South Jersey Saxophonist Carl Cox Inspired By Ukrainian Fan
Sax Man/Educator Carl Cox’s Universal Language has been out since April but when a Ukrainian jazz fan, Yuri, reached out to him on Facebook to tell the South Jersey musician—who lives in Turnersville in Gloucester County—how important his music has become to him, Cox not only wrote back but added a new track, “In Time Of Need,” on his sophomore effort for the fan who has to endure the indignity of war. Thus, on October 13, the album will be re-released with the new track.
Universal Language is named after a famous quote from New England poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [1807-1882] (“music is the universal language of mankind”). The all-original record smoothly blends jazz, soul and funk in a radio-friendly pastiche, mostly upbeat. Call it jazz for people who don’t like jazz. Produced and co-written by Big Dog Davis (with the exception of “Get It,” helmed by guitarist Adam Hawley), Cox has also added “Be Mine,” a second new track, calling the album, “a labor-of-love…Yuri showing up was an unexpected gift that confirmed my intentions for this project. From the start, the concept of an album was to connect with anyone in the world. I often tell my students that music is, indeed, the universal language that can be spoken immediately through one’s instrument without having to say a word.”
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“A variety of standards can be sung or played with about any musician in the world,” he continues, “simply by quoting a melody or harmony. I have had the luxury to be able to play with a variety of groups from other countries and we always connect when our instruments are played together on a stage. That’s the concept I want to bring to my listeners: to have anyone in the world connect through instrumental music.”