Alex Merritt Quartet

Alex is a London-based tenor saxophonist and composer involved with jazz, improvised music and contemporary classical music. The quartet’s debut album Anatta is being released on F-IRE records on 4th December.

The concept of Anatta is drawn from Buddhism. It is described as a moment of awakening, whereby one can come to realise the illusory nature of self. In the creative process, we all experience times of flow where playing or writing feels effortless; this might be seen as a glimpse of no-self. Should we be able to free ourselves from the fetters of self, a process described by composer and personal influence Peter Schat as like ‘Houdini escaping from the straightjacket,’ all that is left is the moment. This is Anatta and it inspired the music for this album.