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Maureen Choi Quartet: Theia
by Geno Thackara
It is appropriate that Maureen Choi's career has included extensive teaching stints in jny: New York City and her newer home base, jny: Madrid. Both have a rich musical history bridging the body-moving and the cerebral. The Choi quartet honors both on their third outing Theia; it's a work overflowing with smarts which never forgets to aim for the heart and/or the feet as well. “Phoenix Borealis" sets the tone right away by simmering in chamber jazz and ...
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by Jim Worsley
Maureen Choi's classical training and leanings are at the forefront and provide a substantial foundation. The palette is then wide open to incorporate jazz, flamenco, and fandango. Theia has a distinctive array of colors and has profoundly compelling undertones. Each song is its own unique journey with unknown passages, trap doors, and idiosyncratic paths leading to seamless tempo changes and unrestrained exploration. Theia opens with its most spacious and exhilarating piece. Choi's epic composition “Phoenix Borealis" traverses ...
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by Friedrich Kunzmann
On the third outing with her quartet, American violinist and composer Maureen Choi perfects the style she has been developing over the past albums with much love for detail and an awareness of the catchy and the danceable. In a mix of originals and interpretations of Spanish and Latin American classics, Choi's quartet presents over an hour of enticing rhythms and melodies, with an invigorating energy that is an invitation to join in. Born in Michigan, and having ...
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by Jakob Baekgaard
These days, it's the rule rather than the exception to mix different traditions of music, and the result is sometimes a postmodern grab bag without aesthetic direction. Transgressing genres isn't inherently a sign of quality. In fact, it can be a symptom of shallowness--something that surely isn't needed in these fast-clicking times. But then again, it also happens that an artist digs deep into different traditions of music in order to refine a personal language. This is ...
read moreMaureen Choi Quartet: Ida Y Vuelta
by James Nadal
The phrase, Ida Y Vuelta, literally translates into roundtrip, as in a journey, going somewhere and returning back to point of origin. For violin virtuoso Maureen Choi, her sojourn to Spain in 2012 has turned into an extended residency, as an educator, and applying her musical prowess to expand upon the influence of Spanish music from the Iberian Peninsula to the Caribbean and into South America. Working within the quartet format, she delves into established folkloric currents with inventive compositions ...
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