David Bixler: ‘incognito ergo sum’

It’s impossible to miss the intensity behind the latest release from saxophonist, composer, and educator David Bixler.

With incognito ergo sum (“I am incognito, therefore I am), David is following up on his trio’s debut album Inside the Grief from 2020. Incognito implies an element of concealment and deception, but the music is energetic and highly creative.

Alongside Dan Loomis (bass) and Fabio Rojas (drums and percussion), David is drawing on the trio’s starting point - playing for passers-by in Covid-19 pandemic New York. The freedom of playing music ‘incognito’, with no name of ticket sales gave birth to a curiosity that crosses boundaries and works brilliantly on this new album.

It was a delight to talk to David last year about his Langston Hughes project, and you can hear our conversation on Harmonious World. Listening to David’s playing with this sparse trio is a joy.

As well as a freedom of playing, there is a complexity behind the naming of the tracks composed by David  -  6.29.21; you; liminal space; you are; recycled; you are ma; what’s at hand; you are ma king; old dog new bix; you are making me; johnny cope; you are making me ha; nobody else but me; you’re making me hate. The only standard included is the carefully-chosen Kern/Hammerstein composition Nobody Else But Me, which seems to verbally and musically sit alongside the ‘you’ of several of the originals.

This is a brilliant album by an inspired trio, with sax playing straight from the bebop tradition, with a freedom and a groove that seems to come from folk roots. David’s career includes spells with Lionel Hampton and Chico O’Farrill - his compositions reflect influences from far and wide. The trio’s collective energy in the recordings combine freedom and attention to detail at the heights of creativity.