Roxy Coss

Restless Idealism

Origin 82705

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...reaching across a spectrum of past and present, blessed with melodic intelligence and direct appeal, but also a sense of an ongoing musical search.
DOWNBEAT

Musician-Composer Roxy Coss has become one of the most unique and innovative saxophonists on the scene, a definitional voice of the Millennial Movement in Jazz. Winner of a 2016 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award, the DownBeat Critics Poll listed her as a "Rising Star" on Soprano Saxophone the past four years in a row, and a DownBeat Magazine review called her "An exceptional young talent." Originally from Seattle, and now a fixture on the New York scene, she has performed extensively around the world.

Roxy Coss has headlined major jazz festivals and venues around the world, including the Newport Jazz Festival, Melbourne Big Band Festival, Ballard Jazz Festival, The Jazz Standard, Jazz Showcase, Cafe Stritch, The Nash, The Royal Room, Side Door Cafe, Palace Theater, and Vibrato, among others. Her Quintet has also held residencies at New York City clubs including SMOKE Jazz Club and Club Bonafide, and appears frequently at Smalls Jazz Club.

Coss has performed as a side musician with Jazz greats including Clark Terry, Louis Hayes, Rufus Reid, Billy Kaye and Claudio Roditi. She was a member of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's group from 2012 through 2014, and toured with the MACKTET, led by Pelt and drummer Willie Jones III. She has been a member of The Diva Jazz Orchestra since 2009, and has made appearances with the Mingus Big Band and Birdland Big Band. She was also featured in the Off-Broadway hit, Maurice Hines is Tappin' Thru Life. Past performance experience also include Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, Joe Lovano, Mulgrew Miller, Harry Allen, Steve Wilson, Gary Smulyan, Buster Williams, Harold Mabern, Joe Farnsworth, Jerry Vivino, Eric Marienthal, and Ken Peplowski.

Roxy graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2008 from William Paterson University with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies/Performance, where she studied with Rich Perry, Gary Smulyan, Rich DeRosa, and Mulgrew Miller. In 2011, she was chosen to participate in both the prestigious Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead Residency Workshop at the Kennedy Center, and the acclaimed Steans Institute Jazz Program at the Ravinia Festival, where she studied with Rufus Reid, Curtis Fuller, Nathan Davis, and David Baker.


Track Listing:

1. Don't Cross the Coss
2. Waiting
3. Push
4. Perspective
5. Breaking Point
6. Happiness Is a Choice
7. Tricky
8. The Story of Fiona
9. Almost My Own
10. Recurring Dream

Performers:

Roxy Coss - Tenor and Soprano Saxophones
Jeremy Pelt - Trumpet
Alex Wintz - Guitar
Chris Pattishall - Piano
Dezron Douglas - Bass
Willie Jones III - Drums

Production Info:

Produced by Roxy Coss
Recorded by Aaron Nevezie at The Bunker Studio, Brooklyn NY
Assistant Engineers: Todd Carder & James Krivchenia
November 10 & 20, 2014
Mixed & Mastered by Dave Darlington at
Bass Hit Recording, New York, NY
Photography by Truman Buffett
Cover Design & Layout by John Bishop


Reviews of Restless Idealism

Downbeat (Brian Zimmerman)
An exceptional young talent among millennial jazz musicians, Roxy Coss delivers a strong performance on Restless Idealism, her sophomore album and first for the Seattle-based label Origin Records. Coss, a Washington native, has since relocated to New York, where she has been refining a style that is intricate and sincere, intelligent yet accessible ...

Midwest Review (Chris Spector)
The latest in a long time of jazzy, saxy ladies, Coss brings the heat on this original set of originals. A long time sidekick of Jeremy Pelt, he returns the favor by being all over this date, blending right in with her regular band. Certainly a right on combination of restless and ideal, this date steams along mightily, not letting any grass grow ...

All About Jazz (Dan McClenaghan)
4-STARS Upcoming saxophonist Roxy Coss opens her splendid Origin Records debut, Restless Idealism with a traditional approach on her original tune, "Don't Cross the Coss." It's a happy and assertive sound, and when she takes her first solo, her and robust tone bring Coleman Hawkins comes to mind. Coss and her band, churning along on a well-lub ...

Bird is the Worm (Dave Sumner)
Enjoyable straight-ahead session from tenor saxophonist Coss, guitarist Alex Wintz, pianist Chris Pattishall, bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Willie Jones III. Some of that straight-ahead action, like "Push" and "Tricky," hearkens back to an old-school swing and bop, and while those tracks are plenty likable, it's those that reflect a modern po ...

All About Jazz (Jack Bowers)
Roxy Coss was inspired to name the second album as leader of her own group Restless Idealism after reading a passage by Hunter S. Thompson in The Rum Diary, in which he weighs the tension between "a restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other." While Coss, as a working musician, has wrestled with both sides of that eq ...

Downbeat (Josef Woodard)
On her second album - following long on the heels of her 2010 self-released debut, Roxy Coss comes across as a fairly full-formed talent. As a player, on tenor and soprano saxophones, she possesses a poise and maturity beyond her years. She's also a composer of diverse instincts and a strong bandleader (with impressive bandmates in tow, including ...

Amazon (RBS Productions)
Five IMPRESSIVE Stars. Roxy Coss is a potent, facile young jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist who has twice made the vaunted Downbeat International Critics Poll in 2014-15 as a "rising star." After reading the raves over her sophomore release "Restless Idealism", I bought it and after listening several times I must heartily agree. She has great ...

New York Music Daily (Delarue)
Tenor saxophonist Roxy Coss‘ new album "Restless Idealism" takes its title from a Hunter S. Thompson quote. It's a concept album of sorts, examining dynamics between hope and cynicism, alienation and intimacy. Coss writes vivid, purposeful songs without words and plays with an uncluttered, often smoky tone reminiscent of Harry Allen. Don't ...

CD Hotlist (Rick Anderson)
Of course, when it comes to joyful and powerful swing, it's hard to beat composer and saxophonist Roxy Coss, whose second album is an all-original sextet session and a pleasure from start to finish. She blows out of the starting gate with the straight-ahead bop number "Don't Cross the Coss" (a wry reference to the way in which people tend to get he ...

JAZZIZ (Bob Weinberg)
Plaudits and plum assignments are nothing new to saxophonist Roxy Coss. The New York City-based musician, who graduated Magna Cum Laude from William Paterson University in 2008, has earned coveted space with the Mingus Big Band and The Diva Jazz Orchestra and was a member in good standing of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt's group. Fronting her own band, sh ...

Jazz Weekly (George W. Harris)
RINGER OF THE WEEK Am I a sexist, or is it just that I have two daughters about Roxy Coss' age? I first look at the cover of this album and I think, "Any lady that wears a suit like that is either appealing to the wimpy smooth jazz crowd or (no pun intended) covering up for a lack of chops." Boy, did I get a wrong number! After listening to thi ...

The Jazz Owl (Travis Rogers, Jr.)
Restless Idealism (Origin 82705) is the title and theme of the second album by saxophonist Roxy Coss. It comes from something that Hunter S. Thompson once said, "It was the tension between…two poles - a restless idealism on the one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other - that kept me going." It is that notion that gives such impetus and ...

Downbeat (John Murph)
FEATURE STORY Roxy Coss' sophomore album, Restless Idealism, superbly conveys the ecstasy and agony of a musician's early career stages. From illuminating titles such as "Waiting," "Push" and "Tricky" to the vivacious tone and improvisations unraveling from Coss' tenor and soprano saxophones, the program plays out like pages from a journal. Cos ...

Jazztimes (Michael J. West)
Tenor saxophonist Roxy Coss is a protege of trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, and on the 10 original compositions that make up Restless Idealism, it shows. Among other things she shares with Pelt (who appears on two tracks) are fondnesses for elaborate linear melodies and shifting times, and an eagerness to play with short-form conventions. Not that Restl ...

Improvijazzation (Dick Metcalf)
What sets Ms. Coss apart from all the other sax players is her (almost) relentless pursuit of originality, and this ten-song release is nothing but Coss originals! You'll "get the sonic picture" as soon as you catch the first eight (or so) bars of her opening tune, "Don't Cross the Coss"… & what you will hear, above all else, is that she doesn't ...



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