Adams, whose father played alto saxophone in swing bands during the 1930s, has cited his early exposure to such jazz saxophonists as John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, and Wayne Shorter as inspiration for the piece.
But I knew many great recordings from the jazz past that could form a basis for my compositional thinking, among them "Focus," a 1961 album by Stan Getz for tenor sax and an orchestra of harp and strings arranged by Eddie Sauter.
Another album that I'd known since I was a teenager, "New Bottle Old Wine," with Canonball Adderley [sic] and that greatest of all jazz arrangers, Gil Evans, remained in mind throughout the composing of the new concerto as a model to aspire to.
I just kind of stayed on his radar as I kept doing 'City Noir,' and then in February of 2012 I received an e-mail out of the blue from him, saying that he'd finished 'The Gospel According to the Other Mary,' and he was thinking about the next project and he'd like to do a saxophone concerto in Sydney, and asked if I was free.
[1] Reviewing the world premiere, Harriet Cunningham of The Sydney Morning Herald highly praised the Saxophone Concerto, writing, "Adams has thrown down the gauntlet with a solo line which demands speed, flexibility, musicality and, above all, stamina to keep going with barely a bar's rest.
"[2] The work was also lauded by Charles T. Downey of The Classical Review, who observed, "Adams pushes the soloist to the edge with dizzying scales and disjunct leaping passages, often bouncing off the orchestra in syncopated or otherwise disorienting rhythmic patterns.
Conversely, Andrew Clements of The Guardian called the piece "another note-spinning exercise in nostalgia" and wrote, "the solo part is expertly written for brilliant Timothy McAllister, and the music has the infectious, irresistible energy the composer generates so convincingly.
She added:Self-confessedly influenced by legendary jazz saxophonists of yesteryear – among them John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy – it sounds more like a nostalgia-fest than an attempt to establish the saxophone's relevance to classical music.