Sam Barnett is a 15 year-old musician playing alto & tenor sax, piano and a composer. He has been playing professionally for 2 years in London and Europe. Sam attends the Royal Academy of Music Junior Jazz as a scholar. Tutors include Gareth Lochrane, Jean Toussaint, Julian Arguelles, Gary Crosby OBE and Tom Challenger; Global Music Foundation – Steven Keogh (drums), Bruce Barth (piano) and Perico Sambeat (sax).
The Sam Barnett Quintet is among an exciting wave of new young bands including Zenel, Ezra, Triforce, Nerija, many of the musicians having trained and worked together for years already. These young jazz musicians are rising with an astonishing level and range of styles and skills, their new writing and compositions bringing fresh expression to the jazz art form. This artistry of youth leads us to look forward to an exciting future for jazz, with Sam Barnett’s Quintet at the heart of it.
The NEW YORK-LONDON SUITE is a set of 5 pieces written at age 14 and represents jazz heritage in New York and my heritage in London. The first two pieces of the album reflect my experience of briefly visiting New York. Morning Shadowplay describes the angular impact of the shadows from the skyscapers as they fell against the city. Liberty was written on the Staten Island ferry as we passed the great statue and addresses the new New York in comparison to the old statue. Maiden Flight shows a journey in itself (with a nod to Herbie Hancock) and joins the two sets of pieces together. The final two pieces represent London and my personal thoughts on my home and the city I grew up in. London Meditation is a reflective piece representing the city as I have come to understand it. Theme for Home invites the journey to continue, and leaves the suite open to possibilities of further adventures as well as thinking over memories from early childhood.
New York London Suite’s pieces are designed to flow and compliment each other as do the two great cities with their different energies of chaos and calm. The album pays homage to the classic jazz albums of the 50’s and 60’s while sounding exciting and fresh. The pieces can be seen as separate pieces in their own right, just as the memories of an inspirational journey are fragmented. This body of work as a whole represents the outcome of my experiences so far.
