Photo by Matt Mahurin
RECORDINGS
PRESS
for Out Of The Hole
“Special features of this unusual ensemble: permanent harmonic-rhythmic refinement, delicate phrasing and electrifying movements - both in collective play and in the solo parts. The tracks are pervaded by a stimulating inner tension, they form a cosmos of energetic, overtone-rich vibes. And then "Stella by Starlight", the only third-party composition on the album: Melancholy, nihilism, alienation as an experience of modernity mercilessly transform and deconstruct the popular standard. Masterful!" – Udo Andris, Badische Zeitung
for Cluster Swerve
****, Downbeat Magazine
"From track to track there is a consistent sense of rumination, where every intervallic brushstroke feels like the work of a painter meticulously applying and manipulating his medium to the canvas. But that movement comes within a matrix of lines sculpted by his ensemble, which achieves a sublime level of interaction." – Peter Margasak
****, All About Jazz
“ . . . a slanted spin on Americana . . . No doubt, Kaplan's provocative compositional pen and the musicians' telepathic communications only add to the intriguing storylines and multifarious frameworks exercised throughout. – Glenn Astaria
****, Free Jazz Blog
As Kaplan picked up the pace, his dark tone filled in the remaining space between his taut microtonal phrases. Moving in a blur of melody and motion, he pushed the sound further and further . . . a Kinetic swirling of sound” – Paul Acquaro
Additional Selected Press
“Kaplan is an uncanny combination of the cerebral and the impassioned, exploring precise microtones amid lines of turbulent and elemental power.”
— Stuart Broomer, The New York City Jazz Record
“He romances the sound of his saxophone like no other player.”
— Raul D’Gama Rose, All About Jazz
“High-points were . . . Kaplan’s operatic microtonalism.”
— Tom Greenland, The New York City Jazz Record
“Noah Kaplan Quartet ‘Descendants’ is a tour de force of naked, off the hook, formidable free jazz. Those who are in tune with this music, and understand the talent, imaginative horse power and commitment required to play it, will never get enough of this CD.”
– C.J. Bond, Jazz Music
“Such is Kaplan’s devout love of his craft . . . his playing is notable for its stylistic reach. Kaplan explores history through supple illusion rather than explicit evocation.”
— The Wire
“Quite the auspicious debut . . . one that is quite impossible not to be entranced by.”
— Mark Corroto, All About Jazz
“A stellar young tenor saxophonist . . . excellent.”
— Thom Jurek, Image Journal
“Kaplan keeps things imbued with a strange and intoxicating weightlessness”
— Derek Taylor’s Best of 2011, Dusted Magazine
“A marker at the edge of western tonality”
— Cormac Larkin, The Irish Times
VIDEO
Dollshot “Stalker” directed by Pablo Delcan
Dollshot “Lalande” directed by Matt Mahurin. Premiered on WNYC’s Soundcheck.
Dollshot “Swan Gone” directed by Pablo Delcan.
Dollshot “Nacht und Träume” directed by Angus Borsos.
Noah K Quartet feat. Noah K, Joe Morris, Giacomo Merega, Jason Nazary. Oct 2020.
Noah K and Giacomo Merega. 2020.
Noah K (saxophone) + So Percussion (Josh Quillen - Steel Pans/Adam Sliwinksi - Piano/Eric Cha-Beach - Vibraphone/Jason Treuting - Drum Set). 2015.
Bio
Noah K is a composer and saxophonist who lives and works in Brooklyn. His music has been performed at venues including Le Poisson Rouge, National Sawdust, The Stone and Seiji Ozawa Hall, among others, by ensembles including the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, JACK Quartet, SO Percussion, Contemporaneous and more. His band The Noah K Quartet has released three critically acclaimed recordings for the Swiss Jazz label HatHut Records: Descendants (2011), Cluster Swerve (2017) and Out Of The Hole (2020).
K co-leads the band Dollshot with his wife, Rosie. His song cycle, Lalande, written for the group, has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, WNYC’s New Sounds, and performed live in studio on WNYC’s Soundcheck, hosted by John Schaefer. He has scored for documentary and other new media projects, and collaborated with filmmaker Matt Mahurin and artist Pablo Delcan. His opera, Salvation, with libretto by Hampton Fancher, is currently in development.
K received a PhD and an MFA in Music Composition from Princeton University where he was recipient of the Harold W. Dodds Honorific Fellowship as well as the Naumburg and Mark Nelson doctoral fellowships. He holds a B.M. with Honors in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory. He has received composition fellowships from Tanglewood and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra among others and has been Visiting Professor and Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Gallatin School, where he co-founded the 4th Wave Music Intensive.
K co-founded Underwolf in 2010. He is editor of the English edition of Ivan Wyschnegradsky’s Manual of Quarter-Tone Harmony, published by Underwolf Editions in 2018.
Some current projects:
SALVATION: Opera in development with Hampton Fancher, Mark DeChiazza and Rosie K.
DOLLSHOT: Band with vocalist/sound artist Rosie K
NOAH K QUARTET (aka Noah Kaplan Quartet): Jazz quartet
UNDERWOLF: Production Company, Studio, Record Label & Small Press. Check www.underwolf.com for updates about new recordings, books and other media.