Name: Nathaniel Morgan
Nationality: American
Occupation: Saxophonist, composer, improviser, mixing engineer
Current Release: Nathaniel Morgan teams up with Devin Gray for El Bronco, out October 2nd 2026 via Rataplan.
Current event: The duo will perform a record release party on October 3rd 2026 in Brooklyn.
Hometown Recommendations: Ventura, CA; go to the beach, go to the mountains.

[Read our Devin Gray interview]
[Read our Devin Gray interview about improvisation]



When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a listener, which albums, performances, and artists come to mind?

I don't have anything codified in my mind in this category. But based on my recent consumption of media, De Niro in Taxi Driver, Nina Simone, Enya, Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano in There Will Be Blood, Penderecki, Stevie Wonder ...

There can be many different kinds of energy in art – soft, harsh, healing, aggressive, uplifting and many more. Which do you tend to feel drawn to most?

Any of the extremes. Anything that pushes to the extreme. There, I like to look for what the energy is made of, to find it in a form that reveals its nature, that reveals something about myself.

Things have to be sincere and focused in order to push that hard.

I have had a hard time explaining that listening to death metal calms me down. When you listen to a song with a particular energy, does it tend to fill you with the same energy – or are there “paradoxical” effects?

It doesn't feel paradoxical to me. To me this feels like an acknowledgement and embracing of my own energy.

There is a lot of encouragement to mask feelings that are abrasive and aggressive, except in the established forums like imperialism, capitalism, adherence to strict binary gender, etc. where domination is mandated.

So for me, when that energy gets acknowledged outside of those forums that co-opt aggressive feelings, it is calming.

In as far as it plays a role for the music you like listening to or making, what role do words and the voice of a vocalist play for the transmission of energy?

Words have always been a difficult medium for me, but one that I love. In my opinion, I have the desire but not the skill.

Fortunately, I've had collaborators who are talented with words. So we often work together with them.

When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a creator, how would you describe the physical sensation of experiencing this energy? [Where do you feel it, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or a build-up of tension etc …]

I have to calm myself and let it come out of me. It's there, inside, and needs a kind of unmasking to take place. It's a body and spirit feeling.

Maybe because I play a wind instrument it's tied to the feeling of vocalization. breath in, sound out. it feels very much like vocalizing. In that way, sometimes I do vocalize without words. making vocal sounds through my instrument.

When it comes to composing / songwriting, are you finding that spontaneity and just a few takes tend to capture energy best? Or does honing a piece bring you closer to that goal?

It's all over the place.

Sometimes it's years of working on things and then it finally makes sense, usually when I step back from it or decide to simplify it. Sometimes it is all at once, where the idea comes and the craft element needs little effort.

Often it's through collaboration. I think the strongest ideas are worked out through two or more people. I've never been a huge fan of solo performances. Of course there are exceptions.

For El Bronco, what kind of energy were you looking for?

I've never thought of looking for energy.

It's here, I just have to embrace it, make room for it, quiet myself. However you want to put it.

How do you capture the energy you want in the studio?

It has to be comfortable. People have to be connected.

Sometimes that is with headphones, sometimes that is in separate rooms, sometimes it has to be overdubbed for logistical reasons. But most often it is everyone in the same room without headphones.

Maybe those are the performances that come to mind when I think of good energy. Motown, Rudy Van Gelder, some Steve Albini recordings ...

What role do factors like volume, effects like distortion, amplification, and production in general for in terms of creating the energy you want?

Anything goes. I've been working on my own version of saxophone with electronics for some years and all these things are part of that sound.

With mixing and producing, it's the same. Whatever serves the music, that is the right decision. Some fx have specific genre associations, and I like using those associations out of context.

In terms of energy, what changes when you're performing live on stage, with an audience present, compared to the recording stage?

Ideally, nothing except the number of participants.

It helps me to think of audience as equal participants. They don't have the role of actively shaping the energy but in the act of quieting myself to let the energy through, everyone's energy who is present is part of that unveiling.

What kind of feedback have you received from listeners or concert audiences in terms of the experience that your music and/or performances have had on them?

A friend, a long time ago, who at the time was a guy that I might have described as an adherent to strict binary gender roles, asked me after a show if I had ever had music make me cry.

That shaped me.

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the energy or do you surrender to it and allow the music to take over? Who, ultimately has control during a live performance?

I have no idea who is in control.

The energy that music is able to generate can be extremely powerful. How, do you think, can artists make use of this energy to bring about change in the world?

This, I also have no concrete idea.

I think I have to trust that I am cultivating goodness inside me and that translates into change. I think change has to come from within and once that happens, it can't be controlled whether or not it changes things externally.

I think political music and art get a bad wrap but it's really the best. Maybe bad political art is worse than bad art in general. Who knows, that discussion doesn't really matter. But, maybe it's because the stakes are higher and peoples reactions are stronger that it's more dangerous to be overt.

But Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Rage against the machine, Marvin Gaye, Bikini Kill, Kendrick, Lauryn Hill, Mingus, Woody Guthrie, Public Enemy …