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Bio | Press | Active Projects
Bio
Jonah Parzen-Johnson makes music for baritone saxophone & flute that challenges listeners with experimental textures & forms while embracing them with warm approachable melodies. A Chicago native and longtime Brooklyn resident, Jonah has performed solo in more than a dozen countries across four continents. You might find him at Jazz festivals in Berlin, Helsinki & Seattle, concert halls in Istanbul & Bruges, rock clubs in Rotterdam, Montreal & Rome, or Jazz clubs in New York & Chicago. His solo performances are a deeply intimate experience, as he endeavors to share who he is, how he sees our world, and the temporary moments of community that we can all embrace together.
Press
“Autechre-esque pings, burbles and boings swirl together in the backs as Parzen-Johnson takes deep, chest rattling sax solos that scale the same ecstatic heights as Mats Gustafson but in a much more disciplined and mantra-like manner.” – The Wire Magazine
“Parzen-Johnson’s vaguely alien compositions split the difference between the organic and the synthetic with a far-reaching, expressive sound that carries an indefinable beauty.” – LA Times
“Jonah Parzen-Johnson drifts away from his jazz background toward a less defined terrain that suggests Brian Eno, film soundtracks, and the spaces between.” – The New Yorker Magazine
” Parzen-Johnson is more interested in memory, as a wisp and a venue for solidarity with oneself. It works.” – The New York Times
“A rare specialist in that most challenging of disciplines, the solo recital.” – London Jazz News
“With every melodious note, circular breath and heavy drone, Parzen-Johnson delivers a work of intense beauty.” – NYC Jazz Record
“A meditative invocation of self-realization.” – Jazziz Magazine
Active Projects
Solo
If you look at the label on the lates solo LP from Jonah Parzen-Johnson, containing eight intimate compositions for baritone sax & flute, you will find the words, “we made this together”. At first thought, this simple phrase may seem out of place on a solo record, but just like the compositions on this album, it was carefully crafted to cut to the core of what this music is all about.
In Jonah’s words: “It’s pretty hard to end up at a solo saxophone concert by accident. Odds are pretty good, if you are there, it is because you light up when you experience something new, something experimental. That shared desire connects us, and suddenly, for a night, we are a community. For me, being connected to those spontaneous communities is the best part of being an experimental artist. Everything I make is in service to the cultivation of that community, our community. Without it my music doesn’t exist and because of that I can joyfully say to each person, at every concert, that we made this together.”
You’re Never Really Alone arrives in stark contrast to Parzen-Johnson’s 2020 We Jazz Records solo debut, Imagine Giving Up. Where Imagine Giving Up was celebrated for Parzen-Johnson’s ability to assemble deeply evocative electro-acoustic sound worlds, “filling the landscape in one element at a time until a picture emerges that could almost be a full band,” (Wire Magazine, March 2020) You’re Never Really Alone shows us that Jonah can look you in the eye and say “my voice alone is enough”.
Across eight tracks, Parzen-Johnson, a Chicago native, explores the technical limits of his baritone saxophone and flute without ever making the listener feel like he has something to prove. You will find circular breathing, multiphonics, and explosive levels of sound, but more importantly, you will enjoy every moment of musical storytelling and compositional skill. This album is made for repeat listening.
Discography
You’re Never Really Alone (2024, We Jazz Records)
Imagine Giving Up (2020, We Jazz Records)
Helsinki 8.12.18 (2019, We Jazz Records)
I Try To Remember Where I Come From (2017, Clean Feed Records)
Remember When Things Were Better Tomorrow (2015, Primary Records)
Look Like You’re Not Looking (2013, Primary Records)
Michiana (2012, Primary Records)
Duo with Berke Can Özcan
In April 2022, Brooklyn based baritone saxophonist, Jonah Parzen-Johnson, found himself on a flight from New York to Istanbul to play a one-off duo concert with a veteran drummer & sound designer at the center of Istanbul’s vibrant music scene, Berke Can Özcan. They met for the first time 30 minutes before soundcheck. The concert that followed could have been the culmination of years of collaboration. Both urgent and timeless, their musical partnership is instantly solid, innocent and joyful.
Recorded across continents, time zones, and cultures, It Was Always Time meticulously builds on itself, weaving layers of found-sound samples over acoustic percussion to frame poignant saxophone melodies that melt into rich synth interludes. Although the album is almost completely improvised, the depth of texture and devotion to melody make it feel through-composed. From track to track, each musician places their trust in the other, and as ambition evolves into empathy, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. This is not a protest album, or music that sets out to directly change the world. Rather, in the subtle way that only art is capable of, the music made by this international duo of strangers turned friends is a reminder: Be curious, find joy, build something better together. It’s time. It was always time.
Since their first meeting, this duo has been featured across Europe and in the United States. Following an EP raising money for earthquake relief in 2023, the two are proud to release their debut LP on We Jazz Records in November 2024.
Discography
It Was Always Time (2024)
Friendship Music for Turkey (2023)