Alan Braufman, Musician & Composer

💭 Thoughts on making “optimistic free jazz”, Fliphead mouthpieces, and a long list of heroes & influences.

Alan Braufman is a Brooklyn-born jazz saxophonist, flutist and composer, who released his debut album, Valley of Search in 1975. Braufman went on to record and tour with everyone from Carla Bley to The Psychedelic Furs, and didn't release another album under his name until 2020's The Fire Still Burns, which received rave reviews from The WIRE, Downbeat, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and NPR.

Braufman’s 2024 release Infinite Love Infinite Tears is a surprisingly catchy program of free jazz, richly detailed and forthright, embodying a range of emotions and circumstances that convey individuality, collectivity and hope. There is much history and love in this band, and in Alan Braufman’s art overall. Fifty-odd years after debuting on record, his sound-world is as vital and inviting as ever. 

🎯 Current focus

I just had my new album Infinite Love Infinite Tears released a couple months ago back in May, and I’m excited about that being out there. It’s been in the making for a long time, although we recorded it in one day. 

We recorded seven sessions for the album. We released six of them on the album. We couldn't fit the seventh one on there, so a release of the other tune is coming in September as a single. The song is called “Snow in Central Park.” And then after that, through The Control Group/Valley of Search, we plan on releasing found audio from some old cassettes that I had lying around from a concert of mine in 1977 that took place at the now defunct New York Jazz Museum (which was located in midtown Manhattan.)

🪈 Fliphead mouthpieces

I've been a marathon runner for many years, about 20 or so, and for the last few years, my neck has been bugging me. I do think it's from playing a lot of flute, so I was able to get this mouthpiece that makes the flu vertical like a saxophone. It's called a Fliphead, and it's taken all the pressure off my neck, and I can run again. Since my neck doesn't bug me anymore, it’s just been so good to get out there running again.

📚 No Shortcuts to the Top

Recently I went through this mountain climbing book phase where I read about 12 or 13 consecutive books – I've just hooked on the subject. Marathon running and Ultras and all that aside. But mountain climbing, it kind of encapsulates all my fears into one place — claustrophobia of the avalanches and freezing and the cold and all that. So it was just fascinating to read that stuff. Of those, there is the one that I liked the best: No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs and David Roberts.

🕉️ Mantra of the moment

When I was 16, on TV I saw an interview with the jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and he was talking about how he was into this philosophy called the Baha'i faith – and it's all about the unity of one country. The earth is one country, unity of organizations of all peoples, you know, the quality of men and women, this and that. I looked it up, and got a book on it. And that kind of affected my life at an early age, having been exposed to those thoughts. And it still speaks to me today. 

As a kid I was pretty introverted, I would go into my room to practice all day after school. I always was just music, and I was always just in my head. I remember asking my mom when I was 10 years old, “how did the universe get here?” – so it's Baha'i that kind of crystallized a lot of things I was already thinking about. 

🦸 A long list of heroes & influences

If you're a musician, you're going to have your influences, who are ultimately going to be your heroes. And my heroes are a very long list. From when I was teenager and in my early 20s I’ve been really influenced by Jackie McLean and, of course, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Eric Dolphy. 

On a personal basis, when I was a teenager, I met the saxophone player Marzette Watts and he was a bit of a mentor to me. I’d just be going over to his place in New York, talking about music, and he’s the one who took me out to buy my first flute (and we picked out the one that I still play today.)

One of my inspirations these days is my nephew Nabil Ayers, whose record company I put my albums out on. I helped raise him, and to see him turn into such an amazing person and a leader in this industry is really wonderful.

🎶 The many greats of today

The music in the 60s was amazing. And it hasn't been like that since. But there's so much good music right now being played, especially in jazz. It's not like a wave or a movement, but on an individual level there are just so many great musicians today. 

There’s Isaiah Collier out of Chicago, and Immanuel Wilkins an alto saxophone player in Philadelphia, Darius Jones, Rob Brown, and James Brandon Lewis, who plays in my albums. All just amazing players. Sarah Hanahan is really interesting. And Jasmine Myra from the UK, is a phenomenal saxophone player. I mean, the list keeps going. There's so many great players out there. 

🎷 Making “optimistic free jazz”

Of the things I really look forward to, they are just several things I get to do every day. I look forward to going running or taking a hike in the mountains. I look forward to practicing music every day. You know, if somebody told me that I’d never perform again, I would still practice.  I am fortunate enough to be excited about the things that I'm doing, but then I'm also excited about the album releases about to come out, and writing of new music, and some live shows coming up in the fall. Rather than being like, “I'm waiting for this one event to happen that I'm excited about”, I feel good and am excited about every new day.

It’s funny, it reminds me of a jazz critic, whom I respect quite a bit, Daniel Spicer. Spicer writes for The Wire, and when he reviewed the previous album, The Fire Still Burns, he called the album "optimistic free jazz."  I kind of like that. I don't necessarily feel optimistic in that traditional sense. I just think everything's going to work out. I don't know if things can work out or not. Optimistic as far as excitement for every day. And I try to put that into the music.

Follow Alan on Instagram, Twitter and Bandcamp.

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