Alliance: Alliance

Alliance is an impressive all-female co-op quartet whose self-titled debut album, recorded in 2023, offers a luminous snapshot of their remarkable talent and versatility. Reed virtuoso Sharel Cassity, an alumna of New York City's world-class DIVA Jazz Orchestra, oversees the front line, while pianist Hannah Meyers provides an eloquent reciprocal perspective and shares the essential rhythmic duties with bassist Carmani Edwards and drummer Colleen Clark. Up-and-coming trumpeter Kellin Hanas makes a guest appearance on the session's closing number, Harold Mabern's buoyant "There But for the Grace of..."

Clark wrote two of the session's enticing numbers, "La Tristeza" and "Caro-li-na," Edwards and Mayer one apiece ("Linger" and "Something New," respectively) with compositions by Mulgrew Miller, Mary Lou Williams, Jimmy Heath and Herbie Hancock rounding out the charming program. Cassity, whose solo voice is heard most often, plays alto sax on half a dozen tracks, soprano on two, flute on Heath's seductive "Gemini." While Cassity sparkles on every horn, she is at her best on alto, flying high without a net on "There But for the Grace... ," Miller's turbo-charged "Wingspan" and Mayer's fast-paced "Something New."

As for Meyer, she solos with style and assurance on seven numbers (using an electric piano on Hancock's "Maiden Voyage"), while Edwards adds evocative statements on "Gemini," "Caro-li-na" and her own "Linger," and Clark does the same on "Wingspan," "La Tristeza," Caro-li- na," "There But for the Grace of... " and "Something New," on the last of which she trades well-aimed volleys with her teammates.

With so many long-held relationships severed and trustworthy promises devalued these days, this is one Alliance that appears built to last. It is exciting to envision what the future may have in store for these proficient and harmonious partners.

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