Border Crossing

For this week's Monday exclusive we have a treat for the jazz lovers, as Toronto-based guitarist Alex Goodman kindly shares the first track from his forthcoming album Border Crossing with Songwriting readers.

Goodman graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in Jazz Performance, after which he completed a Master's programme at the Manhattan School of Music. He has released four albums as a band leader and has over 100 original compositions and two film scores to his name. He has written extensively for string quartet, philharmonic orchestra, big band and various jazz ensembles, and was awarded 1st prize in the International Guitar Competition at 2014's Montreux Jazz Festival.

Of Acrobat itself, he tells us: "Acrobat was written at the Banff Center in Canada. I was there for a residency to work on applying counterpoint to the guitar and tried to integrate some of those techniques into this song. It was also one of the first pieces I ever wrote lyrics to, and I tried to tie the feeling of the music to the meaning of the words. It features Felicity Williams on vocals, Michael Davidson on vibraphone, Andrew Downing on cello and Rogerio Boccato on percussion."