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Wild Awake

by Darren Johnston

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Wild Awake via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    shipping out on or around May 26, 2024

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

1.
2.
composed by Darren Johnston, text by Joe Hill
3.
War Poets 07:32
4.
Wild Awake 06:58
5.
Mood Board 08:00
6.
7.
John's Song 09:08

about

Diskonife Records proudly announces new releases from label founders Matt Moran and Peter Hess, and new Diskonife artist, trumpeter/composer Darren Johnston. All three recordings, to be released simultaneously on May 26, 2023, follow the label’s imperative of documenting creative music without commercial pressures, and releasing work to the world to invigorate creative flow. 

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,”

Please Visit: www.Diskonife.com

Press Enquiries on Diskonife:
Contact Jason Paul Harman Byrne @ Red Cat Publicity, Tel 646 259 2105, Email redcatjazz@mac.com

credits

released May 26, 2023

Darren Johnston - trumpet, vocals (track 2)
Dayna Stephens - soprano, tenor, and bari sax
Jacob Sacks - piano
Sean Conly - upright bass
Ches Smith - drums

all compositions by Darren Johnston
lyrics on track 2 by Joe Hill

recorded by Christopher Benham @ Big Orange Sheep
on June 8, 2021

mixed and mastered by Eli Cruz

cover image by Reuben Radding
design by Amy Saidens

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Darren Johnston Brooklyn, New York

Canada-born trumpeter/composer Darren Johnston works primarily within jazz, jazz adjacent, and purely improvised music, while also studying and performing many other styles, including music of the Balkans, Jamaica (Groundation), contemporary classical, and more. He is particularly drawn to music that defies categorization. ... more

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