Zembla Variations. Zembla is the name I like to use for Red Hook, Brooklyn- the wonderfully strange neighborhood I have lived in while writing most of the music on this album. Zembla is also the fictional homeland of the narrator in Nabokov’s Pale Fire. As this book progresses it becomes less and less clear if the place really exists, or if it is just a mad fantasy.

PushBar. After September 11, 2001, the authorities in NYC installed emergency panels on the gates used for exiting the subway. Before that, we would ask the station manager to open the door. Now, everyone just pushes the bar, setting off an alarm that used to be alarming but is now just another sound in the landscape.

10,000 Leagues. A song based on “How Deep is the Ocean?” George masterfully plays the part of “other.”

Koan. A deceptively simple melody over a form that alternates between a large and small pulse. Like contemplating a zen koan, switching between the two meters causes a change in the perception of time.

Gently. Began as a ballad in 7/4 time; though may not be a ballad in the end. It’s has a very unusual, but infectious, rhythmic feeling. The melody is serpentine and lyrical.

Oxygen. A relaxed feeling, with a melody based on the breath; permeated by a creeping, secondary tonality.

Red Giant. A “red giant” is a star on the verge of explosion. The star explodes in the drum solo. In it’s aftermath, something new is created.

Jakewalk. An extended blues. Unusual metrics without preciousness. 

About Josh Ginsburg:

Brooklyn-based bassist and composer Josh Ginsburg is one of the most sought-after players on the New York jazz scene. He has performed and recorded across Europe, Asia, and the Americas with some of the greatest musicians of our time. Throughout Josh's bass playing with many different artists, certain qualities emerge as constants: a beautiful tone, a powerful rhythmic sensibility, a mastery of the musical language, and the open-hearted spirit of a true improvisor.

In addition to his international career as a sideman, Josh also is an emerging force as a bandleader and composer. His first album of original compositions, Zembla Variations, features Eli Degibri on saxophone, George Colligan on piano, and Rudy Royston on drums. As a composer and bandleader, Josh is always seeking new areas of unexplored musicality; yet he also brings to his music a deep love for our shared musical traditions of melody and song, rhythm, and drama.

Josh began playing professionally in his hometown, Baltimore, MD, a city with a rich jazz history and a continued jazz presence. He studied with jazz legends Jackie McLean and Buster Williams. After 12 years spent purely as a performer, he currently is studying again at the City College of New York with Grammy award-winning bassist, John Patitucci, and Pulitzer Prize-winning "classical" composer, David Del Tredici.

As a sideman, Josh has performed and/or recorded with countless jazz luminaries: Tom Harrell, Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Barron, Bobby Watson, Billy Hart, Lennie White, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Ralph Peterson, Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Myron Walden, Eric Harland, Marcus and E.J. Strickland, Robert Glasper, Helen Sung, Vanessa Rubin, John Ellis, Tom Guarna, Aaron Parks, Jeremy Pelt, Jaleel Shaw, and many others. He is a regular member of the George Colligan Trio and the JazzReach Performing Arts Foundation/Metta Quintet.