Jazz Saxophonist Marcus Strickland has backed artists like Roy Haynes, Dave Douglas and many others. Strickland’s Twi-Life project blends element of jazz, fusion and hip-hop.
Strickland plays with a bright energy and drive. He also can recede into the background in service of a groove. While working as a sideman playing hard bop, Strickland would come off of gigs and assemble beats inspired by J Dilla and other like-minded innovators. The process involved taking a few bars of rhythmic material and using it as the building block for larger compositions.
His band, Twi-Life, is named after the idea of being invigorated by the place where two worlds or two zones come together. They focus on intuition. Strickland switches between bass clarinet, soprano sax and tenor. Strickland and Twi-Life’s newest record, “People of the Sun,” continues on an exploration that draws on West African and Afro-Cuban influences. The music is expansive and groove-heavy. There’s a kinship with Kamasi Washington. One can hear a connection to D’Angelo, Stevie Wonder and the spirit of Sun Ra, filtered through an approachable and popular perspective. The new record has a lot of recorded and sampled spoken-word vocal snippets, giving it the feel of a poetry-reading jam session.
See Marcus Strickland’s Twi-Life at The Side Door, 85 Lyme St., Old Lyme, on Dec. 14 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $45. 860-434-0886 or thesidedoorjazz.com.
