“…listening to soma schema brings to mind contemporary Scandinavian instrumental music at its finest..."

— The Ear / Hi-Fi Music


"color as time is Joshua Stamper’s jazz-into-classical project, which filters the composer’s bright, lucid melodic aesthetic through the improvisational lens of a six-member ensemble. [...] The music here flows effortlessly between fusion-y jazz and pointillist classicism, with individual instruments sometimes taking different sides in the argument. [...] Sophisticated, fluid and hard to pin down."

— Dusted


"Joshua Stamper's music reveals itself slowly, making the most of every single musical gesture. Substance is always the goal, never flash, and his musical crew is clearly all in for the ride. Every album he makes a unique and probing world of sound that's all his own, unconcerned with genre."

— Sam Sadigursky
(The Philip Glass Ensemble / Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society / The Words Project / The Solomon Diaries)


"Joshua writes really beautiful music that can only come from him. I've had Joshua do arrangements on recordings of mine for the same reason. It's always fun to hear an artist you admire not only knowing their voice, but exploring all the different expressions of it."

— Anthony LaMarca
(The Building / The War On Drugs / St. Vincent / Dean & Britta)


"With soma schema, Joshua Stamper invites the listener to unique musical territories, each full of its own imagery and distinct textures. A delight to listen to and a beautiful experience to be transported to those worlds."

— Rogerio Bocatto
(Maria Schneider / Fred Hersch / Brian Blade / Kurt Elling / Danilo Perez / Renee Rosnes / Billy Childs / Kenny Garret / John Pattituci)


"Absolutely brilliant. The way he weaves so many styles and vocabularies and sounds together...it's amazing. Each stylistic influence has space to exist independently while contributing to the entirety of the piece in a very deliberate and necessary way. Highly recommend. I can't say enough."

— Ryan Roberts
(The Bass Shed Podcast)


"I’ve listened to this album several times now and I keep hearing more things. I love this set of music. It’s inspiring. Stylistically, it’s all over the place, but somehow maintains a cohesive aesthetic, and always keeps me engaged. It is creative and clear, personal and sincere sounding. The music swells with beauty in its recording (what an _unbelievably_ great mix), its performance and compositional approach. At times it sounds playful and other times introspective. There are so so so so many interesting, unpredictable, and creative moments as the music unfolds: sweeping dynamics, harmonies that come out of nowhere (especially in the stunning guitar chords in 'webworkers', 'synapse dispatch', and 'sotto voce'), wild textural ideas ('this light used to be a mountain'). There are so many ideas and feelings that each player expresses too – so much intention and conviction in everyone’s playing. I love how it bridges so many things: acoustic music, big warm synthy sounds, sound manipulation, improvisation (Mike Cemprola on the wind instruments is incredible), through-composed ideas, grooving beats, freely moving tempos, intimate solo parts mixed with large group sections. Even with this much variety it all just comes together as a unified and connected expression, which is a real accomplishment. Thank you for making this inspired and inspiring music. I hope I can hear it live soon."

— Matt Davis
(Aerial Photograph)


---

soma schema was supported in part through grants from the New Jersey Council on the Arts and Lincoln City Fellowships/Speranza Foundation. Special thanks to Lisa and Esuga Abaya and Billie Faircloth.

All music by Joshua Stamper, Long Map Music (ASCAP)