Enduring Sonance

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Enduring Sonance is the latest album from Virginia-born, New York-based saxophonist and flutist Steve Wilson, released May 1, 2026 on Smoke Sessions Records — the label connected t o Smoke Jazz Club in New York. Originally conceived as a ballads project, the album evolved into something broader and more personal: a meditation on the songs that have left the deepest imprint on Wilson's musical life, some of which he has carried with him for over fifty years. The eight-track set draws from a strikingly eclectic range of sources, including works by jazz pianists Billy Childs, George Cables, and Eliane Elias alongside compositions by Michel Legrand, Quincy Jones, Gino Vannelli, and Milton Nascimento — not conventional jazz standards, but deeply cherished pieces spanning jazz, pop, and film. Recorded at Power Station Studio A in New York City in September 2025, all arrangements were handled by pianist Renee Rosnes.To bring the project to life, Wilson assembled an all-star ensemble featuring Rosnes on piano and Fender Rhodes, vibraphonist Joe Locke, bassist Jay Anderson, and drummer Kendrick Scott, with French horn player Kevin Newton of Imani Winds appearing as a special guest on two tracks. The result, as Paris Move described it, feels "less like a conventional jazz album than a meditation on memory" — lyrical, mellow, and deeply communicative. Marlbank ranked it among the best jazz releases of 2026, DownBeat called Wilson "unstoppable," and NEA Jazzmaster Willard Jenkins, who contributed the liner notes, summed up the album's spirit as simply "warm and toasty." Wilson himself put his aim plainly: "I wanted to put some music out there that people can connect with, no matter what kind of music they like." Show more