Stratøs

Michigan native Stratøs is a saxophonist, composer, producer, photographer, and cinematographer whose presence in the Los Angeles scene is rapidly growing. Having embraced the melodies of the Cool School early in his development, Stratøs now leaves behind a unique sonic imprint as a producer. His affinity for analog textures is felt not only in his music, but his photography. By combining the two, he’s created an entire ecosystem brimming with life. Stratøs is a three-time winner of the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award from 2019-2021. Additionally, he was awarded the ASCAP Foundation’s Johnny Mandel Prize as well as being selected as a National Sawdust New Works Commission Contest winner. The latter granted the composer the opportunity to write for the world renowned JACK Quartet.

In 2017, Stratøs began working with Charlie Burg. The saxophonist composed on several of Burg’s works such as “Intentions,” and “Lancaster Nights,” which was featured in the 2023 film "Anyone But You." Additionally, the saxophonist contributed the woodwinds on the artist’s 2022 debut LP Infinitely Tall.

In 2022, he began working with comedian, producer & writer, Jordan Temple. The saxophonist is featured both on Temple’s one-man show “Sweet Lorraine,” and can be seen briefly on the ABC comedy series “Abbott Elementary.”

Stratøs released his first album, Planets, in 2021. The LP is entirely self- produced and features the likes of Alekos Syropoulos (Mac Miller, Anderson .Paak, Vulfpeck), 2019 JUNO award nominee Andrew Rathbun, John Hébert (Fred Hersch, Maria Schneider), and renowned saxophonist/composer/producer David Binney (Louis Cole, Knower, Donny McCaslin). The album is the amalgamation of the producer’s diverse musical identities. Reaching from the visceral, distorted sounds and grooves of the death metal world to the serene soundscapes akin to Hayao Miyazaki film scores, Planets sought to connect a narrative throughline between these juxtaposing elements.

His second project, Hohenheim Suites, is a full length jazz-chamber album inspired by Hiromu Arakawa’s 2001 graphic novel Full Metal Alchemist. The album was co-produced by Rathbun and features a return from Hébert on upright bass. Joining them is 1997 Great American Jazz Piano Award winner Matthew Fries (Curtis Stigers, Joel Frahm, Terrell Stafford, Steve Wilson), and includes an appearance by the world renowned JACK Quartet. The album was released independently May 6th, 2022.

Stratøs’ most recent project is Challenger Deep, a ten-movement work written for electronic chamber orchestra. Sonically, he’s spent the last several years developing a space for this music to exist. Challenger Deep synthesizes the heavily emphasized audio production elements of Planets with the more compositional, thematic aesthetics of Hohenheim Suites to create something wholly new.

As somewhat of a response to the space-themed debut LP, Challenger Deep investigates some of the deeper issues modern society faces, but through a particular lens. The composer’s late grandfather Edward Codrington was a fisherman from Barbados in the early 20th century. His unique status as a master of his craft with a rare motorized vessel gave him access to waters that other fishermen couldn’t venture into. In the vein of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, Stratøs intends to use this motif to tell a story where Codrington descends from the surface of the sea all the way down to the “Challenger Deep,” the lowest part of Earth’s deepest ocean, the Mariana Trench. His journey will be the catalyst for Stratøs to explore themes ranging from the effects of climate change, the ever-mysterious contents of Earth's oceans, to the fates of enslaved African people whose bodies never made it to the Americas and beyond.

Challenger Deep Is set to be released independently In 2026.

Awards

2021: Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award. 2021: ASCAP Foundation's "Johnny Mandel Prize" winner. 2021: National Sawdust New Works Commission Contest winner. 2020: Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award. 2019: Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award