As part of our continuing coverage of SXSW 2024, 360°Sound had the opportunity to speak with Andrew Gould, New York-based jazz saxophonist, composer, leader, and sideman. Astute fans of jazz will recognize Andrew as an emerging voice in modern jazz, on the rise in New York City and beyond. We met after his set at Austin’s Elephant Room.
Andrew released his latest recording as a leader, Pull Up a Chair, featuring Kiyoshi Kitagawa on bass and Kush Abadey on drums, for Pinch Records in late 2023. With this trio, minus a choral comping instrument, the album has a minimalist, broken-down feel to it. There’s more space, and with harmonies less defined, Andrew has the freedom to play inside and outside the structure of the songs. The result is a recording that feels freer and more relaxed than his early releases, with an extraordinary groove.
In this exclusive interview, Andrew talks about the new recording, his SXSW experience, and chilling the fuck out.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Check out the entire interview on our YouTube channel, @360degreesound. There’s a link at the end of the article.
360°Sound: SXSW isn’t necessarily known for jazz. How did that opportunity come about for you?
Andrew Gould: That was all through the recommendation of the label, Pinch Records. The owner of the label, Scott Lindner, hit me up and was like, ‘SXSW is doing jazz. Are you into it?’ And of course, yeah, totally. We got a slot and made a whole thing out of it.
Your music has a strong bop element at its core. What elements are you bringing in to create your style?
With this latest project, the trio – just me, acoustic bass, and drums – there’s a lot of traditional jazz. But if you listen to the album, there’s more funk and groove; that whole style and element of playing has always been a big influence on me too. But traditional jazz and bebop is always going to be present in what I do.
You were inspired early on by Cannonball Adderley’s record Somethin’ Else. What was it about that recording that made an impression on you?
It was the sound, everybody’s tone, the sound of that record – it’s completely magical. There’s arguably not a single note out of place on that whole album, and everyone just has such a beautiful sound and even like the mix of it all – it’s just perfection. That was the first record that I really heard when I started studying, and it just instantly struck me as the most gorgeous sounding saxophone I ever heard. I want to sound like that.
You’ve performed at the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in New York. I definitely hear echoes of Bird in your playing.
He’s really one of the guys that I’ve studied the most. He was one of the pioneers. If you play jazz and you play the alto saxophone, I don’t know if it’s even possible to not be influenced by him.
’90s rock influenced you early on as well?
Yeah, that’s the music that I grew up with, that we had in my house. My mom had cassettes of those bands, like Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Offspring. I like the energy and the rawness that music has.
I read that your teacher, George Garzone, told you, ‘Chill the fuck out and play.’
Exactly. I couldn’t have said it any better. I try to tell myself that every time before I play, ‘All right, just chill out. Let it all flow.’
You studied at the Manhattan School of Music, and you said George made you approach the horn and improvising in a different way. What can you tell me about that stylistic shift for you at that time?
It’s very much tied into the first quote, ‘Chill the fuck out.’ When I started hanging with George, I was really bent on just trying to make sure I was nailing the harmony, outlining it all very specifically, and playing inside really well – diatonically. George likes to also step away from the harmony, and play more things that imply more tension to the harmony. He started instilling in me that it’s OK to be dissonant, it’s OK to leave the harmony.
But also, even with how I play the saxophone. Time comes from your fingers when you’re playing lines, because if your fingers land really well in time, then you don’t actually have to tongue that heavily. You can save the heavier tonguing for your accents, and it’s more of a punctuation. Blue sky opened for me, like, ‘Wow, I don’t really need to worry about this as much. I can really let go of a lot of these things that I thought were so important. It sounds a lot more loose and free and relaxed now.
Let’s talk about the new record. Pull Up a Chair sounds very refined. How does it represent your growth as an artist?
Pull Up a Chair, the whole album is dedicated to the idea of having a kid – now my daughter is four – the idea of literally pulling up a chair, adding someone to the mix, adding someone to the table, or the family. Reflecting on my last two records, I feel like I needed to prove myself and just let everybody know, ‘Here’s all the saxophone that I can play. Here’s me playing fast.’ Just sort of demonstrating. And [now] I don’t feel like I need to prove myself in the same way. I’m really, really happy with this record, because I feel like I’m just kind of playing. It’s more musical to me. It’s more how I want to play all the time.
Tell me about the trio for the recording.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Kiyoshi [Kitagawa, bassist]. He plays on some of my absolute favorite albums, one of which is Kenny Garrett’s Triology. I really hit it off with Kiyoshi stylistically on our last record [2022’s It Takes One to Know One with saxophonist Sam Dillon]. Then on drums, yeah, Kush [Abadey] was my guy. I met him playing together in Wallace Roney’s band. That was the band that I played the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival with. I knew he would work so well with Kiyoshi. It was really a cool, cool combination of players.
You have a song titled “Submarine Station” and one called “Captain Barnacles.” Sounds like somebody’s been watching some Octonauts [kids animated show].
As you know, a fellow father, you’re familiar with where those titles come from. “Submarine Station” [the lead track] was us building Lego. In Octonauts, there’s a submarine station called the Octopod. My daughter always called it the ‘submarine station.’ That whole theme was meant to encapsulate the idea of, we’re sitting together on the floor having fun, like a funky good time.
And I love “Captain Barnacles” [a character on Octonauts] as well. When I saw that title, I was like, ‘Yeah, this is my guy right here.’
So many of my friends are like, ‘Dude, you have a song named “Captain Barnacles.” What? What is that from?’ I’m like, ‘You’ll know – you’ll know one day.’ They were just fun titles, you know? It helps me to have an image, or very loose idea of a scenario.
“Apnea” is one of my favorites. It’s got this trippy, kind of halting groove. It actually sounds like someone waking themselves up, in and out of dreams.
Thank you. Mission accomplished. My daughter had obstructive sleep apnea; her tonsils and adenoids were so swollen that she couldn’t really breathe at night. Every ten seconds she would be waking up and gasping for air. It was a stressful time where nobody was getting a lot of sleep, and we were really worried about her. So that tune is based on the idea of the overall feeling of apprehension. ‘Is she okay? Is she going to take another breath?’
“Storytime” is just delightful. There’s a little bit more space in there, playing with more sustained tone.
Yeah, it’s just the idea of winding down and laying in bed and reading a book, and slowly drifting to sleep in a peaceful manner.
You mentioned funk earlier, and I just I love “Cheesy Scramble.” What a funky-ass jam.
You know kids can be very picky eaters. If we called eggs, eggs, she wouldn’t want to eat them. But if we call them ‘cheesy scramble,’ all of a sudden, ‘Oh, cheesy scramble. Let’s try that.” Just the idea of dealing with a stubborn kid, trying to get her to eat, and finding a ridiculous name to call foods. That has a funkiness and a quirkiness to it. You know?
Yeah. And then “Here Nor There.” I love that there’s a lot of intuitive interplay between you and the rhythm section – Kush in particular on that one.
Similarly, a little bit about the stubbornness of a kid. If you listen to the melody, these stops and starts, and a couple of odd bars – it’s not all in 4, there’s some 2/4 and stuff in there that hits off the beat. That’s meant to symbolize the indecisiveness of a little kid, like, “I want this. No, I want this. I want to be here, and I want to be there.’ So, here nor there.
Everyone, please give Pull Up a Chair a spin. I guarantee you’re going to dig it. Are physical formats available?
Yes. I got these in the mail last week [shows off vinyl LP], which I’m really excited about. I’ve never had an album of my own on vinyl. So that’s kind of cool – I have vinyl available. You can go to pinchrecords.com and grab a copy there. I think they’re like 25 bucks. And then they’ll have CDs. You can get them on Bandcamp, or just shoot me an email even – we’ll figure it out.
Check out Andrew’s website, andrewgouldmusic.com, and follow him on Instagram @andrew_gould
Purchase a copy of Pull Up a Chair direct from Pinch Records
Give Pull Up a Chair a spin on Spotify before you invest in the phys form
