazz Journal
“Trying to second-guess a long-gone composer’s intention is a risky exercise, and jazz improvisers usually exercise a free hand in interpreting the Great American Songbook. But the warm-toned young London saxophonist Sam Braysher is a prize-winning investigator of the early recordings and published music of Jerome Kern, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington and many others, and imagines a new jazz closely attuned to an old world.” John Fordham, the Guardian
Bio
London-based alto saxophonist Sam Braysher has received widespread acclaim for the two albums released under his own name, both of which feature renowned international collaborators. Golden Earrings, with American pianist Michael Kanan, was described as “delightful and surprising” by Dave Gelly in the Observer, while his recent trio album with Jorge Rossy (Brad Mehldau Trio) and Tom Farmer, was praised in Jazzwise as “a triumph of intelligence and sentiment”.
When leading his own bands he takes a particular interest in interpreting lesser-played items from the American Songbook and jazz canon.
As a sideman, Braysher has recently been heard playing with ECM artist John Warren’s nonet, Barry Green’s trio alongside Dave Green, Elaine Delmar, Sara Dowling, The London Jazz Orchestra, REBOP (an international quintet that features Jorge Rossy on vibraphone) and Mighty Like the Blues, a new project with Pete Horsfall and Jim Mullen.
Sam graduated with first class honours from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he was a Chartered Surveyors’ Prize winner and an Artist Fellow.
Photo above by Dave Hamblett