Andrea Brachfeld isn’t as well known, in part because she didn’t always focus on jazz, though she merits wider recognition. For Lady Of The Island, she utilizes different combinations of musicians from one track to the next, with material that includes jazz standards, pop and originals. Brachfeld starts with an impressive original, “Bebop Hanna”, featuring her choice bop licks and Wycliffe Gordon’s sassy trombone, along with Bill O’Connell’s engaging piano. The joyful “Little Girl’s Song” is a portrait of Brachfeld’s daughter, featuring bassist Andy Eulau. She also penned the haunting ballad “In the Center”, in which she and O’Connell achieve an intimate musical conversation. Her “Four Corners” is a breezy Latin jazz vehicle with a sizzling trumpet solo by Yasek Manzano, followed by Bob Quaranta’s driving piano. Freddie Hubbard’s “Birdlike” is a neglected gem from early in his career and O’Connell does a masterful job blending Latin jazz and hardbop in an arrangement that features Gordon’s powerful trombone solo. Ellington’s “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)” proves to be a magical duet between Brachfeld (on alto flute) and O’Connell, as they stretch it out and add many embellishments, rather than following the usual path. If there is a weak link to this release, it is Graham Nash’s bland title ballad, which resists the best efforts to make it a Latin jazz vehicle.
-Ken Dryden,March 2014,http://www.nycjazzrecord.com