Pat Donaher's Demodacus

Pat Donaher is a Boston-area alto saxophonist and composer who decamped for New York in 1999 and became a fixture on the downtown scene, with a resume that runs from Benny Carter and Dave Liebman to Maria Schneider and Steve Vai. Demodacus is the band he has led since those New York years, a vehicle for his own modern-jazz writing — the same occasion-driven compositional streak that carries albums like 2021's sextet date 'Occasionally.' He balances the horn with work as a high school music teacher and yoga instructor, and the playing has the same unhurried, even-keeled quality.