“Water Prayers for Bass Clarinet” is evidence of Austerlitz’s dazzling technique
on an unforgiving instrument without ever selling the emotional intensity of the music short.
-Raul da Gama
“Water Prayers” is about jazz, the bass clarinet and world music, and the precise points where they intersect in the universe...
This recording sounds fabulous…It's more than education, it's about opening up new parts of your brain
and filling it with splendid noises that make your life more interesting.
-The Vinyl Anachronist
Reed player, composer, and ethnomusicologist Paul
Austerlitz combines his background as an ethnomusicologist specializing in
Afro-Caribbean music with his creative work as a jazz musician. As an
instrumentalist, Austerlitz has dedicated himself to mastering the bass and
contrabass clarinets. He also plays Bb (soprano) clarinet and tenor saxophone.
As a composer, Austerlitz weds his backgrounds in jazz and ethnomusicology,
producing works that incorporate the musics that he researches. He has been
especially active in blending Latin and Caribbean music from the Dominican
Republic and elsewhere with free forms of jazz.
