Saxophonist and composer Josephine Davies has garnered an enviable reputation as original voice on tenor saxophone and also a composer of note for big band and small ensemble. With the recent release of The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite with The Ensō Ensemble, and Josephine’s first album of original big band music is the pen mightier than the horn?
Perhaps we should begin by talking about your latest album The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite, your first album as a composer for a big band with The Ensō Ensemble. Was the ensemble convened especially for the recording or has the band worked as unit prior?
I put the band together for our debut gig in 2019, pretty much as you hear it on the recording. I had been writing continuously over the few years prior to organizing the first gig, so I do have quite a lot of material. Then the Celtic Wheel, with the exception of the first piece ‘Eos’, was written for the band throughout 2020 and 2021.
The music on the recording is conceived as an eight-part suite, can you tell us about the inspiration behind the music?
I don’t know if you’ve ever had this experience, but it felt like I recognized the inspiration when I was already in the middle of using it, as if I’d unconsciously been working with an idea before understanding that’s what I was doing. I always wonder about that phenomenon – do ideas come to us, or do we come to them? Or is it, as the Celtic Wheel felt, that we suddenly find ourselves dancing with an idea, such that it feels inevitable and pre-existent, despite the newness. Really the suite is an homage to our extraordinary earth, and was written at a time when I was deepening my spiritual practice, which, as opposed to connecting to something ‘out there’ as it is for some people, was very much about connecting to the earth, and celebrating that of which we are part.
Interestingly, many of the musicians that appear on The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite are musicians are people that you have worked and collaborated with on a regular basis. Did this have any influence on the compositions and perhaps writing parts with particular musicians in mind?
Yes I write very much with specific people in mind and this group of musicians are particularly great to work with because they are able to articulate my own vision when I want to dictate that, as well as bring their own musicality and direction so I can be looser with the writing in places. I like to play with that balance of composition and space for spontaneity.
You are no stranger to writing music for large ensembles having done so for more that fifteen years. Is this something that you enjoy, and how do you approach writing for big bands?
Yes, I absolutely love it! There’s nothing more satisfying than working on something for a few months on your own then having it brought to life by the musicians in rehearsal – it’s magical. I have a number of approaches depending upon the style of the composition. For example, the main section of Ostara is very much a ‘head’ arranged for the ensemble, and has obvious sections including melody, harmonised melody, counter-melody, rhythmic accompaniment etc, whereas Samhain is a horizontal approach where each instrument has its own line, resulting in a dissonant wash of sound underneath Mike Chillingworth’s freely improvised soprano solo. Imbolc is again different as I’m experimenting here with a short fugal idea – that was really fun to write and something I want to expand upon elsewhere.
As a listener, I very much enjoy the longer compositions, particularly ‘Eos (summer solstice), Gaia’s Breath (winter solstice), and not forgetting ‘Ostara’. The detail in the charts that are allowed to evolve over a longer period of time are incredibly rich and satisfying. Is writing longer-form compositions something that you might look to develop moving forward?
Oh definitely, I really love getting stuck into a piece for a long time and allowing it to evolve. I particularly like writing endings, which often go in a completely new, though complementary direction. This is perhaps because the hard graft of curating the longer piece is done, so the playful side of composition can emerge.
The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite features you as the sole composer for the album. Was this important for you document your identity as a composer as opposed to an improviser?
That’s an interesting question – I think my starting point is much less deliberate than that. Composing is just what’s important to me on a daily basis, indeed as much as improvisation (though of course, composition is a form of improvisation, just a lot slower!) Perhaps the felt urgency to record the album is more about documenting myself as a composer as I am now, and wanting to get it out into the world so I can let go of those ideas and begin something new.
Listening to the album I was struck by the originality in the charts, although you have cited composers as diverse as Stravinsky, Maria Schneider and Vince Mendoza as influences. What it is about these composers that have influenced you, and do you find that this has filtered back into your own orchestrations for big band?
I think the diversity of influences is because I’m always attracted by compositions that take the listener on a journey. The genre is unimportant to me, I’m just always seeking to have an experience – I want to be transported to whatever realm that particular artist has envisioned. I hope that’s the main element that filters back to my
own compositions, particularly for larger ensemble, which facilitates that sense of drama and narrative arc.
In addition to your work with The Ensō Ensemble, you have your long-standing group, Satori. For most of its existence, Satori has been active as a trio with bassist Dave Whitford and James Maddren on drums, but on most recent album Weatherwards, you introduced a new voice to the ensemble in pianist Alcyona Mick. What drew you to the idea of adding a chordal instrument to the group, and is a format that you are looking to develop with Satori’s music?
Alcyona is an incredible musician who fits beautifully into the group – her style is so original and percussive that having her in the band doesn’t feel too remarkably different from the trio format. Other pianists can change the shape in different ways that feel as though I’ve strayed too far from the central Satori sound. Having said that, the compositions I wrote for Weatherwards are much more harmonically complex and structured than the trio pieces, so there is in some sense less freedom for spontaneous journeying, which is very much a part of the central sound I mentioned. On recent gigs we’ve also been playing some of the music from the previous trio album, ‘How Can We Wake?’ as quartet, which has been huge fun – really open and loose.
You also have an exciting project Orenda with yourself, vocalist Brigitte Beraha and pianist Alcyona Mick, and released four tracks digitally on Bandcamp. Can you tell us about the group, and do you have any plans to record the trio in a full-length album?
Eek, too many projects, too many ideas! That’s also a lovely band to play with, and Brigitte is another amazing musician. That group began because I love using the voice as another ‘horn’, especially with Brigitte’s ability to create interesting vocal sounds – I love unison tenor and voice, there’s something really fundamental about it. I also love setting poetry to music and have written some lyrics myself. I’m currently focusing on multiple other projects, but it would be great to record a full album with Orenda at some point.
If these projects were not enough to keep you busy, you have also been part of The First Circle Quartet led by bassist and composer Terry Pack. How did you become involved with the quartet, and writing for the ensemble?
Another lovely band! I am so showered with wonderful things in my life! That band began when Terry and Joss (the pianist) had a gig at the Jailhouse in Arundel and thought it might be nice to have me on it. Drummer Angus Bishop was then called in last minute as a dep, and the two of us didn’t really have any information other than turn up at the venue, but it became this incredible meeting of minds and spontaneous interplay. We finished the gig and all looked at each other with huge smiles on our faces and a sense of deep musical satisfaction, so have been a band ever since.
Finally, what about future plans and collaboration?
I know I already said ‘too many projects’, but I’ve recently started a new collaboration with Angus and Tim Wells on keyboards (he likes me to specify this as it’s not an organ – he plays left hand bass on a ‘deep mind’ keyboard which can get pretty epic). We’re called ‘Very Tiny Toads’, stemming from our monthly residency at The Toad in Worthing, and are still experimenting with different directions, but are going into the studio in July to record a few tracks, including a Radiohead tune, so watch this space…
For more information visit josephinedavies.co.uk
Click here to read our review of Josephine Davies & The Ensō Ensemble – The Celtic Wheel of the Year Suite
