Meridian Odyssey is a band comprised of six musicians who are committed to creating a multi genre experience rooted in the history of jazz, rock, funk, and R&B in a forward thinking context.

All of the members of the group have worked together in various situations previously, but the first time they have performed and recorded as a group was for their debut record “Second Wave”.

Throughout the coronavirus lockdown, drummer Xavier Lecouturier and
guitarist Martin Budde went back to Big Lake Alaska, where Martin grew up. Over the months, they assembled a studio in his fathers aircraft hangar and invited the three other musicians to rehearse new music to livestream and record.

Self-recorded in an airplane hangar in rural Alaska during a pandemic exile, 2021’s “Second Wave” delivered the story of a group of young musicians using exceptional circumstances to create personal & musical connection, and ultimately, a stirring documentation of time-well-spent.

With this script in hand, Meridian Odyssey returned to Big Lake in August 2021, settling in for six days of intense rehearsals of nine new originals, with time off for sailing, flying and hiking together.

With trumpeter Noah Halpern joining the core band of saxophonist Santosh Sharma, bassist Ben Feldman, pianist Dylan Hayes, guitarist Martin Budde, and drummer/producer/engineer Xavier Lecouturier, the group found a new power and focus in their sound, with the expanded front line and the growing conceptual openness the band had developed.

Born from the perceivably “lost” years of ’20 & ’21, “Earthshine” will speak to the creative read and react of six musicians on the literal threshold of their careers. While a marvelous tale of its own, it portends to be but an entrance into a musical beyond.

For longtime fans of jazz, this is your opportunity to enjoy premium talent at the beginning of their journeys. As only those who went to the Savoy or the Cotton Club so many years ago. With those newer to the art, this is your invitation into the most innovative, door opening, music available to the human ear.

This is jazz. This is fresh jazz. This is Meridian Odyssey.

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