John Gunther — Saxophonist • Composer • Multi-Reedist • Educator

John Gunther picked the saxophone in third grade because he liked its shape—and everything since has grown from that lucky choice. He’s now an acclaimed performer, composer, collaborator, and educator whose work moves fluently between jazz, classical, new music, chamber settings, world traditions, and electronics. “In the 21st century, we carry the sum of human music in our pockets,” he says. “Part of our job as artists is to figure out how to process and navigate that.” Gunther draws on jazz, folk, classical, and global “style tributaries,” shaping them with an ear for melody, groove, and narrative.

He traces his sense of form to his mother, a painter: “She taught me how the eye travels through a canvas. In music, time is the frame—balance, contrast, and contour guide the listener’s emotions.” That structural clarity anchors his adventurous streak: he’s as at home swinging hard as he is “taking it out” with reimagined 20th-century works or building immersive electronic soundscapes. At the core, he says, “it’s about groove and melodicism”—music prepared with care and performed at a high level, designed to draw listeners in.

A Colorado native who cut his teeth at Denver’s storied El Chapultepec, Gunther spent 13 years in New York and has performed widely across the U.S., South America, and Europe—“from Carnegie Hall, to the middle of the ocean, to the back of a truck,” he jokes. Career highlights include performances and recordings with Jimmy Heath, Ron Miles, Dave Douglas, Dewey Redman, Christian McBride, Bill Frisell, Joe Henderson, Joe Williams, Buddy DeFranco, Ernestine Anderson, the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, the Woody Herman Orchestra, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, plus guest appearances with the Sinfonietta Paris Chamber Orchestra and Costa Rica’s Banda Nacional de Cartago. He’s a recipient of grants from the NEA and Meet the Composer.

Recent projects spotlight his range. Tales from the Tank (recorded at The TANK Center for Sonic Arts in Rangely, Colorado) is a solo exploration of deep, resonant ambient sound—originals, familiar melodies, and improvisations shaped by the Tank’s extraordinary acoustics. Mixed in Dolby Atmos, the spatial recordings place listeners inside its seven-story steel walls. Gunther employs more than 20 instruments—among them a 10-foot overtone flute, bass and alto flutes, contrabass and bass clarinets, soprano and tenor saxophones, plus Turkish ney, Chinese hulusi, Indian bansuri, and the Croatian vojnice—complemented by gongs, thumb pianos, bells, cymbals, percussion, looping, and electronics. “It was my first visit, and the sound is rich and out of your control,” he says. “The pops, hums, wind, a passing plane or truck—the Tank and its surroundings are calling the shots. The recording captures the immensity of the space and the depth of the resonance.” (The Tank itself began life around 1940 as a railroad water-treatment vessel, moved to Rangely in the mid-1960s; its gravel base formed a gentle parabola, yielding the unique acoustics that inspired this project.)

Looking ahead, Gunther’s Painting the Dream—a new trio album with Dawn Clement (piano, Rhodes, voice, electronics) and Dru Heller (drums, percussion)—arrives in November 2025. Dedicated to jazz trumpeter/composer Ron Miles and to Gunther’s mother (whose artwork graces the cover), the record explores the color palette of a trio, both acoustically and with live electronics. Gunther performs on tenor and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, and flute, integrating electronics; all compositions are by Gunther except “Mother Juggler” by Ron Miles. “I love the intimacy and dynamic of a trio,” he says. “Dawn and Dru are the perfect partners—their deep, creative voices and sensitivity make pure magic.”

Gunther’s broader discography and ensembles reflect his curiosity: early projects include Permission Granted (CIMP) with the John Gunther Trio and the chamber-jazz set Axis Mundi; he co-founded Spooky Actions (improvised reimaginings of classical/20th-century works) and leads the long-running quintet Convergence (Capri). He collaborates widely—from Trickster Tales with the Carpe Diem String Quartet (a West African folktale framing African traditions alongside Monk) to a project with Moroccan musician Fourat Koyo (jazz-Gnawa), Safari Trio (raga, maqam, Balkan, and African rhythms), and Bad Hombres (progressive funk and modern fusion). His New West Quartet album East and West (Fresh Sound Records) brings together American and European improvisers with a shared history. Beyond acoustic reeds (saxophones, clarinets, flutes), he integrates performance technology and directs the Boulder Laptop Orchestra (BLOrk).

Equally committed to education, Gunther earned his B.M. from Berklee College of Music, an M.M. from the University of Miami, and a Ph.D. from New York University. He is Professor of Jazz Studies and Director of the Thompson Jazz Studies Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Music is community,” he says. “Teaching is an exchange—we’re all still students of the art form.”

Awards

He’s a recipient of grants from the NEA and Meet the Composer and Pathways to Jazz.