Not all the “jazz” I listen to, cover, write about is avant. Anyone who regularly reads my blogs knows that. Why? For one thing, a constant diet of avant, or any other style, is not good for the soul. Second, it is important to cover what one thinks are valid musical statements being made today, no matter the style. Third, music is music. Good music is worthwhile no matter where it comes from or what it uses as building blocks.
So today we have a straight-ahead, mainstream effort by flautist Andrea Brachfeld, Lady of the Island (Zoho 201210). Andrea can PLAY. And she’s put together some new and old standards, some compositions of her own, gathered a gaggle of excellent players, gotten some hip arrangements together, and let it all happen. It’s a quartet with added folks for the larger arrangements. Those folks include Wycliffe Gordon, who sounds great, Wallace Roney (hey!), and others. Everything swings, some with a bit of the Latin tinge.
All reflects very well on Andrea Brachfeld and her artistry. Dig her version of Herbie Hancock’s “Eye of the Hurricane” and you’ll get it!
- Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Music Review, January 16, 2013