Bazzell's Aesthetic

Bruce Von Stiers

Aaron Bazzell is a music educator in New York City. He is also a composer and musician. In his undergraduate and graduate studies, Bazzell learned from top musicians as Wess Anderson and Diego Rivera. Having first studied as a classical saxophonist, along the way Bazzell moved his focus over to jazz.

Last spring Bazzell released his debut album. The title of the album is Aesthetic. The music on the album is Bazzell's attempt to convey his feelings about “both the beauty and struggle of the human experience.” He composed all the songs on the album.

Aesthetic is being self-released. It has nine songs and a play time of forty-five minutes. Bazzell produced the album.

Three other musicians assisted Bazzell on the album. Keith Brown was on piano. Brandon Donald was the drummer and Jonathan Michel was on bass. Aside from recording his own music, Brown has recorded with artists such as Melanie Charles and Gregory Tardy. Donald is noted for having played for L'rain and Dain. Michel toured the world with Billy Paul and has recorded with Melanie Charles and Jeremy Dutton. There is also one song on the album that features the vocals of Rachel Robinson. Bazzell plays saxophone on all the songs on the album.

Tomorrow Today is the first song on the album. It has some fast sax movements then moves to piano and then back once again to saxophone leading the music.

Asked and Answered is a lighter song with some nice drum and bass.

Unrequited, like the title might suggest, is a slow and somewhat aching sounding song. Thoughts of love that in not reciprocated or rejection of affection might well be the theme of this song.

Apparently, Bazzell's time as a music educator was the inspiration for the song, First Period Prep. It begins slow and then moves into a moderate groove pace.

Purpose has an interesting intro with bass and then moves to the sax being in front of drum and bass. There is a nice piano solo in the middle.

Eventually is the song with the vocals by Rachel Robinson. She does a fantastic job with the vocals.

Maktub is a fairly fast paced song, making me think of a samba styling.

Up And Away begins as a slow and easy piece. Then things move a bit faster before slowing back down again.

Increase and Persist is the final song on the album. It a fast and fun sounding song with a lot of sax moving through it.

Aesthetic is a pretty good jazz album. It showcases Bazzell's talents on the saxophone along with his ability to compose solid jazz pieces. And the contributions of the other musicians and the vocalist add to the appeal.

Aesthetic has been out for a while so it should be able to be obtained through major music outlets and streaming services.

To find out more about Aaron Bazzell visit his website at www.aaronbazzell.com

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© 2023 Bruce E Von Stiers