Survival of the Fittest

...an emotive, adventurous and timeless spirit of jazz that's globally enjoyable.
Take Effect Magazine

On a quest of growth and mastery as a saxophonist, composer, and musician, Jordan VanHemert found equally important his efforts to contextualize difficulties of his life experiences. Within some deeper themes, including coming of age as a Korean adoptee, he's discovered in the process, resilience, optimism and joy. Jordan's music is meant to convey empathy and solidarity to others, and this album, Jordan's fifth as a leader, effectively fulfills these simultaneous pursuits. His stellar band includes Terell Stafford, Michael Dease, Helen Sung, Rodney Whitaker, and Lewis Nash.

"Brilliance, sparkle and punctuation are the key words of this album, to which we must also add melodicism and the intelligent spontaneity of harmonic interactions." Couleurs Jazz, Paris

Production Info:

Produced by Michael Dease
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Corey DeRushia
at Troubadour Recording Studios, East Lansing, MI
Recorded on October 12, 2024
Liner notes by Gary Fukushima
Production Assistant: Andrew Kim
Album Art by Nico Lee
Cover design & layout by John Bishop

Reviews of Survival of the Fittest

Paris Move (Thierry De Clemensat)
VanHemert has performed alongside such luminaries as John Daversa, Dmitri Matheny, Rodney Whitaker, John Webber, Geri Allen, Chris Vadala, Vince DiMartino, and Dave Eggar. His work has resonated in venues like ShapeShifter Lab, Painted Bride, the Blue LLama, Edgefest, the Elkhart Jazz Festival, and the Korean Cultural Foundation in Philadelphia, am ...

Wild Mercury Rhythm (C. Michael Bailey)
We needn't consider jazz as only a product of the Ease and West Coasts. The American interior also provides its share of splendid jazz music and musicians. An example is tenor saxophonist Jordan VanHemert. Born in Cheongju, South Korea and raised in Holland, Michigan, VanHemert took up alto saxophone at 11, eventually gravitating to the tenor saxop ...

Jazz Weekly (George W Harris)
Tenor saxist Jordan VanHemert mixes and matches his rhythm team of Helen Sung/p, Rodney Whitaker/b and Lewis Nash/dr with a brass secion of Terell Stafford/tp-fh and Michael Dease/tb in various musical portraits. VanHemert's tone is a complete joy, rich and full of texture while relaxed and bel canto. Unsurprisingly the most endearing tunes are t ...

All About Jazz (Album Liner Notes) (Gary Fukushima)
For most of his life, Jordan VanHemert has been on a quest of growth and mastery as a saxophonist, composer and musician. But equally important have been his efforts to contextualize some of the difficulties of his life experiences within the deeper themes of his DNA, discovering in the process resilience, optimism and joy. Jordan's music is meant ...

The New York City Jazz Record (Fred Bouchard)
The laconic Japanese adage "Fall seven times, stand up eight" underpins a subtext behind the title of Jordan VanHemert's fifth leader date, Survival of the Fittest. A hearty, adept, good-humored tenor saxophonist, the 30ish Korean-born Michigander here re-assembles, with trombonist-producer Michael Dease, the sextet of their slightly elder peers th ...

The Walker's (Japan) (Editor)
The newest release from Jordan VanHemert not only showcases how technically gifted he is on the saxophone but also showcases the depth of his personal life. He was adopted from South Korea and grew up in the US and thinks of music as a healing power, a joy, and an importance of being connected with one another. He captured these in this album. You ...