Color Theory Nicole McCabe

• 1 Air Sign 07:29
• 2 Hues 05:55
• 3 Twister 07:45
• 4 Cent Cinq 04:39
• 5 To You 03:53
• 6 Sifting, Shifting 08:37
• 7 Pause 02:14
• 8 Hope 05:23
• 9 Hype Meter 06:11
• 10 Assumption 04:10
• 11 Altadena 01:16
• Total Runtime 57:32

Info for Color Theory

“Color Theory” unfolds as a vibrant, rhythmic canvas—an invitation into a syncopated journey of sound and self. Across eleven tracks, Nicole explores a spectrum of eclectic grooves, lush textures, and memorable melodies that linger long after the last note fades. Recorded live at Brooklyn’s renowned Bunker Studios, the album blends dynamic ensemble performances with Nicole’s signature solo looping and improvisational flair. The result is a vivid body of work that celebrates artistry, mastery, and, above all, the endless possibilities of color in sound.

Nicole McCabe, alto saxophone
Yvonne Rogers, piano, synthesizer
Eliza Salem, drums
Kanoa Mendenhall, bass
Adam O’Farrill, trumpet (tracks 1, 3, 8, 9)
Maya Paredes, cello (track 8)
Christie Dashiell, vocals (track 6)
Justin Brown, drums (track 10)

Recorded at The Bunker in Brooklyn, NYC
Engineered by Aaron Nevezie
Mixed by Rob Shelton
Mastered by Max Sink
Produced by Jason Moran

Nicole McCabe
is an alto saxophonist, composer and educator from Marin County, California who works and lives in Los Angeles. A rising star in the city’s interdisciplinary scenes, she recently released Mosaic, her fourth album as a bandleader, on Ghost Note Records. The LP follows Landscapes on the Spanish label Fresh Sound and her 2020 debut Introducing Nicole McCabe on Minaret. What Is My Porpoise?, the latest album from her electro-jazz duo with bassist and partner Logan Kane, is forthcoming on Dox.

Mosaic, executive produced by Jeff Parker, showcases McCabe’s complex tone and expanding structural sensibility in a post-bop tradition that she plies with studied creative verve and surprise. To record these through-composed works, she formed a new band featuring Kane, drummer Tim Angulo and pianist Julius Rodriguez, with appearances by Jon Hatamiya on trombone, Aaron Janik on trumpet and Parker on guitar. The album features music that McCabe wrote during Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead residency at the Kennedy Center under the tutelage of Jason Moran, as well as that workshopped with mentor Patrice Rushen for the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s New Note Jazz Award.

McCabe has otherwise performed or recorded with Ari Hoenig, Dan Weiss, David Binney, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gerald Clayton, Sasha Berliner, Genevieve Artadi, Dave Harrington, and 10.4 Rog, to name a few. Frequent collaborators Louis Cole and Justin Brown appear on Dolphin Hyperspace’s new album. McCabe’s constellation grew further with a 2023 residency at Los Angeles improvised music hub ETA in its final months, and she is a regular presence at Altamira Sound, where she recorded Mosaic and 2022’s Improvisations, a solo work for saxophone and pedals. Earlier this year, Fresh Sound released McCabe’s Live at Jamboree, a performance in Barcelona with Kane, Iannis Obiols and Ramon Prats.

A teacher since high school, McCabe is currently an educator and jazz ensemble director at Loyola Marymount University and a mentor in California State University, Northridge’s Jazz Studies program. She also teaches at Los Angeles public schools through the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz program Jazz in the Classroom. She earned a Master’s from University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at Portland State University.

This album contains no booklet.