Welcome to the website of musician and composer Alex Merritt
Alex is a UK-based tenor saxophonist and composer living in Bristol, who is involved with jazz, improvised music and contemporary classical music.
2021-2022 NEWS
'Mind-Ear- Ladder': The upcoming album for the Alex Merritt/ Steve Fishwick Quintet is to be released on Fresh Sound New Talent in Feb 2022. We launch at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, London on 9th Feb 2022 and tour the UK following this. See 'Mind-Ear-Ladder Tour', for full tour dates and information<. Watch/ Listen here:
I had the great pleasure, pre-pandemic to lead an UK Arts Council funded tour that featured leading German pianist Pablo Held as well as top UK musicians Percy Pursglove, Gareth Fowler, Oli Hayhurst, Josh Blackmore, Conor Chaplin and Tim Giles. Here is a clip from that tour from Kansas Smitty's, June 2019. And here are two extracts from the last gig of the tour at the Geldart in Cambridge ‘A promising jazz debut of striking quality.’ John Fordham, the Guardian, *** Full Guardian Review ‘Merritt’s warm, dry, Getzian fluency is a joy, whether intertwining with Turville’s mysterious, unpredictable chordal shifts or bubbling with controlled fervour........ ‘It’s one of the best UK jazz recordings I’ve heard this year’. Stephen Graham, Marlbank News, **** Full Marlbank Review ‘Merritt is not only an artist to watch, but also to listen to, as one would a dawn chorus: with eyes closed and mind opened’. Tyran Grillo, All About Jazz, ****1/2 All About Jazz/ECM Review ‘Merritt’s rich but dry tone traces a line back to the Cool School jazzers such as Warne Marsh’. Robert Shore, Jazzwise, **** Full Jazzwise Review Order the album: amazon.co.uk/Anatta-Alex-Merritt-Quartet/dp/B016RBRJSQALEX MERRITT/ GARETH FOWLER QUINTET TOUR FEATURING PABLO HELD AND PERCY PURSGLOVE 2019
ALEX MERRITT QUARTET ALBUM 'ANATTA' RELEASED TO STRONG PRESS REVIEWS
....This feels like just the beginning… and what a beginning’. Adrian Pallant, AP reviews, ***** Full ReviewRead Alex's full biography...
Alex Merritt Quartet- 'Anatta' Tour - 'Sweet Hash Brown' live at Ronnies
Alex Merritt Quartet- 'Anatta' Tour - 'Memories Of You' Live at Ronnies
Alex Merritt/ Dave Preston Quartet - 'But Not For Me' live at Jackdaw