"Newsome expands the sound of a single soprano into a one-man band."

- Mark Corroto, All About Jazz 

New York-based saxophonist and composer Sam Newsome often works in the medium of solo saxophone, an approach for which he gained world-wide critical acclaim with his 2009 recording, Blue Soliloquy: Solo Works for Soprano Saxophone. This recording received a five-star review in Downbeat magazine.

“Newsome expands the sound of a single soprano into a one-man band,” writes Mark Corroto.

Many of the notes and sounds that comprise his compositions and improvisations stem from his sound palette of extended techniques. Newsome often prepares the soprano saxophone using tube extensions that he builds that significantly changes the timbre of the instrument as well as extends the soprano’s range by an octave or two. Newsome sees himself more along the lines of a visual artist who paints with notes and sounds rather than shapes and colors.

“Newsome cuts around the edges of the soprano’s fundamentally sweet sound to mimic double-reed instruments from the Middle East, the native singing of Mongolia, bamboo flutes from the Orient,” says Nick DeRiso.

In 2016, Newsome received the prestigious NYFA Fellowship for Music Composition. And in 2018, he received the New Music USA Grant and The Alpert/Ragdale Prize in Music Composition.

Newsome has released seven critically acclaimed solo saxophone CDs: -  

 - Chaos Theory: Song Cycles for Prepared Saxophone (2019);

- Sopranoville: Works for Prepared and Non-Prepared Saxophone (2017);

- The Straight Horn of Africa (2014);

- The Solo Concert: Sam Newsome Plays Monk and Ellington (2013); 

- The Art of the Soprano, Vol. 1 (2012).

Ed Enright called The Straight Horn of Africa, “a modern masterpiece.”

In addition to his solo work, Newsome leads a trio with Hilliard Greene and Reggie Nicholson, is a frequent collaborator with drummer Andrew Cyrille, vocalist Fay Victor, and tours regularly with Pepperland, a music and dance work by Mark Morris and Ethan Iverson that pays tribute to The Beatles.

Lastly, Newsome is an associate professor of music at the Brooklyn campus of Long Island University.