Patricia Brennan Septet BREAKING STRETCH
PATRICIA BRENNAN SEPTET
BREAKING STRETCH
Pyroclastic Records
Patrician Brennan, vibraphone/marimba/composer; Kim Cass, bass; Mauricio Herrera, percussion; Marcus Gilmore, drums; Adam O’Farrill, trumpet; Mark Shim, tenor saxophone; Jon Irabagon, alto & soprano saxophones.
Patricia Brennan uses electronics to color and engage her compositions and arrangements. She’s employing her talent towards experimental music. Brennan has been labeled an improviser and heralded as a “rising star vibraphonist” by Downbeat magazine’s 70th Critic’s Poll. Breaking Stretch is a step past her earlier releases, enriched by life, themes and influences, then popped into a studio centrifuge to blend and expand her former compositions into new, musical ideas. This is contemporary classical meets funk, salsa and brass-driven rock bands, all wrapped in a quilt of Mexican culture and experimental jazz.
The title of this album, “Breaking Stretch” can be broken into two pieces of expression. ‘Breaking’ a reference to pushing herself and her band to their outer limits. ‘Stretch’ represents her music’s intense elasticity and her desire to reach as far as possible into her own creativity without limitation.
“I wanted to push the music and the musicians almost to the breaking point,” Brennan says in her press package. “I wrote music that creates the illusion of width and narrowness, either with orchestration techniques or with a play on rhythmic structures.”
Rhythm is definitely driving this album of original music by Patricia Brennan. Marcus Gilmore on drums and Mauricio Herrera on percussion spearhead the excitement along with Brennan’s vibraphone and marimba magic. The horn of Adam O’Farrill and saxophones of Jon Irabagon and Mark Shim color her music and improvise on the various themes without inhibitions. The enclosed booklet in the CD package explains each of Brennan’s compositions in detail. “Earendel” is the oldest distant star scientists have discovered. The name comes from the old English word meaning ‘morning star’ or rising light. It was discovered by the Hubble Space telescope in 2022. This Brennan composition sounds like space and reflected light; sounds ominous and dark one minute, then energized and bright the next. The horns harmonically enter, loud over the electronic rhythm section and demand attention. The saxophone solo is brilliant and flutters wildly. All the horns join in, as if a spaceship is moving swiftly across the universe. There is movement present in the horn harmonics. Underneath, Patricia Brennan is always there on her vibes or marimbas, sparking the arrangements like matches at a firepit. This is an exciting, Avant-garde, experimental jazz production.
Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil
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