Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Upton.
Hi Alex , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am a saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator that specializes in jazz and contemporary improvisation. I was raised in Lexington, North Carolina in a family of musicians both professional and amateur. I started playing saxophone at the age of 11 and, while I showed early promise in that outlet, I frequently entertained the idea of pursuing other creative vocations such as creative nonfiction, filmmaking, graphic design, etc. I didn’t start to strongly consider music as a professional path until about age 16 or so. By that point, I had enrolled with a private lessons instructor that was jazz specific and had begun to develop my voice as an improvisor.
By senior year of high school, I was pursuing both composition and jazz performance outlets seriously and had chosen to attend university for music. I was awarded the prestigious Kenan Music Scholarship by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a scholarship only awarded to four incoming students per year. During my time at UNC, I studied with nationally recognized artists including Rahsaan Barber, Heidi Radtke, Jim Ketch, and Stephen Anderson, who each continue to be valuable mentors to this day. Also during my time as a UNC student, I competed and was awarded First Prize in the 2022 Biennial North American Saxophone Alliance Jazz Artist Competition. Other achievements include the premiere of a three movement suite for solo tenor sax and large jazz ensemble by eight time Grammy winner Christian McBride, presenting my original music at the Jazz Education Network Conference in Dallas, Texas, and recording my original music with international trumpeter Rachel Therrien on the Summit Records label. My proudest and culminating achievement from my time in Chapel Hill, however, still remains my debut studio album featuring all original compositions, recorded in March of 2023 and released in August of 2024.
My move to Memphis was sudden and unforeseen. In the spring of 2023, I had graduated UNC Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Music degree. I was burnt out, had very little sense of direction, and was unsure as to what sort of role music would play in my life moving forward. On my birthday (late July), I received a call from Dr. Michael Shults, who I had met through our correspondence for the NASA Jazz Artist Competition (he was the competition coordinator that year). He informed me that a last minute graduate assistantship had opened for the fall, and inquired whether I would be interested in relocating to Memphis to pursue a graduate degree in music. I accepted the offer with three weeks until the start of the fall term, meaning I had about two weeks to find an apartment, pack, sign a graduate assistantship contract, and drive the 10 hour marathon to Memphis.
Since moving to Memphis, I have continued my work as a performer, composer, and educator. I lead the Alex Upton Quartet, which has performed at venues such as the Crosstown Arts Green Room, the Brooks Art Museum, HiTone, The DoubleBranch Hotel. Not only do I serve as a production assistant with Crosstown Arts, I co-founded the “Green Room Jazz Jam”, which hosts dozens of the region’s budding young jazz musicians each month. I teach private lessons as demand calls for it, and also have served as instructor of record at the University of Memphis.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
To me, a smooth road indicates a path without risk, which yields a path without adversity, which yields a path without growth. In arriving both literally and abstractly “where I am today”, I have navigated several notable challenges which have posed opportunities for growth. Logistically speaking, the relocation to Memphis, while it worked out in the end, was fairly stressful given the short notice. TLDR, I ended up spending about a week and a half sleeping at the houses of newly and quickly formed friends until I waited for the start of my lease.
On a deeper note, most of the personal growth I have made relates to overcoming the influence of my upbringing on the way I conduct my personal and professional life. I grew up in a hostile home environment, which led to my predisposition towards being overly harsh with myself. My tendency to use hatred and as the my primary self discipline and self motivation mechanism ultimately led to a consistent string of burnout. I have had to completely unlearn and relearn how to manifest my own discipline, organization, and consistency while awarding myself patience and grace. Admittedly it sounds simple on paper, but it can be slow process if healthy strategies for those things were not modeled for you earlier in your development.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As I mentioned previously, I am a saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator. Most of what I do tends to live in the general vein of “modern acoustic jazz”. The music I write is a bit different than what you typically think of as your standard jazz sound (in the jazz world, we call that “straight ahead”). My original compositions have been featured both as a part of the 360 Jazz Initiative ensemble, which records on Summit Records, and my own group. I am especially proud of my debut album as a bandleader “Portraits of a Silent Moment”, which features all original compositions of mine performed by fantastic musicians from New York City, Nashville, and North Carolina.
As a saxophonist, I have been able to perform and record with artists like Rahsaan Barber, Stephen Anderson, Rachel Therrien, Baron Tymas, Lucas Hahn, just to name a few. In 2022 I had the opportunity to compete in the 2022 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Jazz Artist Competition, which is open to any jazz saxophonist under the age of 26. I ended up being selected as the winner of that competition, and was able to premiere a brand new suite for soloist and jazz ensemble written by Grammy Winning bassist and composer Christian McBride.
On the day to day, I split my time working in arts admin and production with Crosstown Arts, leading my own group around town, and performing with other local artists like James Sexton and Ted Ludwig. I do teach private saxophone lessons, and have gotten to work with some fabulous students both individually and in group settings at the University of Memphis and the UNC Summer Jazz Workshop.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Most of the specific resources I use regularly tend to be music-focused, tuning/metronome apps, notation software, and so forth. Outside of the music apps, mostly just the usual suspects like Google Calendar, the reminders app on my phone (because I’m constantly forgetting stuff), Spotify, etc. I’m not much of a podcast or blog person; I’d like to get into them more, but there are so many options that I don’t know where to start!
One last thing, but I will bend the question a little bit to include the folks over at Belltower Coffeehouse and Happy Greek–both of those places are absolutely staples in my routine living in Memphis, and I’ve gotten to get to know the folks at both during my time here. They keep me fed and caffeinated, which is essential on a busy day!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alexuptonsax.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexuptonsax/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alex.upton.7792
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexuptonmusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mTVFcoZESpNylCSYy56l3
