PRISM Quartet (Timothy McAllister, Taimur Sullivan, Matthew Levy, and Zachary Shemon) celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2024 and unveils the third album in its colossal Heritage/Evolution commissioning project (PRISM’s 21st album to date): HERITAGE/EVOLUTION, Volume 3. Featuring world premiere recordings of new works written for PRISM by jazz heavyweights Melissa Aldana and Terell Stafford, alongside works by PRISM’s own Matthew Levy.

In this recording, Tony Arnold and Arturo O’Farrill rejoin PRISM for its 20th album release, performing commissions by four visionary composers—Martin Bresnick, George Lewis, Juri Seo, and O’Farrill—who take inspiration from poetry by Robert Frost, Keorapetse Kgositsile, Waly Salomão, and Guillermo Gómez-Peña.

This recording under the baton of JoAnn Falletta brings together four extraordinary mid-20th-century composers who helped shape America’s musical destiny. Featured here is the original orchestral version of Paul Creston’s thrilling Saxophone Concerto, with McAllister, “naturally, excellent in the soloist’s role, his tone and execution precise throughout the thrill-ride” (TEXTURA, Jan 2024).

From mechanical stutterings framing arguably the most famous pop sax solo in history to a crooning theater ballad; from elegiac music inspired by pandemic lockdowns to jubilant outbursts of renewal and hope, PROJECT ENCORE, VOLUME 1, is a channel-surfing mosaic of modern composition at its finest.

The collected works on this first volume features the music of Nina Shekhar, Jennifer Jolley, Andre Myers, Zoe Cutler, Griffin Candey, Matthew Evan Taylor, Karalyn Schubring, Marianne Ploger, Chad “Sir Wick” Hughes, Jim Territo, Armando Bayolo, Corey Dundee, Andrés Eloy Rodriguez, and Gonzalo Garrido-Lecca.

Links to all streaming platforms can be found HERE!

Heritage/Evolution, Vol. 2 is a celebration of the saxophone. The intrepid PRISM Quartet joins sax icons Ravi Coltrane, Joe Lovano, and Chris Potter to explore their instrument’s dual lineages in classical music and jazz.

Music of William Albright, David Biedenbender, Edison Denisov, Bruno Mantovani, Steven Stucky, Augusta Read Thomas.

Grammy Award-winning saxophonist and PRISM Quartet member Timothy McAllister releases his first solo album on XAS Records with acclaimed pianist Liz Ames. Marking 25 years since his debut solo recording, this compendium draws together cherished masterpieces in the repertoire alongside new discoveries to usher in the instrument’s future.

Andy Scott is a British Composer Award winner and a founder member of the Apollo Saxophone Quartet. As a saxophonist for over 40 years, Scott’s virtuosic yet harmonically subtle music is open to a wide variety of influences. His works are performed on this album by the world-famous virtuoso Timothy McAllister and celebrated pianist Liz Ames, along with the admired English author Lemn Sissay narrating his own poem on My Mountain Top

In its first 35 years on the scene, the PRISM Quartet has proven that the saxophone quartet is one of the most versatile chamber music ensembles, capable of expressing music created in an extraordinary range of styles—from works that exploit a level of homogenous blending perhaps only otherwise attainable by a string quartet to wild, raucous scores involving improvisation and myriad extended techniques. Surfaces and Essences features a remarkable collection of works by rising stars Christopher Biggs, Victoria Cheah, Viet Cuong, Emily Koh, and Joseph Sowa.

Emma O’Halloran’s “Night Music,” and the closing piece, “Cha” by Julia Wolfe, come from composers of different generations and different countries. But both, in their own ways, were inspired by the rhythms of Latin music. O’Halloran’s piece and Kristin Kuster’s “Red Pine” are both examples of tone painting; Wolfe’s “Cha” and Anna Weesner’s “Vamp” both have family stories behind them. And Steven Mackey’s piece, which gives this collection its title, connects the entire project with music that, in the composer’s words, are “about the sound of ‘stuff’ – flesh, wood and metal, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral.”

International Classical Music Awards 2019 - Nominee - Contemporary Music
New double CD with music by Guillaume Connesson and with soloists Timothy McAllister and Renaud Capuçon released by Deutsche Grammophon!

Written during a brief period between 2015 (A Kind of Trane) and 2018 (Les Horizons Perdus), these four scores show the many facets of a composer who draws his inspiration from the sources of scholarly art as much as popular, without borders or taboos.

WINNER OF THE 2019 GRAMMY AWARD for BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM
Celebrating Kenneth Fuchs’s fifteen-year musical collaboration with JoAnn Falletta and the London Symphony Orchestra! Our fifth Naxos recording, featuring four star soloists, was released on 10 August 2018. Order today: https://naxos.lnk.to/spiritualist

Featuring John Adams’s CITY NOIR

Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Timothy McAllister, saxophone

If it is possible for a group with over three decades of pioneering work to reintroduce itself, then that’s what Paradigm Lost does for the PRISM Quartet. After a string of important and boundary-busting releases on Innova, ECM, and many other labels, this collection firmly establishes PRISM’s own XAS label, and offers a kind of “State of the Union” address for the saxophone quartet.

Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Gil Rose
Music by Wayne Peterson

Transformations
And the Winds Shall Blow (with PRISM Quartet)

Music for Saxophones, Percussion and Harry Partch Instruments

Blue Notes and Other Clashes (2016) by Steven Mackey (b. 1956)
PRISM Quartet and Sō Percussion

Future Lilacs (2016) by Ken Ueno (b. 1970)
PRISM Quartet, Partch, Derek Johnson, Stratis Minakakis

Skiagrafies (2016) by Stratis Minakakis (b. 1979)
PRISM Quartet, Partch, Stratis Minakakis

2017 GRAMMY-Award Winner for “Best Choral Performance”, this is the first, full ECM album from Bryars in decades is The Fifth Century, which includes the seven-part title work: a slowly evolving – yet immediately involving – setting of words by 17th-century English mystic Thomas Traherne, performed by the mixed choir of The Crossing with saxophone quartet PRISM.

Timothy McAllister performs Ingolf Dahl’s iconic Concerto for Alto Saxophone under the baton of Michael Haithcock and the University of Michigan Symphony Band.

On her debut Navona Records release THEY WERE MYSTERIOUS GUESTS, composer Zae Munn showcases works for alto saxophone in eclectic chamber combinations, featuring internationally-renowned saxophonist Timothy McAllister alongside an all-star cast of collaborative artists Kimberly Burja, Jill Heyboer, David Jackson, Sandra Jackson, George Sakakeeny, Henry Skolnick, Lucia Unrau, Daniel Vega-Albela, David Murray, Tracy Satterfield, Chet Baughman, Jeffrey Siegfried, and Thomas Snydacker.

Presenting two programs, Sonate et Rhapsodie: 4 Major Works and Romance et Mélodie: 16 Miniatures, this album showcases the refined lyricism of bass trombonist Randall Hawes, saxophonists Timothy McAllister and Donald Sinta, and hornist Gail Williams. Combined with Goodson’s colorful pianism, these musicians express the imagery of love, loss, and passion with bel canto phrasing, through works by Debussy, Duparc, Fauré, Franck, Messiaen, Massenet, and more.

2015 GRAMMY-Award winner for “Best Orchestral Performance”, Nonesuch Records’ “John Adams: City Noir”—comprising the title piece by composer John Adams and the debut recording of his Saxophone Concerto—was released on May 6, 2014. Both pieces are performed by the St. Louis Symphony led by Music Director David Robertson. Saxophonist Timothy McAllister is featured on both pieces.

In this new compilation of percussion and multi-media works by John Cage, Simone Mancuso presents riveting interpretations recording in life-like high fidelity. Included is Timothy McAllister’s version of “Ryoanji”, originally for oboe and percussion, heard here on soprano and alto saxophones.

Recorded in May 2009 for Tresona Multimedia, this thrilling concerto by John Mackey redefines the repertoire for the soprano saxophone and is performed here by one of the nation’s top collegiate wind ensembles and conductors with renowned soloist, Tim McAllister.

The bonus track from the iTunes release of the Pacific Symphony’s The Passion of Ramakrishna by Philip Glass features Meetings Along the Edge, an early collaboration between Glass and Ravi Shankar. Here fully orchestrated, the track features PRISM Quartet members Timothy McAllister and Taimur Sullivan on soprano saxophones.

Featuring Villa-Lobos’s “Sexteto mistico” and the Fantasia, Op. 630 (1948) for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra (piano reduction).

DEDICATION features music composed in celebration of the PRISM Quartet’s 20th anniversary in 2004 by a slew of today’s top composers with a knack for the sax. PRISM has expanded the world of the sax quartet through their commissions and performances since 1984. Their dedication has paid off with this virtuosic showcase of instrumental acrobatics.

PRISM Quartet performs David Laganella’s Leafless Trees (2010). Other works performed by pianist Marilyn Nonken and Ensemble CMN.

Exciting new works for solo saxophone, saxophone and piano, and electronics by award-winning composers Kati Agocs, Daniel Asia, Caleb Burhans, Roshanne Etezady, Philippe Hurel, Kristin Kuster, Peter Terry, and Gregory Wanamaker. Heralded as “an amazing achievement” (Fanfare, Nov/Dec. 2010).

Re-live the excitement of the World Premiere of John Adams’ darkly atmospheric City Noir, the final panel of his southern California triptych. DG Concerts presents the live concert broadcast recording available directly on iTunes. Named by iTunes as the “Best Live Classical Recording of 2010”

Most of the music on this recording honors artists whose works are going or have gone. The compositions celebrate the work of departed masters Yehuda Amichai, György Ligeti, Johannes Brahms and Willie Dixon (among others) and the title honors the last album recorded by Walter Becker and Donald Fagin of Steely Dan. The distinguished American composer Martin Bresnick’s compositions are performed throughout the world and he is the recipient of many prizes and commissions including The Rome Prize, The Berlin Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among many others.

World Premiere recordings of new, exciting American quartets by Kati Agocs, Zack Browning, Roshanne Etezady, Ross Feller, Kristin Kuster, and Rand Steiger.

East meets West in this stunning new collaboration between the PRISM Quartet and the acclaimed ensemble, Music From China, which specializes in contemporary and traditional works for ancient chinese instruments. The album includes world premiere recordings of works by Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Wang Gouwei, Lei Liang, Ming-Shiu Yen, and Tan Dun.

This DVD features the Inaugural Concert of Gustavo Dudamel’s tenure as Music Director of the LA Philharmonic. Timothy McAllister is featured throughout as saxophonist in John Adams’ monumental new work, CITY NOIR.

The iconic opera of John Adams comes to life in this recording, with members of the PRISM Quartet performing as guests with the Colorado Symphony.

World Premiere recording of Daniel McCarthy’s Chamber Symphony No. 4 for Saxophones and Winds. Other works include Anthony Plog’s Flute Concerto (Brian Luce, flute) and Philip Glass’ Concerto for Two Timpani, featuring Jonathan Haas and Gary Cook.

PRISM presents World Premiere recordings of William Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso and Steven Mackey’s Animal, Vegetable, Mineral with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. The works were recorded in May 2008, and the project marks PRISM’s fourth release on the innova label.

Featuring Tim McAllister as Volume 13’s Headline Artist in his new recording of Philippe Hurel’s virtuosic spectral work, OPCIT (1984) for solo tenor saxophone.

Features Jacob ter Veldhuis’ quartets Pitch Black, Jesus is Coming, and Postnuclear Winterscenario No. 10. Also included are solo works Grab It! (Matthew Levy, tenor saxophone), Billie (Taimur Sullivan, alto saxophone), and The Garden of Love (Timothy McAllister, soprano saxophone).

The PRISM Quartet pays homage to William Albright (1944-1998) in this innova release. This remarkable disc of Albright’s principal works for saxophone offers powerful testimony to the full range of his personality and his fascination with the expressive power of the instrument. A composer whose works move from sublime laments to raucous jazz, Albright created an extensive body of saxophone repertoire that is at once virtuosic, soulful, and daringly eclectic. His deep affinity for the instrument lasted throughout his career, until a long struggle with alcoholism led to his untimely death at the age of 53. Albright exerted a profound influence on the artistic development of the PRISM Quartet during the ensemble’s formative years at the University of Michigan in the 1980s, inspiring them to champion new music with over 100 commissions by many of the nation’s most celebrated composers.

This exciting album contains American masterworks by Milton Babbitt and William Albright and World Premiere recordings of new compositions by award-winning composers Roshanne Etezady, Gregory Wanamaker, and Mischa Zupko.

Timothy McAllister performs Timothy Place’s Dandelions for alto saxophone and live computer processing.

This recording, consisting entirely of the music of recently-named Composer-in-Residence Evan Chambers, creatively occupies these “in-between spaces.” Neither strictly classical nor strictly folk music, Cold Water Dry Stone nevertheless paints a broad portrait of Chambers’ musical life. Also featured is soprano Jennifer Goltz, who performs three songs on texts of Robert Tannahill (1774-1810), a poet and songwriter from Paisley, Scotland. The disc’s title work was commissioned by Quorum and premiered in New York’s Merkin Hall in 1999.

Timothy McAllister completed this recording project in 1998 in collaboration with noted music educator James O. Froseth called Do It! Play the Saxophone for G.I.A. Publications. Books available include alto and tenor saxophones, with over 70 minutes of music in each, including acoustical accompaniments and early improvisatory exercises.

This premiere disc by Duo Nuova contains world-premiere recordings of Rodney Rogers’ Lessons of the Sky for Soprano Saxophone and Piano, and Howard Harrison’s arrangement of Prokofiev’s Visions Fugitives. Also featured are William Bolcom’s Lilith, John Anthony Lennon’s Distances Within Me, and transcriptions of works by Ravel and Platti.

Second version of Michael Kowalski’s Vapor Trails as well as works by Daugherty, Rouse, Udow and others.

Featured on this disc is the World Premiere recording of Vapor Trails by New York Composer Michael Kowalski. The work is written for four saxophones, four percussionists, and solo bongos. The ensemble includes Colin Stetson, soprano saxophone, Jeffrey Rolka, alto saxophone, Christopher Creviston, tenor saxophone, Timothy McAllister, baritone saxophone, and members of the University of Michigan Percusssion Ensemble, Scott Parkman, conductor. The composer produced and supervised this Einstein Records release.