Josh Johnson is stepping out on his own. The Chicago-born, LA-based saxophonist and composer has spent years bending genres in other people's rooms: the improv supergroup SML, Flea's Honora band, Jeff Parker's ETA IVtet. Now he's finally claiming a solo record.
Next month brings Animative, his first-ever album under his own name, and it's stacked. Meshell Ndegeocello shows up. So do Macie Stewart, Marquis Hill, and Ben Lumsdaine. That's a killer lineup, and it makes sense given how Johnson has always treated jazz as a launchpad rather than a rulebook.
Anyone who caught his loop-heavy, texture-first work on Unusual Object back in 2022 knows he treats the saxophone like a whole ecosystem. He builds, layers, then lets it breathe.
The first taste is "Reece," a track that moves with the same patient curiosity that runs through his catalog.
Johnson has always been the connector. This time the spotlight is all his, and it's a moment worth watching.