A solo tenor sax performance is no easy task but the Norwegian saxophonist– composer Marius Neset might strike you as someone who could pull it off. It's even surprising that A New Dawn is his debut album on solo sax, recorded during the lockdown and inspired by a spirit of hope (hence the title), as well as necessity. Recording for ACT – his home since 2014 – his various projects have so far focussed on an unusual instrumentation for small ensemble configurations and writing larger scale third-stream-ish commissions for the likes of Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and London Sinfonietta. Neset's pièce de résistance on A New Dawn and a hallmark of his work to date, are his athletic leaps between the low and high registers with a seamless sonority which give the impression there's two saxophones playing at the same time. It's a quality that's tailor-made for the solo setting. On ‘Morning Mist’ the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski's cello concerto is a jumping-off point for a hypnotic one-note bass mantra, modal folk melody and screaming overtones, the latter something that Neset has mastered without an abrasiveness, a compositional approach rather than a free-improv investigation. He shifts from a jaunty Township feel on ‘Brighter Times’ to the fluttering scalar passages of ‘Taste of Spring’ that half recalls Eric Dolphy's stunning live bass clarinet version of ‘God Bless the Child’. There's a bold assertiveness in Neset's mix of folk, fusion, R&B-funk and contemporary classical, an approach in which he sacrifices intimacy with an audience for showmanship. But there's no doubt an exquisite full-bloodied tone in the ‘classic’ tenor mould, nestled somewhere between Brecker and Garbarek, is a vital weapon in his armoury as a solo performer.