Cologne Jazzweek: Sam Gendel Solo

Sam Gendel, born in Visalia, California, in 1987 and raised in Los Angeles, grew up listening to the jazz of the pioneers—Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and John Coltrane were among them, as were Wayne Shorter and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Inspired by these musicians, he began learning the saxophone and carving out his own path in this originally African-American music.
In Los Angeles, Gendel came into contact with the producer Flying Lotus, through whom he found like-minded people who, like him, do not view jazz as a historically closed genre, but rather as an aesthetic stance for engaging with social and political issues. Whether performing with a band or solo, Gendel, as a multi-instrumentalist (playing not only saxophone but also keyboards, synthesizers, and guitar, plus various digital elements), makes “his” jazz sound unconventional: Sometimes he transforms jazz standards like “Satin Doll” or “In A Sentimental Mood” into a techno-inspired context; other times, he translates the digital soundscapes of 2000s hip-hop and R&B tracks into warm, analog tones.