Alex Merritt Quartet at Jazz Cafe POSK

Saxophonist Alex Merritt leads his quartet with jazz influences from Warne Marsh, John Coltrane and Joe Henderson to contemporary classical composers Bela Bartok, Alban Berg and Henri Dutilleux. Their debut album “ANATTA” was released last December 2015, the concept drawn from Buddhism and described as ‘a moment of awakening, whereby one can come to realise the illusory nature of self.’ Should we be able to free ourselves from the fetters of self, a process described by composer and personal influence Peter Schat as like ‘Houdini escaping from the straightjacket’, all that is left is the moment. This is Anatta and it inspired the music for this album....

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Saxophonist Alex Merritt leads his quartet with jazz influences from Warne Marsh, John Coltrane and Joe Henderson to contemporary classical composers Bela Bartok, Alban Berg and Henri Dutilleux. Their debut album “ANATTA” was released last December 2015, the concept drawn from Buddhism and described as ‘a moment of awakening, whereby one can come to realise the illusory nature of self.’ Should we be able to free ourselves from the fetters of self, a process described by composer and personal influence Peter Schat as like ‘Houdini escaping from the straightjacket’, all that is left is the moment. This is Anatta and it inspired the music for this album.

‘A promising jazz debut of striking quality.’ John Fordham, the Guardian, ***

‘It’s one of the best UK jazz recordings I’ve heard this year’. Stephen Graham, Marlbank News, ****

‘Merritt is not only an artist to watch, but also to listen to, as one would a dawn chorus: with eyes closed and mind opened’. Tyran Grillo, All About Jazz, ****1/2

‘Merritt’s rich but dry tone traces a line back to the Cool School jazzers such as Warne Marsh’. Robert Shore, Jazzwise, ****

‘Merritt’s warm, dry, Getzian fluency is a joy, whether intertwining with Turville’s mysterious, unpredictable chordal shifts or bubbling with controlled fervour……..
….This feels like just the beginning… and what a beginning’. Adrian Pallant

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