This show is part of a three-part Liquid Music x Berlin series. Josh’s set will begin promptly at 8 p.m., so please arrive early to get comfortable and grab any food or beverages.

Los Angeles-based saxophonist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and Grammy Award-winning producer Josh Johnson makes his Minneapolis debut with a solo performance inviting listeners into a fantastical sonic realm of futuristic jazz. Johnson says his latest record, Unusual Object (Northern Spy Records), “is a development and documentation of a more personal world of sound” after time spent further sharpening his own compositional voice. It blends processed saxophone, subtle samples, and grooves that offer an elegant, dreamlike quality with hints of cyberpunk.

A highly in-demand collaborator, Johnson is a member of the buzzing jazz/experimental quintet SML, which also features Jeremiah Chiu and Anna Butterss. Johnson produced and played on Meshell Ndegeocello’s 2024 Grammy-winning The Omnichord Real Book, and he served as musical director for Leon Bridges from 2018 to 2022. Additionally, he has worked often with Makaya McCraven, Marquis Hill, and The Chicago Underground Quartet and has appeared on recordings by Harry Styles, Broken Bells, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“[Johnson’s] music blurs, erases, and redraws the lines of jazz into something new and entirely thrilling.” –Passion of the Weiss