Based in Montreal, baritone/bass saxophonist and composer Jason Sharp became part of the city's experimental music scene. He began playing saxophone at 12, later discovering jazz while in high school. Sharp began writing his own music at university, and he went on to study composition, earning a Master's degree at Conservatorium van Amsterdam. While living in the Dutch capital, he immersed himself in the classical and electronic music scenes of the city, which in turn influenced his own music. With his sax playing he began to explore the relationship between breathing and heart rate. When he returned to Montreal, he started to collaborate with a number of notable artists. He recorded with Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, was part of Sam Shalabi’s Land of Kush orchestra, and Matana Roberts’ Coin Coin Chapter One. In 2016, he released his first album-length studio recording. A Boat Upon Its Blood takes its title from a Robert Creeley poem called The Heart, and Sharp used custom-built equipment to translate breath and heart rate alongside traditional instrumentation on his genre-defying debut. The record featured Josh Zubot on violin and Joe Grass on pedal steel guitar, and was released in September 2016 through the Montreal-based label Constellation. ~ Bekki Bemrose