Chris Jonas: backwardsupwardsky

Few artists can translate geography into sound with the spatial clarity that Chris Jonas achieves on backwardsupwardsky. A saxophonist, composer and multimedia artist whose résumé includes collaborations with Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor and William Parker, Jonas has always favored creative risk. This two-LP set on Edgetone Records transforms desert solitude—specifically his winters camping on Arizona's Barry Goldwater Missile Range—into a sprawling, multi-ensemble work. The music captures both the intimacy of campfire sketches and the sheer scale of the landscapes that inspired it.

Jonas' compositions are less concerned with traditional harmonic progression than with the very shapes and rhythms of the land itself. The result is music that unfolds like terrain: patient, unpredictable and charged with elemental force.

Three distinct lineups realize these expansive sketches. A Santa Fe trio with bassist Jeremy Bleich and drummer Milton Villarrubia III provides quick pivots and open textures, creating space for Jonas' crystalline saxophone lines. A Bologna quartet featuring the rich baritone sax of Luca Serrapiglio adds weight and darker hues. Meanwhile, the Oakland Trio with bassist Lisa Mezzacappa and drummer Jason Levis provides taut, angular interplay that pushes Jonas into sharper exchanges. These sessions are threaded with intimate melodica interludes recorded by campfire, small gestures that anchor the album's ambition to a personal, grounded reflection.

Highlights across the 14 tracks demonstrate Jonas' command of diverse contexts. "Josh Tune," with the Santa Fe trio, thrives on buoyant themes that drift into playful musings—it is a sophisticated take on an afternoon of deep stillness, perhaps. The Bologna Quartet's "Nature Trail" is a masterclass in dynamic balance, maintaining a nearly quiet pulse beneath the leader's subdued riffs before surging into lighthearted, breezy soprano sax phrases. Notably, the group gradually raises the pitch during the bridge, framed by Giacomo Pisani's irregular patterns before concluding with punctual unison choruses.

With the Santa Fe trio again on "Green," the resonant thicket established by the rhythm section gradually blossoms into angular lyricism and linear choruses, escalated by the saxophonist's fluent yet terse improvisational statements—a sonic exploration of density giving way to open space.

Backwardsupwardsky challenges listeners accustomed to conventional forms, demanding patience that repays with considerable depth, surprise and moments of startling beauty. Rather than offering a simple set of pieces, the album is presented as a continuous, sustained exploration. It underscores Jonas' standing as a restless force in contemporary creative music, with a scope and openness that mirrors the profound desert landscapes that are its genesis.