TONY DAGRADI

The histories of jazz and graphic art aren’t similar, but the two come together in the work of Tony Dagradi. Best known as the founder of the group Astral Project, Dagradi's smooth saxophone playing weaves in and out of the sounds of his fellow instrumentalists in what may be the closest thing to a classical contemporary jazz combo. 

It’s “classical” because you can hear the history of modern jazz reborn in sleek new forms. Dagradi brings a similar sense of context to the 44 book sculptures in his…

Following decades of being a renowned jazz musician, saxophonist Tony Dagradi extended his artistic reach to visual art. In 2015, Dagradi, best known for his musical explorations with Astral Project and teaching at Loyola University, developed a passion for making sculptural collages. 

Dagradi’s medium is books—usually of the vintage kind. For each sculptural collage, he selects and cuts images from a single book or a set of encyclopedia volumes. Dagradi reassembles the images as collages seen through the…

Tony Dagradi is widely known for his silken modern jazz saxophone playing, a lyricism that reveals his mastery of an instrument with endless potentially rough edges. Less known are his sculptural collages. Featuring whimsical juxtapositions of images that read like improvisational visual riffs, they explore the unexpected relationships between moments in visual time in much the same way jazz musicians explore serendipitous resonances between familiar notes and melodies to create new experiences for the…