THE WORLD'S BEST NEW MUSIC

Timothy Franklin is an Australian saxophonist, composer, and improviser working at the forefront of contemporary Australian jazz. Defining his creative practice as part of a tradition of local musicians advancing stridently personal approaches to post-Coltrane free jazz, Franklin crafts music that is intentionally stark, raw, and intellectually grounded. With a decade of adventurous releases behind him, reflecting a collaborative spirit, his work balances structural rigor with expressive freedom.

On Hallowed, Transient, Timothy Franklin leads an exceptional, modern jazz four-piece ensemble through a collection of unhurried, deeply expressive compositions. Together, they bring profound acoustic warmth to modern quartet improvisation. Franklin’s confident tenor phrasing serves as the anchor, but this is far more than a simple homage to classic tenor-led quartet traditions. The near-live recording by engineer Myles Mumford, with studio noise left-in, captures the rapport between the long-standing collaborators - pianist Joseph O’Connor, bassist Miranda Hill, and drummer Maddison Carter - as they work through ideas in turn and in real time. 

Opening track "The Witching Tree" exemplifies this balance. Beginning with an angular, low-register horn signature, Franklin leads the ensemble across organic terrain, amid crashing percussive cascades, as deftly supportive piano and bass shift unerlying moods. Midway through the piece's seven plus minutes the dissonance of this commencement is replaced by blissful calm, as O’Connor’s serene piano pais with Hill’s subtle bass. Eventually, the full quartet reunites to complete the piece, whose narrative arc establishmes a precedent for juxtaposition and exchange between the quartet members, that is a prototye for further exchanges in the remainder of the album. 

Filled with arrangements driven by an overarching generosity of spirit, Franklin allows each player to shine, so that hallowed, transient becomes an album of remarkable depth to which listeners will wish to return time and again.