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data-original-title=”” title=””>Boyce Justice Griffith emphasizes the beauty and necessity of being grounded in one’s principles with his concept album, The Point.
No matter one’s age, demographic, nationality, religion, or political affiliation, each human being undeniably has some treasured personal tenets that are held dear and are paramount to one’s definition of self. Likewise, each individual’s central values have in some way been informed by a series of experiences, relationships, and ideologies that have uniquely and organically played out in their life in a definitive way. Saxophonist and composer
Boyce Justice Griffith
saxophone
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data-original-title=”” title=””>Boyce Justice Griffith posits that, regardless of what one holds dear, there are such universal moods and experiences that form the building blocks of every person. Griffith’s upcoming album The Point expounds on this idea through the timeless mediums of swing and the blues to explore such key existential elements such as faith, solitude, arrogance, justice, confidence, and comfort/rest.
The Point is an exploratory concept album that seeks to both evoke and unpack the complex emotions that Griffith expresses are at the center of humanity. The album’s mission is, in many ways, embedded within the very title of the record itself. The phrase “the point” can be seen to in part answer the common question, “what is the point?” as applied to a vast array of scenarios within life. In answering this question, Griffith implores listeners to return to their core values and to seek truth within that process. Further emphasis of this idea is found in the album’s structure: throughout The Point, Griffith has restated and rearranged the main musical theme of the title track, acting as a running metaphor. “Core principles can look different each time they appear in our own lives,” Griffith says, “and can take on different properties based on the various situations in which we need to utilize them.”
As a saxophonist, Griffith is transparent about his approach and sound. Rather than simply imitating the “standard” sounds of jazz greats, Griffith leaned into the sounds of jazz greats throughout history whose tone and approach he personally loves. The end result is a timbre that is deeply authentic yet powerfully historically informed, while not simply sounding like a verbatim imitator. “My mentors made no secret of their disdain for purely uncreative mimicry of historically significant musicians,” Griffith says. “Through their wonderful guidance, I have always sought out a sound that is informed by the history of the music without denying my own preferences.” Compositionally, Griffith’s sound is similarly historically informed without relying on rote mimesis. Leaning into that which ignites his passion, Griffith’s music regularly explores darker and more pensive soundscapes, unabashedly using the blues—both in form and aesthetic—to create works that remain potently evocative.
A critical cipher to understanding Griffith’s album is found within the track “The Point”. This piece is broken into four segments, scattered across the album, and serves as an allegory for the album’s message to remind listeners to return to their core values, their “point” consistently throughout life. “The central theme of this song is one that can be used to suggest any number of different feels, grooves, or sounds based on where the collective consciousness of the band decides to go,” Griffith says. “This song emphasizes that quality, and every time it is performed live, something completely unexpected happens based on the relationship of the musicians to one another.”
Another piece that uses allegory to achieve its message is “Balrog”. The title is a reference to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. In the story, the Balrog is a powerful, destructive monster that is unearthed by the kingdom of Dwarves when they haphazardly dig ever deeper into the earth in pursuit of mineral wealth and material greed. Within this fictional tale of lust for wealth and its accompanying downfall is a salient, cautionary warning that remains poignant today within the age of consumerism. Within this conceptual piece, the role of the Balrog is played by Martin Jaffe on bass.
“Isolation” is an emotion-laden piece that portrays a truly harrowing feeling of solitude. Written in the dead of winter, “Isolation” was composed when a seven-inch layer of snow surrounded Boyce’s residence and blanketed the landscape around it. Sonically, the piece parallels the scientific fact that snow dramatically absorbs sound, rendering the land eerily devoid of overtones and resonance and creating a haunting, frozen wasteland for anyone wandering on their own.
The Point is brought to life by a veritable all-star cast of
Anthony Hervey
trumpet
b.1996