Paul Flaherty - a willing passenger (2025)

Saxophonist Paul Flaherty is New England's purveyor of the ecstatic jazz pulse. Through the years, Flaherty remained unshakable in the pursuit of soul healing and demon dashing through freedom music. Six pieces of alto and tenor saxophone steeped in the theme of loss and channeled through blasting improvisations that showcase his fabulous wailing and inferno of sound to stark bluesy melodies.

"January 20, 2005 was a cold night in Washington D.C. A dozen bands would perform at the Black Cat venue to protest the starting of George W. Bush’s second term, titled “Noise Against Fascism”. The bands were the who's who of noise artists. These performers would bend strings and exorcise feedback through tortured guitars. Many had modified electronics that required an aggressive religious “laying on of hands” to express their art. In the middle of the show Chris Corsano and Paul Flaherty launched into a set of beautiful organic turbulence. It was urgent and lyrical. Flaherty’s horn spoke like a legendary blues singer. This was the night that horn was seeded in my brain forever. I would buy "The Hated Music" soon thereafter and travel to New York and Philadelphia to see him perform. To me Paul’s artistry is to juxtapose sounds, in ways that initially seem incongruent then turn magical. These magical noises build into stories that invoke memories and emotions. Artists make you see the world differently. From that cold night, Paul Flaherty changed my view of the world." Bill Stryjewski