Writing your debut album is no mean feat. A lifetime’s worth of experience and inspiration is distilled into just a handful of tracks to tell the world: this is my sound. For Leeds-based saxophonist and composer Jasmine Myra, the journey to her debut album had its twists and turns. Training at Leeds Conservatoire, Myra started her career composing in the intersections between jazz and hip-hop, but a meeting with Manchester trumpeter and head of Gondwana Records, Matthew Halsall, encouraged her to probe deeper. “He had a massive influence,” Myra tells Apple Music. “Matthew pushed me in the right direction, since I never really have a full plan when I sit down to write a song, I just follow my ear to see where it goes. I’m really proud of the record I’ve ended up with.”
Drawing on the work of producer Bonobo, jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings, Myra’s debut LP Horizons contains an ineffable warmth and richness. From the title track’s infectious melodies, to the emotional yearning of “Words Left Unspoken”, written in homage to Myra’s late grandmother, and the uplift of “New Beginnings”, Horizons establishes Myra as a vital new jazz talent—and one with plenty more left to say. Read on for her in-depth thoughts on the album, track by track.
“Prologue”
““Prologue” and “Horizons” I wrote as one tune before deciding to split them. I’m really inspired by Bonobo and these tunes draw massive influence from his writing. I knew I wanted to start with a really simple melody—that's how I came up with that first line, then I kept following my ear and building from there. One thing I love about this is the drums. I told my drummer, George Hall, ‘I don’t want you to lock in rhythmically with everything else, just do your own thing, improvise and play really atmospheric stuff.’ That’s what makes this track in a lot of ways—it brings the right energy and atmosphere.”
“Horizons”
“Since this used to be all one long track with the intro, by the time it gets here, it’s this massive musical build-up that is now releasing. I love the guitar melody here, even though this is my band, and so it’s a sax-led project, I really enjoy writing for different instruments. I view myself as a composer as well as a performer, and it’s nice to experiment with different arrangements and voices.”
“1000 Miles”
“I was listening to Shabaka and The Ancestors and Sons of Kemet at the time [of writing], since I’ve always been inspired by Shabaka‘s writing. It‘s really interesting how he takes repetitive melodies and riffs and just builds and builds on them. That inspired the main motif for this track, as I’m always the most interested in how artists structure their songs—it’s really important.”
“Words Left Unspoken”
“This track means the most to me on the whole album. I wrote this last July, after my gran passed away. It all happened really suddenly and there were still a lot of [COVID-19] restrictions, so I wasn’t able to go and see her in hospital to properly say goodbye. I felt loads of guilt and regret afterwards that I’d never really taken the time to say how much I cared about her. But I later realised the reason was because it wasn’t the sort of relationship we had. We wouldn’t often say these things, but we’d show it with actions. I was grieving and writing this song was a way of letting go of that guilt—it just came out.”
“Morningtide”
“This song is an ode to one of my biggest inspirations: Kenny Wheeler. This is a nod to his [1990] album Music for Large & Small Ensembles, particularly the first track, “Part I: Opening”, which has the most beautiful melody. I was trying to work out what is so nice about it, so I decided to rework it in my own way. That’s how I came up with the A-section here. After the sax solo, it goes into a different vibe and that was my way of turning it into something new.”
“Awakening”
“This is one of the first tracks that I wrote for the album, when I was still unsure of the direction I wanted to go in. I was listening to a lot of hip-hop at the time, particularly Karreim Riggins’ album Alone Together. The track “Ding Dong Bells” uses this really nice loop that I found interesting. I was trying to work out what’s so engaging about that song and ended up turning that into the repeating harp pattern of “Awakening”. I never really have a full plan when I sit down to write a song, I just follow my ear to see where it goes.”
“The Promise”
“This was another one that I wrote quite early on, and it’s another nod to Kenny Wheeler’s album, which I think is so beautiful. The whole vibe of that album is lovely and I really wanted to bring that same energy to mine. I was going for a lush, big band sound that Wheeler has, and the strings on this song bring that completely.”
”New Beginnings”
“This was the very first track I wrote for the album, and it shaped the direction of it as a whole. Previous to that, I was writing a lot more hip-hop-influenced stuff—unsure if that was the sound I wanted to go for. I was also listening to a lot of Bonobo, and I was fascinated by how he layers guitar riffs and different lines and makes them work together, without it sounding busy. It’s really interesting polyphony and syncopation and I was trying to mimic that for this song. It’s the first time that I started writing like that and something felt right about it. It made me want to continue and see what else I could come up with.”