Northing is a Minnesota-based chamber ensemble that plays composed and improvised music. Formed in 2017, the quintet takes its name from the cartographic term for progress northward. Each of the ensemble members returned to their upper-midwest home after studying music in different ends of the country. The minimal instrumentation — two saxophones, two trombones, and drums — creates colorful sounds that oscillate between wind quartet and brass band. Their debut album Hill Spell came out on Shifting Paradigm Records in May 2019. It includes original compositions by band leader and trombonist Nick Syman and saxophonist Aaron Hedenstrom.