Saxophonist and composer Josie Simmons has been writing music for several years and mainly focuses on composing new repertoire for the saxophone. Through support from BBC Introducing, her compositions have been played on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Solent plus performed in several countries which include the UK, Canada, China and France. She has been commissioned to compose pieces which include her saxophone concerto “Born Of Fire” and Josie currently writes regularly for her own successful saxophone quartet “Marici Saxes” with her musical works featuring on both their albums. 

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Stylistically the music is pluralistic combining more than one style and during her time as a composer, Josie has often been strongly influenced by Celtic music writing a number of works which incorporate this as well as minimalism, classical and jazz genres.

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In addition to composing new repertoire, Josie is also an avid arranger and arranged “Silencium (The theme from the Silent Witness TV Series)” by John Harle for Sony BMG’s album “The Quiet Room.” As an educator, she has arranged many pieces for her school saxophone groups and has published some of these plus her original works on the website “saxmusicscores.com." 

 

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Quotes

 

The piece stands out for both its authenticity and idiosyncratic saxophone writing.

Michael Pearce - Editor of Clarinet & Saxophone Magazine

 

I thought the piece was perfectly judged. Just the right length, lots of colour and variety and a real sense of “build.” It’s also eminently danceable too!

David Bintley - Birmingham Royal Ballet Director

 

She enjoys metric shifts with hints of Reich and Nyman but she is also excellent at running sinuous lyric lines in her music, which pulses seductively, along with moments of calm, contemplative reflection that generate increased textural density.

Jonathan Woolf - Music Web International

 

That was great! 

Katie Derham - BBC Radio 3 In Tune

 

I very much enjoyed listening to the performance and thought your piece contrasted out and out jazz with more lyrical sections really successfully.

Andrew Connolly - BBC Concert Orchestra General Manager

 

Brilliant and unusual.

Anne Morris - Salisbury Journal