| Jazz moderne |
Shapeshifter by Shapeshifter: Brittany Pitt’s Toronto trio changes shape with every track.
Seeing the name Shapeshifter on an album cover this month is enough to make you stop and wonder. Is this the follow-up from a group I had already seen and heard live? Or is it another jazz band, one that would be releasing its second album in the space of a few months in 2026? Within the first few minutes of listening, and before I had even read the musicians’ names, I knew the answer: this is the work of a new Shapeshifter.
Why “new”? Because this Canadian band should not be mixed up with the New Zealand act also known as Shapeshifter, a live heavy-soul electronic group famous for its drum and bass-flavoured shows, whom I once saw at Glastonbury, and I would love to see this Toronto trio on the same famous English stage one day. Nor should it be confused with the contemporary UK jazz trio led by saxophonist and composer Mark Lockheart (formerly of Polar Bear and Loose Tubes), with bassist Huw V Williams and drummer Jay Davis, whose self-titled debut, Shapeshifter, appeared in March 2026. And I would not be surprised to find, somewhere in my huge collection of vinyl and CDs, yet another one: a live recording called Live / Shapeshifter by the avant-garde bassist William Parker and his band In Order to Survive.
So, was choosing this name, for the group and for the album, really such a wise idea? Perhaps there is, in the end, only one Shapeshifter: the mythological and symbolic creature able to change its shape, form or identity, from which all these bands descend. Why not? And if that is the case, this trio has certainly earned the name, because the music on this record never stays in one shape for long.
Canadian Shapeshifter is the trio of saxophonist and composer Brittany Pitt, and this self-titled record, released on September 2026 on Lit Soc Records, is her debut as a leader and principal composer. The label is a young imprint founded by the people behind Sellers & Newel, a beloved second-hand bookshop in Toronto that doubles as an intimate venue for curious, open-minded jazz. The album was recorded live off the floor in the shop on 19 January 2026, and you can hear it: there is a sense of free invention and unvarnished closeness in the sound, as if the three musicians were playing just near you.
Brittany Pitt plays tenor throughout, joined by guitarist Dan Pitt and drummer Aidan McConnell. There is no bass in the line-up, and that absence gives the group a distinctive sound without ever hurting its drive. On the contrary, it lets the trio glide from a floating, airborne pulse to something more grounded and propulsive, and back again. Brittany also took part in the School for Improvisational Music in New York last August, working with artists including Ralph Alessi, Matt Mitchell, John Hebert, Tom Rainey and Tim Berne, and she formed this trio as soon as she came back to Toronto. The experience shows in the confidence of her writing and in the way she lets each bandmate shine.
The title track opens with a spacious, gently syncopated feel and a clean, dexterous guitar solo. Then McConnell’s drumming grows steadily more urgent, and when the tenor joins in, the percussion fills the whole sonic field while the two Pitts stay admirably composed. McConnell takes a solo of his own before the head returns. “Union Street” is a more abstract affair. For a minute the sax and guitar lurk inside McConnell’s cracked, shifting pulse before the main theme finally appears in an elusive rubato. Even as the written material turns into an improvised conversation, the two melodic voices keep their enigmatic restraint, however hard the drums try to whip them into a frenzy.
“Mentally Heavy” and “Don’t Rush” take the tension and energy of the opener further, with the guitar turning fiery in places. “SIM” pushes the opening track’s sparse syncopation a step further: it begins as a slow fragmentation and turns into a kinetic double-time feel. On the other side of the coin, “The Meaningful Conversations” and the closer “Entranced” are all atmosphere, with breathier saxophone, guitar bathed in effects and airy brushed drums. “Prospect”, the fifth piece (introduced by the short “Prospect Intro”, composed by Dan Pitt), finds a middle ground between these poles: light, brisk drumming gives the hazy sax and guitar textures an extra push of excitement.
The composing credits are shared, too. Brittany Pitt wrote most of the music, Dan Pitt wrote “Prospect Intro”, and “The Meaningful Conversations” is a joint effort by the two. It is a fitting detail for a record that feels so much like a conversation between equals.
Shapeshifter belongs to a new wave of Toronto jazz artists who neither follow the straight-ahead line nor dive headlong into free improvisation. Like many of their European peers, they embrace eclecticism and experiment within an open jazz framework, treating the history of the music not as something to be reconstructed, but as a language that can meet other sounds and ideas while keeping its own identity.
Brittany Pitt grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, where she studied at Mohawk College before graduating in comprehensive music studies from the University of Toronto. She now performs regularly in both cities and has played with artists including Laura Swankey, Ashley Urquhart, Tania Gill, Karen Ng, Ethan Ardelli, Robert Diack and Alex Lakusta. Dan Pitt is known for his own projects and for Arid Landscapes, as well as for his work with Noah Franche-Nolan, while McConnell also drums with the indie rock bands Potions and Burs. Brittany Pitt also leads Reverie, a group with electronics, electric bass and a fusion-minded outlook.
So, is Shapeshifter a sensible name? Perhaps not the most practical one for anyone searching online. But for this music it could hardly be more fitting. This is a varied, assured and deeply enjoyable debut that moves effortlessly between spacious calm and fiery urgency, between abstraction and groove, and it announces Brittany Pitt as a composer and bandleader to watch. Seek it out: you will be surprised how many shapes three musicians can take.
Frankie Pfeiffer
Editor in chief – PARIS-MOVE
PARIS-MOVE, October 22nd, 2026
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Musicians:
Brittany Pitt: tenor saxophone
Dan Pitt: guitar
Aidan McConnell: drums
Tracklisting:
- Shapeshifter (5:49)
- Union Street (6:19)
- Mentally Heavy (5:12)
- Prospect Intro (1:14)
- Prospect (6:09)
- The Meaningful Conversations (7:30)
- SIM (4:38)
- Don’t Rush (4:13)
- Entranced (5:54)
Credits:
Recorded live off the floor on 19 January 2026 at Sellers & Newel Second Hand Books, Toronto.
Recorded and mixed by John Borra
Mastered by Kevin Brown
Produced by Brittany Pitt and Peter Sellers
Layout and design by Cal O’Shaughnessy
Funded in part by the Toronto Arts Council