| Jazz |
Alexa Tarantino, Between Memory and the Future
At a time when New York’s jazz ecosystem continues to negotiate the balance between preservation and innovation, Blue Engine Records has emerged as one of the most influential platforms shaping that dialogue. Directed by Wynton Marsalis and closely aligned with the mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the label has built its reputation by championing artists who respect the tradition while refusing to be confined by it. It is on this prestigious imprint that Alexa Tarantino releases a post-bop album that feels both deeply rooted and unmistakably contemporary.
For historical perspective, Blue Engine Records first gained widespread recognition through releases by artists as varied and influential as Wayne Shorter, Betty Carter, Rubén Blades, Willie Nelson, and John Mayer, an eclectic catalog that nonetheless shares a commitment to artistic integrity. Tarantino’s presence on the label is therefore neither incidental nor symbolic; it places her squarely within a lineage of musicians entrusted with carrying jazz forward.
Much critical attention has been paid to the incisive quality of Alexa Tarantino’s playing. Yet to focus exclusively on attack, precision, or virtuosity is to overlook the essence of her artistry. Tarantino is not merely a technically formidable musician; she is a stylist in the fullest sense of the word. Her command of silence is as expressive as her use of sound, and her dual identity as both saxophonist and flutist allows her to navigate contrasting tonal worlds with remarkable fluency. Across this album, one detects a distinctly poetic sensibility, an emotional density that transcends instrumental prowess and asserts itself as a core artistic statement.
That authority is inseparable from Tarantino’s extensive and unusually rich performance experience. Her career has taken her to some of the most respected stages in the international jazz circuit: the Jazz in Marciac Festival with Wynton Marsalis and the Young Stars of Jazz; the Umbria Jazz Festival alongside Ryan Truesdell’s Gil Evans Project; the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; the Hollywood Bowl with Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra; the Rockport Jazz Festival leading her own quintet; the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center; the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra; and the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, where she has shared space with artists ranging from LSAT to Earth, Wind & Fire. Such breadth is not merely impressive, it is formative, shaping a musician whose voice reflects both discipline and openness.
Seen through this lens, Alexa Tarantino emerges first and foremost as an artist forged by experience. That journey has enabled her to develop a personal language that feels immediately recognizable. It also reveals her as an exceptional composer, one whose fascination with sound, rhythm, and structure places her in conversation with the great interpreters of the past. In this respect, comparisons to figures such as Dexter Gordon feel less like homage than kinship. Like Gordon, Tarantino possesses an interpretive intelligence, an ability to inhabit a composition rather than simply execute it, that remains rare. Marsalis has long demonstrated a singular instinct for identifying such qualities, and once again, his judgment appears well founded.
The album itself occupies a compelling middle ground. It will resonate with listeners devoted to the classic jazz canon, while also engaging those drawn to a more exploratory, evolving form. Tarantino’s sense of melody is particularly striking; several themes linger long after the music ends, suggesting a composer attentive not only to structure but to memory.
Inevitably, careful listening evokes echoes of landmark recordings from the 1950s and 1960s. This sense of temporal displacement feels intentional, as if the album invites the listener into a carefully constructed space-time journey through familiar harmonic landscapes. Yet beneath that surface familiarity lies a vision that is unmistakably forward-looking. Evidence of this can be found in Tarantino’s work with vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, presented here in a register that departs from her customary terrain. When an artist succeeds in drawing another creative force beyond her comfort zone, it speaks to a compositional confidence that goes well beyond instrumental mastery.
Indeed, while Tarantino’s technical command is beyond dispute, what ultimately demands recognition is Tarantino the composer. In an era when instrumental virtuosity often dominates discourse, this album insists on a broader understanding of authorship and intention.
Within today’s jazz landscape, the growing presence of women has coincided with a surge of originality and renewed vision. Tarantino’s work stands firmly within that movement, offering neither polemic nor posturing, but a quietly persuasive argument through sound alone. This is not an album that yields its full impact on first listening. It rewards patience, repetition, and attentiveness. Personally, I found it difficult to disengage once immersed.
What ultimately emerges is something both subtle and striking: a work of considerable artistic density, shaped by history yet oriented toward the future. In doing so, this album does more than affirm Alexa Tarantino’s place among today’s most compelling jazz voices, it raises meaningful questions about where the music itself is headed next.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, January 15th 2026
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Musicians :
Alexa Tarantino, saxophones, flutes
Steven Feifke, piano
Philip Norris, bass
Mark Whitfield, Jr., drums
Cécile McLorin Salvant, vocals (tracks 6 & 10)
Keita Ogawa, percussion (track 10)
Track Listing:
Inside Looking Out
The Roar and the Whisper
This Is For Albert
Portrait of a Shadow
Luminance
Moon Song (ft. Cécile McLorin Salvant)
Back in Action
Provoking Luck
All Along
Tigress (ft. Cécile McLorin Salvant and Keita Ogawa)