This new recording project  may finally be the break-through for composer and saxophonist Jim Saltzman. It is a shame that he is not more widely recognized and appreciated.The overall sound might be described as muscular and full: individual contributions are both inventive and deliberate. There is hardly a wasted note or slight hesitation.This is creative jazz at it's best. Lunch for your ears!!
 -Tim Price SAXOPHONE JOURNAL

"...tenor saxophonist Jim Saltzman let loose - using cries, fast-ripped phrases, leaping lines and more to tell his story."
-Zan Stewart The Star-Ledger (January 10, 2007)

Simplicity

Brand new track from the new Aggregate CD!

You Shouldn't Have (4.46 MB)

“You Shouldn’t Have” was written in the fall of 2000. At the time, I was studying the Miles Davis/Gil Evans piece, “Deception” from the album, “Birth Of The Cool.” Even though “Deception” was recorded in 1950, it sounds extremely modern and current – it’s timeless! “You Shouldn’t Have” utilizes certain harmonic progressions and colors (such as polychords) found on Davis/Evans piece. Additionally, the title reflects my “off” sense of humor – I was imagining the faces and comments of the musicians as they read through the chart for the first time – “Thanks, Jim…you shouldn’t have!”

Black & White Are Colors (6.82 MB)

“Black & White Are Colors” is a dark, ominous, and moody piece that I composed somewhere between December 2001 and January 2002. At the time, I had been studying out of Vincent Persichetti’s “Twentieth-Century Harmony – Creative Aspects And Practice” book, particularly the chapter on synthetic, pentatonic, and hexatonic scale formations. The title represents both the dense and busy sections of the melody (the black) and the open, reflective sections (the white). Both aspects of the melodic content also change to a slightly different “shade” as the chords change underneath them, much like the shadows on ordinary objects change throughout the day. The title of this piece comes from a letter written by Vincent Van Gogh to Emile Bernard in the second half of June 1888. I’m also blatantly making fun of my diagnosed color blindness (which is REALLY bad!).

Between Broad and Pine (5.42 MB)

“Between Broad and Pine” was written in the spring of 2002. At the time, I was feeling nostalgic for my days living in Philadelphia. I loved (and still do!) walking in Philly at any time; it was very relaxing and gave me time to just think. I used to walk between 9th and Pine over to the music building at UArts, which is on Broad St (in between Spruce and Locust). The composition itself is through-composed, and uses a different set of “blowing changes.” I had been studying Alexander Scriabin’s “Sonata No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 6” when I wrote this piece.