Darren Johnston - Wild Awake

For Darren Johnston, “someone to watch, on trumpet of course, but as a composer and bandleader as well” (John Corbett, DownBeat Magazine), creating the music for Wild Awake, along with marathon days of practicing and composing in general, helped him to maintain a sense of purpose, wonder, and calm through the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic era shutdown. Once it finally became possible, Johnston hit the studio and made three distinct recording sessions within five weeks’ time; Wild Awake was the final recording of this prolific period that included a quartet recording in Chicago (Life In Time, on Origin Records) and a trio record in Brooklyn (Breathing Room, on Minus Zero).

Wild Awake expanded a trio that had been one of his first NYC-based bands as a leader, featuring the incredible Jacob Sacks on piano and Sean Conly on bass, to include two friends from his time in the Bay Area back in the late 90’s, both of whom now undeniably important voices in the world of jazz and improvised music: Dayna Stephens on multiple saxophones and Ches Smith on drums.

This assemblage of omnivorous musicians is one that is willing and able to go anywhere with imagination, soul, and integrity. With their creative diversity in mind, Johnston brought to the proceedings some unusual pieces such as a song with lyrics, using the final words written by the iconic bard of the labor movement Joe Hill, which were found in his cell after his execution in 1915. Other pieces were harmonically open-ended and groove-based in a more traditional melody-with-chords-to-improvise-over format, or launching pads for free improvisation.

Ultimately, Wild Awake represents a moment in time for five musicians with broad tastes and abilities, who according to Johnston “were just so very happy to be playing music with fellow humans again, one day in Brooklyn, during uncertain, but optimistic times. It was a wonderful day,”

"Interpreting standards from an experimental direction is always fascinating, and Audible Spirits is a standards album with a major twist. The trio of Moran (vibraphone), Curtis Hasselbring (trombone) and Sarah elizabeth Charles (vocals) is joined by a unique accompanist: samples of Jamey Aebersold Play-A-Long recordings . . . it’s refreshing to hear them reimagined with these players’ sly sense of humor. This is a novel approach to music-making that breathes new life into recordings we never thought would get it." - Elijah Shiffer, The New York City Jazz Record