NOAH BECKER QUARTET
Where: Hermann’s Jazz Club, 753 View St.
When: Thursday, Jan. 18, 7 p.m. (doors at 5:30)
Tickets: $25 from hermannsjazz.com
It has always been — and likely forever will be — difficult to keep tabs on Noah Becker, a painter and alto saxophonist who clearly possesses a wandering spirit.
Born in Cleveland, raised on Thetis Island and based primarily in Victoria, Becker has called various North American cities home throughout his three-decade career as a musician — that is, when he’s not living and working in New York. He studied at Humber College in Toronto, under the tutelage of saxophonist Pat LaBarbera, in 1995, before plying his trade in Brooklyn, New York.
He moved from Victoria to the Big Apple for the first time in 1997, when he was 27, and remained there until 2001, furthering both his music and visual-art careers. He’s been criss-crossing North America at various intervals ever since, returning to plant roots in Victoria often.
“It’s still back and forth,” Becker, 53, said. “I was just in New York for the last few weeks, so I’m on that live-in-Victoria and go-to-New York-for-different-projects kind of thing.”
Though he fronts jazz trios and quartets on both coasts, and has galleries in Victoria and New York exhibiting his paintings, Victoria has been home more often than not in recent years, thanks to the pandemic. Becker does not deny the appeal of the city.
Those plugged into the local jazz scene know him well, having seen him rise through the ranks at Hermann’s Jazz Club to become one of the top players and bandleaders in the area.
He returns to Hermann’s tonight for a concert to celebrate the release of his new album, Mode For Noah. The outing — Becker’s first since 2007 — features seven originals and plenty of white-hot playing from the bandleader, whose collaborators include notables from Victoria (pianist Brent Jarvis) and Nanaimo (bassist Kosma Busheikin, drummer Graham Villette).
The same trio of musicians will join him tonight at Hermann’s for aparty that is close to being sold-out in advance.
Becker has been playing saxophone for 40 years, and still finds the instrument something of a muse.
The idea for the new recording was brought about by the group of “young, energetic” local players with whom he has collaborated in recent years.
“When you’re bi-coastal, you get a different perspective on what people are doing creatively. I found that the band I recorded with out here was doing something great.”
He’s unsure where Mode For Noah will eventually take him, if anywhere. But he is chuffed by the initial response.
The record, which he recorded at Jarvis’ Harbourview Studio, is in the hands of about 400 U.S. radio stations, and has been “getting quite a bit of airplay,” he said. He has a publicist working the record south of the border, but should the recording lose steam in the coming months, Becker will move on to another creative endeavour.
Becker said he has an art dealer who represents him in New York, and his work is currently being shown at Gallery Merrick on Government Street. He can transition into art mode if need be.
“I don’t do anything else, other than play the saxophone and paint. I don’t have a day job, I don’t have a wife and kids. If I was doing just one thing all the time, it might drive me a bit crazy. It’s kind of nice to take a break and do something else.”
