Biography
With a passion for the unorthodox and a knack for cultivating unique ensemble identities, Melbourne-based saxophonist, improviser and composer Andrew Saragossi has established himself across several and varied creative outlets as a chameleon with a wind instrument - not bound by genre or personal taste, but by a relentless search for deeper musical meaning.
Saragossi has that unique ability to make the instrument sing, as if you can almost make out some secret lyrics buried beneath... more direct than real words could ever be.
Musical Sound Bites (2021)
Saragossi’s artistic practice is multidimensional. Whilst firmly grounded in the jazz tradition and improvisation, his affinity for experimentation has led him to focus on broadening his sonic potential into a realm beyond the stereotypical function of the saxophone. He explores acoustic phenomena such as multiphonics, percussive articulation and circular breathing to create innovative, textural sound worlds, challenging the traditional function of the saxophone. His creative work explores the boundary of abstraction and convention, achieving an honest balance between raw spontaneous expression and refined execution – always in service of the music at hand.
Saragossi released his debut solo work entitled "Overlay" in 2020. The project, which features three original pieces and one re-imagining of a traditional jazz standard, all for solo tenor saxophone was conceptualised as an audio-visual EP and came to fruition through collaboration with four diverse and unique film-makers. The music on this EP is a culmination of Saragossi's time spent completing his Master of Music (2018-20) studies in the Netherlands and Germany where his research and practice centred around functional applications of extended techniques in small group and solo settings, a journey through which he has further developed his personal approach to the instrument and is now permeating into his other projects.
Saragossi has released music with several co-led original projects spanning both Europe and his native Australia including; his experimental-folk duo MEATSHELL w/bassist & vocalist Helen Svoboda (Winners 2020 Maastricht Jazz Awards (NL)); avant-bogan, progressive-jazz trio Milton Man Gogh w/Benjamin Shannon & Zac Sakrewski (Finalists 2020 B-Jazz International Competition (BEL); and experimental wind/brass trio DÜT w/Brodie Mcallister & Tristan Rogers. He has also collaborated on recordings/projects with Mike Roelofs (NL), Peggy Lee (CAN), Dylan van der Schyff (CAN), Niran Dasika, Martin Kay's Forage, Jive Canyon & Concocted Consciousness to name a select few. In 2023 he will release the debut album "How We Cope" from his latest trio project Loose Leaf ft. Helen Svoboda and Dylan van der Schyff.
In 2019 Saragossi’s co-led duo MEATSHELL won the inaugural Award for Innovation in Music (Maastricht, NL) for their debut immersive theatre production “Peaceful Co-Existence” which they wrote, produced and performed in. They continued this success by winning the 2020 Maastricht Jazz Awards (NL) and making the finals of the 2020 B-Jazz Competition (Leuven, BE) alongside Saragossi’s other project Milton Man Gogh. Personally, Saragossi has been nominated for the prestigious Freedman Jazz Fellowship (2022), was a finalist in the APRA Professional Development Awards (2021) and was awarded the Colin Biedermann Memorial Scholarship to attend the 2019 School for Improvisational Music (SIM) Summer Creative Intensive in Brooklyn, NY. In 2023 he was selected to take part in the Bespoke Artist professional development program through Speak Percussion.
Aside from performing, Saragossi is also passionate about arts administration and education. During his time spent in Europe, he worked as the the Head of Production at Jazz Maastricht and upon returning home took up a similar role with the Melbourne International Jazz Festival (2021-22). Saragossi is a co-founder and director of Brisbane-based independent record label Green Chimneys Records through which he has produced and promoted shows for a vast array of internationally renowned artists in the jazz and hip-hip spheres including Oddisee (USA), Black Milk (USA) and KNOWER (USA). In 2018 he launched the sub-label SuperSonic with a focus on capturing and documenting the creative and innovative music happening in the Brisbane scene and providing opportunities for artists to record, release and perform their music.
“No pedestal, no bullshit, just music that means something, music that comes from somewhere and I think the audience can find their way into his world feeling comforted and welcomed.”
Brodie Mcallister – MADE NOW MUSIC