About

Baltimore-native Derrick Michaels is a tenor saxophonist and improviser with a bold and imaginative presence in the creative music community. He has been described by Jazz Weekly as a “thick-toned tenorist”, and by Downbeat magazine as wielding a “ large sound and free flowing style”. The Baltimore Jazz Alliance says: “Derrick Michaels' saxophone playing comes right out of his soul; the instrument sounds like a human voice.”

Michaels has been collaborating across a variety of eclectic music scenes for decades. With deep roots in both the lyrical and exploratory branches of the creative tenor saxophone tradition, his wide expressive palette unapologetically favors creative spontaneity over idiomatic purity — never losing touch with his soulful, melodic sincerity.

In October 2022, he released “Solo Saxophone Vol. 1 Live at An Die Musik”, a self-described “declaration of boundless love for the resonance and visceral beauty of the saxophone”.

Music

Most of my solo repertoire is spontaneously composed — conceived here and now, in the moment of performance. Occasionally, I feel inspired to explore a tune from the jazz canon or the Great American Songbook in the midst of these otherwise freely improvised performances.

My approach to solo improvisation integrates everything I have learned about melody, harmony, rhythm, form, thematic development, space, pacing, dynamic contrast, and expressive capacity as they serve the warm, resonant, and mysterious tones of the tenor saxophone. While I lean toward maximum creativity, it is deeply important that my music offers a salve in a world so in need of healing.

Videos

Audio

Programs

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