Josh Johnson is a saxophonist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and Grammy Award-winning producer. On Saturday April 20, Johnson will be at Healing Force of the Universe for an afternoon listening party and Q&A around his most recent release, Unusual Object, ahead of his evening live performance at 2220 Arts & Archives.
His second solo album, Unusual Object, a striking work of futuristic jazz and modern composition, was released April 5, 2024 on Northern Spy Records. This spare work for processed saxophone and subtle samples shows Johnson further sharpening his unique compositional voice. Unusual Object, Johnson says, “is a development and documentation of a more personal world of sound. What’s it like for me to create the context for my sound, to frame it myself?”
His solo debut Freedom Exercise (Northern Spy) was featured in Rolling Stone’s Best Music of 2020 and Bandcamp’s Best Jazz Albums of 2020. Pitchfork called the record “excellent, daringly melodic” and PostGenre praised it as “a songwriting marvel”.
Johnson produced and appears on Meshell Ndegeocello’s 2023 album 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘮𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 which was awarded the 2024 Grammy for Best Alternative Jazz Album.