Lucien Johnson Releases New Single ‘Magnificent Moon’

Distinguished and globally renowned jazz composer/ saxophonist Lucien Johnson has released the stunning new single Magnificent Moon via brand new record label, Deluge Records. It’s the first single off the upcoming album Wax///Wane, which is made up of six compositions about the moon and other wonders.

Wax///Wane is the first digital release for Lucien Johnson under his own name, and the album features an intriguing ensemble; John Bell on vibraphone and Michelle Velvin on harp create shimmering, impressionistic landscapes while the towering rhythm section of Tom Callwood on double bass, Cory Champion on drums and Riki Piripi on percussion provide gravity through their smouldering grooves. Johnson’s saxophone, described by Jazz in Paris as “lyrical as Coltrane, as powerful as Rollins” soars above the ensemble, bringing mystique and aura to these unique pieces, themselves an expert study in light and shade.

From Pukerua Bay, New Zealand, Lucien Johnson has forged a reputation of being a formidable composer and multi-instrumentalist, with a crossover audience for jazz & classical music through to electronic & experimental. He has performed with a long list of luminaries from jazz and improvised music, such as Mulatu Astatke, Barre Phillips, Marilyn Crispell, John Betsch, Steve Potts, Jobic Le Masson and Lol Coxhill. Prior to signing with Deluge Records, he released music through the influential Japanese label Wonderful Noise, with album West of the Sun being a finalist for NZ Jazz album of the year in 2017. He was also musical director of Shogun Orchestra, which released two albums on German label Jakarta Records. In Paris in the 2000s, he performed in a free improvising trio with Alan Silva and Makoto Sato, releasing an album on French label Improvised Beings. Other notable accomplishments include winning Sound Designer of the Year and a nomination for Outstanding Composer at the 2017 Wellington Theatre Awards, winning the Susan Rhind Award for Composition Addis Nocturnes on solo piano in Paris 2017, composing for New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the New Zealand Dance Company, and the inclusion of his performance of his work titled Strasbourg 1518 at New Zealand Festival 2020 and the upcoming Auckland Arts Festival 2021.