Dave Douglas and Joe Lovano aim for the stratosphere on sound prints Other Worlds: Video, Photo

Sometimes the planets align. Earlier this year, four-fifths of the all-star band Sound Prints joined Nate Chinen in a WBGO listening party for their new album, Other Worlds.

Now, as Sound Prints settles in for an engagement at Birdland in New York, The Checkout joins forces with A Noise From the Deep — the in-house podcast of Greenleaf Music, hosted by trumpeter and composer Dave Douglas — to revisit that conversation.

Sound Prints is jointly led by Douglas and saxophonist and composer Joe Lovano, who illuminate us with the back story behind their latest studio album. It’s a cosmic journey that began almost a decade ago, when the duo sought to pay homage to one of their saxophone heroes, composer Wayne Shorter.

In short, they wanted to uplift Shorter’s legacy and “fearless, inventive spirit” by using their own Shorter-eque compositions as launching pads. Joining them on this quest is pianist Lawrence Fields, bassist Linda May Han OH and drummer Joey Baron.

Linda is the only band member that couldn’t join us for this lively conversation, conducted over Zoom. Filling in for her and Lawrence Fields, Yasushi Nakamura (bass) and Rudy Royston (drums) will join the other three members in flight over the next four nights at Birdland. And in addition to the podcast, you can watch the unedited version of our listening party below.