EMP’S STORY

It all started when...

Way back in 2019, veteran jazz/classical composer Patrick Zimmerli received an important commission from the Seattle Commissioning Club: an evening-length suite of pieces for classical saxophone quartet and jazz trio. The resulting work, Messages, was premiered in Paris and performed to acclaim several times in France.

However, following the COVID pandemic, Zimmerli felt a keen desire to bring the piece home, to perform it himself on saxophone with a group of old friends in the jazz world of New York City. This version of Messages toured the Eastern US in 2022-23, playing at such venues as the D.C. Jazz Fest, Jimmy’s in Portsmouth, and Dizzy’s at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. Finally, the band was able to record the music.

The recording was ultimately selected for a Copland Award for Zimmerli to release Messages on his own label.

Spurred on by the prestigious honor, Zimmerli sensed an opportunity to do something far more ambitious than just a one-off release. Re-connecting with his longtime collaborator and champion Harold Bott, Jr., he formed Emergence Music Productions.

The goal of Emergence Music Productions is to create a space where new music can be created completely outside the (many) contemporary jazz norms. We aspire to create music of the highest artistic quality that is both melodic and original, both soundly structured and vibrantly alive and infectious.

Emergence will create:
— recordings, to be released in digital and vinyl formats,
— performances and live events, both in partnership with presenters and independently, —podcasts and video content,
— educational programs, as each artist has a duty to bring their knowledge to today’s youth.

To create a stylistic uniformity amidst the many projects envisioned, Zimmerli and Bott formed a house band of core musicians who will play the entire, ever-expanding repertoire of Zimmerli’s music, as well as collaborating with other artists on the label:

House Band
David Cook, Piano
Chris Tordini, Bass
Satoshi Takeishi, Drums and Percussion

EMERGENCE PRODUCTIONS: MUSIC THAT WILL LAST.

ABOUT EMERGENCE

Emergence is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to the creation and dissemination of new works of contemporary American Music. Created by composer Patrick Zimmerli as a conduit for his Emergence concert series from 2005-2008, the organization has supported the work of several living composers, though since 2012 it has focused principally as a conduit for Zimmerli's work.