Painting In Sound

SSC1760 2026-05-15

Track List

Micasso and Patisse - 4:42
The Murals of Federal One - 5:09
A Beauty, and the Shimmering Sun - 07:09
Into the Grid - 04:09
At the Edges of Ambiguity - 04:36
My Muse (My Eileen) - 2:54
Finally Free of the Black Lines - 5:46
Dots, Lines and a Pinch of Bird - 5:17
The Wanderer - 4:29
Film Noir - 7:17
A Sketch Book - 5:22
The Art Historian - 3:51
Painting in Sound - 5:43

Musicians

Hayes Greenfield - alto and soprano saxophones, c and alto flutes, bass and alto clarinet, kalimba, harmonica, voice, effects pedals and loopers

Hayes Greenfield’s third Sunnyside release, Painting In Sound, expands the horizon and perception of what jazz–and binaural, spatially immersive music–can be. An acclaimed jazz musician, composer, and electroacoustic artist, Greenfield draws from decades of traditional and improvisational mastery to create a sonically exploratory recording that is as architecturally precise as it is emotionally resonant.

Captured with Max/MSP and SPAT spatial and binaural software, Painting In Sound positions the listener inside a fully three-dimensional sound field. Greenfield treats space as an equal compositional voice: shaping air, distance, proximity, and motion with the same sensitivity he brings to melody, harmony, and rhythm.

Greenfield composes not only with notes but with spatial placement and movement through the immersive field. Lines arc and spiral; instruments and textures shimmer, recede, orbit, and hover; and tones appear, approach, and dissolve. Greenfield’s sound palette is wide with acoustically driven sources, like alto and soprano sax, flutes, bass and alto clarinets, kalimba, harmonica, and voice, finding new tones and textures through effect pedals and loopers.

Subtle resonances, overtones, and timbral shifts reveal new layers with each listen, creating an immersive sonic environment in which movement, depth, and perception become essential elements of the music.

Rooted in jazz’s spontaneity yet reaching beyond traditional form, Hayes Greenfield’s Painting In Sound blurs the line between performance and environment. Every tactile gesture feels alive, offering an intimacy that redefines the recorded experience. It is an expansive statement from an artist pushing jazz into bold and new perceptual dimensions.