Robert Young is my favorite saxophonist. He can play anything. Especially saxophone. And he can play anything on the saxophone.

Bobby is also a good friend, and an excellent human being. You should buy his debut solo album Hybrid.

Along with definitive recordings of music by David Heinick, Tim Sullivan, Baljinder Sekhon, and Mischa Zupko, Hybrid features a tremendous performance of my …unsettled, unphased… featuring Bobby on tenor saxophone, Tim Sullivan on an extended drum set, bassist John Geggie, and pianist M. Maxwell Howard. I composed this work for Bobby and Tim in 2014.

“The album comes to a close with …unsettled, unphased… by Gregory Wanamaker, a work for tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drum set. Young is again joined by Sullivan on drums, as well as by pianist M. Maxwell Howard and bassist John Geggie. No stranger to the saxophone world, Wanamaker contributes an interesting chamber work that combines Eastern European rhythms with a number of 20th-century harmonic techniques for jazz combo instrumentation. The piece begins in medias res as Young and the ensemble play tight mixed meter grooves that invoke equal parts jazz and Bartók-esque ethnic dance rhythms. This energetic dance section returns frequently in what the composer refers to as a “sonata-rondo hybrid.” In the middle of the work, a floating bass solo is contrasted by the harsh tones of saxophone multiphonic techniques. A vigorous rock-like march decorated with tenor altissimo leads to a final coda version of the dance-groove section. Wanamaker’s …unsettled, unphased… is both a stimulating and fitting conclusion to an album inspired by a melting pot of styles and genres.”

Dr. Christopher Barrick
TheSaxophonist.org