GRAMMY-nominated jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader Sean Mason shared his new single “Open Your Heart.” The track is the latest to release off his upcoming new album A Breath of Fresh Air, due out October 24th, which finds him delivering a sweeping statement as a soul having undergone a journey of redemption and renewal. Disarming the emotional detachment of a world filled with screens, “Open Your Heart” is a lustful ballad that invites the listener to feel its warmth in their soul. The single is also paired with a vivid, intimate studio performance video – giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look into the recording of the album.
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When asked about the inspiration behind the tune, Mason explained:
“‘Open Your Heart’ is exactly what the title suggests: my direct and urgent plea for vulnerability, and for allowing myself to feel. In a world that often encourages emotional detachment, particularly amongst men, this song is an anthem for emotional expression. It's a counter-narrative to the sense of lost purpose and emotional suppression that is so pervasive in our modern digital life. This track is an invitation to open your chest and let your emotions surface, a reminder that embracing vulnerability isn't a weakness, but a strength.”
Mason previously shared the album’s opening track and lead single “Rediscovery,” which he described as “the very genesis of the album's narrative, a sonic exploration into the heart of my transformation.” A full-throttle, mid-tempo swing, “Rediscovery” winks at several facets of the jazz continuum, flirts with a stop-time passage, and is both deeply rooted in tradition and effortlessly self-authentic while joyful all throughout.
A Breath of Fresh Air is the follow-up to Mason’s critically acclaimed debut album The Southern Suite, released in 2023 by Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine Records, and was hailed by NPR, Downbeat, Jazziz, and more. A deeply personal and impressively cohesive exploration of Mason’s North Carolina roots, The Southern Suite showcased an ambitious compositional mind wedded to debonair, earthy, utterly contemporary pianism steeped in the vast lineage of jazz keyboard idioms. That first impression was vividly amplified by his 2024 duo collaboration with powerhouse vocalist Catherine Russell, My Ideal, which earned Mason his first GRAMMY nomination, as well as a 2025 Bistro Award for “Outstanding Recording.” Reuniting The Southern Suite’s stellar cast, A Breath of Fresh Air features trumpeter Tony Glausi, tenor saxophonist Chris Lewis, bassist Felix Moseholm, and drummer Domo Branch.
In the wake of a personal creative crisis that sparked a spiritual and musical epiphany, A Breath of Fresh Air delivers a startling left turn from Mason’s previous work, capturing his assertion of creative independence within a fervid musical democracy. It was self-produced and recorded over the course of just two days at Bunker Studios in Brooklyn, NY with Mason and his band recording old-school, with no sheet music, steady eye contact, and no booths or barriers between them. Looking to capture the frisson of a live concert, he harkened back to “the way all of my favorite records were made, with the cats in the same room,” he says. “I teach the tunes by ear, sending voice messages, singing the melody, and playing the changes so the guys can internalize the tunes. I write the sheet music after the session.”
This conversational aesthetic reflects Mason’s new-found confidence that he’s on the right path as an artist and a human being after years of growing unease and the lack of freedom to explore the entire scope of his artistic identity. Refusing to constrain himself in predefined boxes, Mason has expanded exponentially with an approach that seamlessly internalizes a vast set of cultural influences from jazz and far beyond. Mason and his comrades have forged a singular sonic synthesis and a highly flexible, contingent style that provides him with infinite possibilities to improvise and compose, transmuting inspiration into singular personal expression. As his mentor Branford Marsalis notes, “the album sounds like Ahmad Jamal and Horace Silver had a baby.”
More than an album, A Breath of Fresh Air is a multimedia experience that also includes a short film about the band’s creative process, a video series documenting the music as it was being recorded, and an accompanying photo essay paired with Mason’s cogent text offering an elaborate glimpse at the deep well of inspiration behind the project. It’s the work of an artist who’s found himself—spiritually, creatively, and emotionally. Guided by his wide-open ears and the creative synergy generated by the diverse voices of his quintet, Mason has bounded past the roles and expectations that held him back.
“For me, it’s a testimony,” he says. “Artistically, our inspiration comes from all over, but the magic comes from transmuting those influences into a cohesive artistic language, making it our own. This is the path I need to walk.”
