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Josh Sinton

Josh Sinton, a native of Southern New Jersey, born in 1971, is a creative musician who
specializes in playing the baritone saxophone and bass clarinet. Growing up, his musical
inspirations were his father’s record collection, his brothers’ record collections and
watching his father play stride piano at parties. There wasn’t anyone else playing music so
to this day Sinton remains mystified that the music bug stuck at all.

He studied composition at the University of Chicago and improvisation at the AACM in the
1990’s and then proceeded to carve out a niche for himself in Chicago writing and
performing music for dance (with Julia Mayer) and theater (at Steppenwolf Studio and
Bailiwick Repertory) as well as performing and studying with local musicians such as Fred
Anderson, Ken Vandermark, Ari Brown and Cameron Pfiffner. He would leave Chicago
during this time for extended backpacking trips around Europe and India and found a lot of
useful information for his later work.

Determined to overcome his technical shortcomings, he gave all this up and moved to
Boston in 1999 to resume studies at the New England Conservatory. He spent five years in
Boston and met, played and studied with a variety of folks including Steve Lacy, Ran Blake,
Dominique Eade, Jerry Bergonzi, Bob Moses, Jim Hobbs and the Either Orchestra.

Since then, Sinton has lived in Brooklyn, New York. Currently Sinton leads his Predicate
Trio (with Tom Rainey and Christopher Hoffman), collaborates with Guillermo Gregorio,
plays in a collaborative trio with Todd Neufeld and Giacomo Merega and plays in Adam
Hopkins band Crickets. He has also founded and led the bands Ideal Bread, musicianer,
holus-Bolus and Senhor Vasques. He is busy writing new music for himself and his
collaborators as well as contributing essays to the websites of Brooklyn Rail, Darcy James
Argue, Ethan Iverson’s Do The Math, Destination: Out and Sound American.

He’s been fortunate enough to have been a member of Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society,
the Nate Wooley Quintet, the Andrew D’Angelo DNA Orchestra and Anthony Braxton’s
Tricentric Orchestra. With these groups he’s travelled to several countries in Europe and
South America as well as played many festivals (Moers, Newport, BMW, Bergamo, Tampere
Jazz Happening, etc.). Sinton is proud of the collaborators he’s been able to work with (Kirk
Knuffke, Tomas Fujiwara, Chad Taylor, Mary Halvorson, Ingrid Laubrock, Jeremiah
Cymerman, Josh Roseman, Harris Eisenstadt, Roswell Rudd, James Fei, Denman Maroney,
Han-Earl Park, Greg Tate, Curtis Hasselbring, Mike Pride, Jon Irabagon).

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Radio & Podcasts

Sinton, Zucker, Zenón And More

Read "Sinton, Zucker,  Zenón And More" reviewed by Bob Osborne


Another international mix of great new albums from Ben Zucker's Fifth Season, Josh Sinton, Miguel Zenón, No Base Trio, Rafael Zaldavar, Tigran Hamasyan, and a great historical recording from Henry Lowther's QuaternityPlaylist Show Intro 00:00 Ben Zucker´s Fifth Season “Counterproductives" from Semiterritory (ears&eyes) 00:45 Josh Sinton “The Heebie-Jeebies (to James P. Johnson)" from Steve Lacy's Book of Practitioners, Vol. 1 H (Form is Possibility Recordings) 10:46 Miguel Zenón “Tainos Y Caribes" from Musica De Las Americas (Miel Music) ...

1
Album Review

Josh Sinton: b.

Read "b." reviewed by Troy Dostert


Baritone saxophonist and bass clarinetist Josh Sinton has a long resume going back to the 1990s, when he worked extensively in the Chicago scene with veterans including Fred Anderson and Ken Vandermark. Then a move to the East Coast, in the early 2000s, brought him into contact with mentors such as Ran Blake and Steve Lacy; since that period he has teamed up with many of the most important musicians in today's creative jazz and free improvisation, such as Kirk ...

3
Album Review

What Happens In A Year: Ceremonie / Musique

Read "Ceremonie / Musique" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


New York-based reedist (bass clarinet, baritone saxophone) Josh Sinton says: “Every day when I wake up, I try to make some stuff." An admirable goal. One of the things he made, in cahoots with his band What Happens In A Year, is a recording called ceremonie / musique. The set has been described, accurately, as “daringly spacious." The instrumentation is sparse: the leader's deep reeds colluding with Todd Neufeld's electric guitar and Giacomo Merega's electric bass guitar, crafting surreal atmospheres ...

Album Review

Andrew D'Angelo: Andrew D'Angelo & DNA Orchestra

Read "Andrew D'Angelo & DNA Orchestra" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Dopo quasi un decennio di attività, la DNA Orchestra di Andrew D'Angelo debutta con questo vulcanico album (al momento reperibile solo su Bandcamp) che raccoglie alcuni brani scritti dal leader e presentati in passati concerti. Dopo le drammatiche notizie del 2008 sulla salute del sassofonista (due interventi chirurgici per un tumore al cervello e una lunga terapia “alternativa" scelta da lui) fa piacere vederlo tornare in attività con quella forza d'urto che l'aveva imposto sulla scena di ...

Album Review

Josh Sinton: Predicate Trio

Read "Predicate Trio" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Un trio di recente costituzione con alla testa il sassofonista e clarinettista Josh Sinton, quarantasette anni, newyorchese, firma questo ragguardevole album, contrassegnato da un clima scuro e irregolare, ora più contemplativo, ora più viscerale e diretto. Può apparire quasi scontato far coincidere il primo “ambiente" espressivo con i brani in cui Sinton imbraccia il clarinetto basso e il secondo con quelli al sax baritono, ma le cose stanno spesso proprio in questi termini. Le nostre preferenze, in un ...

45
Album Review

Josh Sinton's Predicate Trio: Making Bones, Taking Draughts, Bearing Unstable Millstones Pridefully, Idiotically, Prosaically

Read "Making Bones, Taking Draughts, Bearing Unstable Millstones Pridefully, Idiotically, Prosaically" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Bass clarinetist and baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton (Ideal Bread, Nate Wooley Quintet, Adam Hopkins' Crickets) has always been a tenacious improviser, and with his new trio bridges the gap between post-modernism, raw experimentalism and core jazz fundamentals. Featuring all-universe drummer Tom Rainey and cellist Chris Hoffman--admired for his work with cutting-edge music acolyte Henry Threadgill and other notables--this band dances and darts through undulating improv segments, and tangles with various metrics and structural facets amid a democratic group focus.

1
Album Review

Josh Sinton's Predicate Trio: Making Bones, Taking Draughts, Bearing Unstable Millstones Pridefully, Idiotically, Prosaically

Read "Making Bones, Taking Draughts, Bearing Unstable Millstones Pridefully, Idiotically, Prosaically" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Josh Sinton is a member of the Brooklyn jazz community who has been making a name for himself with his baritone sax, playing in contexts like his Steve Lacy repertoire band, Ideal Bread. His free-wheeling Predicate Trio with cellist Christopher Hoffman and drummer Tom Rainey is a combustible unit that showcases his more improvisational side. Seven of the nine tracks here are written by Sinton and feel like old-school, fire-breathing free jazz. “Bell-ell-ell-ell-ells" establishes the loosely aggressive nature ...

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122

Performance / Tour

Andre Canniere Group + Josh Sinton's holus-Bolus at Douglass Street Music Collective, Feb 17th

Andre Canniere Group + Josh Sinton's holus-Bolus at Douglass Street Music Collective, Feb 17th

Source: Bridge Arts

London based trumpeter Andre Canniere returns to New York for a gig at Douglass Street Music Collective in Brooklyn with former NYC compatriots Josh Rutner, Sebastian Noelle, Dan Loomis and Jared Schonig. Sharing the bill will be Secret Society baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton who will play the first set with bassist Peter Bitenc. Douglass Street Music Collective 295 Douglass Street Brooklyn, NY 11217 295douglass.org Thurs Feb 17th 2011, 8pm Andre Canniere, trumpet ...

"Lizard Brain" conjured some large, unwieldy beast trying to sing a delicate aria, then raging in frustration at its failure. (Polyphemus?) Baritone saxophonist Josh Sinton blew up a storm over a lurching 13/8 funk beat." —Steve Smith

"Josh is a beautifully well-rounded musician whose sensitivity and dedication to improvised music shine in every setting he plays." —Dominique Eade

Primary Instrument

Saxophone, baritone

Willing to teach

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Couloir

FiP Recordings
2024

buy

Steve Lacy's Book of...

FiP Recordings
2024

buy

Adumbrations

Form Is Possibility
2022

buy

Steve Lacy's Book of...

Form Is Possibility
2022

buy

4 Freedoms

Form Is Possibility
2022

buy

b.

FiP Recordings
2021

buy

Whoosh

From: Steve Lacy's Book of...
By Josh Sinton

Rift

From: Couloir
By Josh Sinton

Step

From: 4 Freedoms
By Josh Sinton

Hubris

From: Steve Lacy's Book of...
By Josh Sinton

Adumbration 2

From: Adumbrations
By Josh Sinton

Bell-ell-ell-ell-ells

From: Making Bones, Taking Draughts,...
By Josh Sinton

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