I must have been about 12 when I first fell in love with the tenor saxophone. Eight more years would pass before I got my hands on my first tenor saxophone in 2010 and excitedly played those first full, warm notes. I think the tenor sax is the most versatile of all saxophones, it’s the one that personally appeals to me the most and with which I feel at my best. That’s why this debut album means so much to me, it’s my ode to the tenor saxophone, my Tenor Tribute.

On this album you will not only hear my love for this instrument, but also my love for crossover repertoire. I’m a great believer in the power of cross-pollination, of people being able to inspire each other to break new ground. That’s exactly what the composers of these works did. They successfully combined their classical compositional techniques with elements from jazz, pop and world music to write beautiful new works that they dedicated to people like Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Chet Baker and Shirley Horn. Tenor Tribute is not just an ode to the tenor saxophone, but also to these jazz icons and to crossover repertoire in general.