release date: 04.09.2026 via Lit Soc Records
The music of saxophonist and composer Brittany Pitt, and, by extension, her trio Shapeshifter exemplifes the spirit of an emerging generation of jazz artists in Toronto. Rather than towing the straight-ahead line or diving headlong into free improv and or hopping aboard other vehicles for pure exploration, this group of artists—like many of their European peers —embrace eclecticism and experimentation within an open-ended jazz framework.
Shapeshifter’s self-titled debut recording is also Pitt’s debut as bandleader and primary composer. It’s slated for release on the Lit Soc imprint, a relatively new label founded by the team behind Sellers and Newel, a beloved local bookseller that doubles as an intimate venue that often foregrounds curious-minded jazz that has included everyone from 2026 German Jazz Prize winner Lina Allemano to the GRAMMY-Nominated bassist Stephan Crump.
Like the label’s other outings, Shapeshifter was captured live of the foor at the store itself, a move that ensures both a sense of unfettered invention and unadorned closeness are baked right into the audio. Although Pitt’s trio has its moments of repose, there’s often an energetic current that courses through the music, and the feeling of proximity in the recording heightens this intensity and the idiosyncratic dynamic the three players share.
Shapeshifter was very much informed by a recent milestone in Pitt’s professional life—attending the School for Improvisational Music in New York last August. Tere, she worked and studied under celebrated artists Ralph Alessi, Matt Mitchell, John Hebert, Tom Rainey and Tim Berne, and their mentorship helped her to fnd creative strategies for navigating her own compositions as a performer, while also helping her to harness the individual strengths of bandmates as a leader. Directly after completing the SIM program, she returned to Toronto to form this very group. Pitt remains on tenor throughout the album, and is joined by guitarist Dan Pitt (known for his eponymous ensembles as well as Arid Landscapes, alongside Noah Franche-Nolan) plus Aidan McConnell on drums—member of current “it” indie rock outft Potions, Burs, Alex Lukashevky’s band and others. Te absence of low-end in the band imparts a unique sound, and it certainly doesn’t hamper their propulsiveness. What it does instead is allow them the freedom to transition seamlessly from a more airborne sense of pulse to something more grounded and driving and one witnesses this very thing on the opening cut, which aptly bears the group’s name.
“Shapeshifter” opens with a spacious feel that coyly employs syncopation. Troughout a clean, dextrous, but not terribly aggressive guitar solo, McConnell’s drumming grows progressively more urgent and once the tenor joins the fray, the percussion saturates the aural feld, despite the two Pitts remaining rather sober in their delivery. McConnell’s fervour continues to expand as he himself takes a solo before a return to the head. “Union Street” begins in a decidedly more abstract manner with the two melodic instruments lurking within McConnell’s cracked pulse for a minute before unveiling the primary theme in an elusive rubato. As the written material becomes an improvised exchange, the guitar and saxophone maintain their enigmatic restraint despite the seeming eforts of the drums to whip them into a frenzy. Other tracks such as “Mentally Heavy” and “Don’t Rush” elaborate upon the tension and vigour displayed in the frst track, with the guitar adopting a more fery tone at points throughout. “SIM” takes the opener’s use of syncopated sparsity a step further to create a sense of slow fragmentation that transforms into a kinetic double-time feel. Meanwhile, pieces such as “Meaningful Conversations,” and the closer “Entranced”, exhibit contrast through their atmospheric expressivity, with breathier sax playing, efects-bathed guitar, and airy, brushed drums. “Prospect,” the album’s ffth cut, fnds a midpoint between these two poles where light, brisk playing from McConnell infuses the gauzy saxophone and guitar textures with excited momentum.
In addition to showcasing Brittany Pitt’s unique musical sensibilities as both a performer and composer, Shapeshifter‘s selftitled debut is a varied and assured document that serves to situate her within the burgeoning scene within jazz that has been brought about through other players of her generation. Te ethos touted within that community recognizes the rich history of jazz, not as a static genre to be reconstituted but as a form that can interface with numerous other sounds and concepts while still retaining its identity.
photo be Keessa Lynch
Toronto-based saxophonist, composer and improvisor Brittany Pitt discovered her love of music at a very early age and nurtured this interest throughout childhood. After completing an Applied Music Diploma at Hamilton’s Mohawk College, she entered the music program at University of Toronto where she graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Comprehensive Music studies. Her instructors there included the likes of John Johnson, Tara Davidson, Kelly Jeferson, Andrew Downing, Mike Murley, and Terry Promane—staples of the Toronto jazz scene. Since fnishing at U of T, Pitt has become fully immersed in Toronto’s music community as well as that of her hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, routinely performing in venues across both cities, including the Rex, the Corktown, the Tranzac Club, Sellers and Newel, Te Jazz Bistro and the Emmet Ray. She has been heard alongside such artists as Laura Swankey, Ashley Urquhart, Harry Vetro, Simone Baron, Tania Gill, Aline Homzy, Karen Ng, Ethan Ardelli, Devin Patten, Robert Diack, Alex Fournier and Alex Lakusta. In addition to Shapeshifter, Pitt also leads the band Reverie, a group that shares a similar outlook to that of the recent wave of fusion such as ADHD, Donny McCaslin, Slowly Rolling Camera and Terri Lyne Carrington. Tis group sees Pitt augmenting her saxophone with electronic treatments while being joined by Dan Pitt (guitar and efects), Caleb Klager (electric bass and efects), and Stefan Hegerat (drums).