Patricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch

On her first two albums, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan worked with a quartet comprised of three percussion instruments, herself on vibes and marimba, joined by percussionist Mauricio Herrera and drummer Marcus Gilmore, with a bassist Kim Cass. Momentum in large part, is the name of the game. For Breaking Stretch she expands her musical universe, adding trumpeter Adam O'Farrill and saxophonists Mark Shim and Jon Irabagon. This proved a good move; her musical universe in this septet setting has an energy similar to the universe, a billion or so years after the Big Bang

Brennan's music flies all over the place, like bats bursting out of a cave at dusk. It is akin to Ornette Coleman's, Free Jazz (Atlantic, 1960). But where Coleman's double quartet outing never gelled—gravity never asserting itself—in Brennan's free-flying, early universe the galaxies are spinning into existence, clouds of gas and dust are gathering to become gas giants and globes of rock locked into orbits around stars, capturing satellites of their own.

But it is not all balls to the wall. "Suenos de Coral Azul (Blue Coral Dreams)" is a lovely reverie, while "Palo de Oros (Suit of Coins)" whispers into existence, then breaks into the wild ride of a runaway train, upbound rather than downbound, clattering from out of the hole where Alice found Wonderland, bringing with it some of the subterranean craziness.

"Some of my favorite bands growing up were fiercely, rhythmically driven," Brennan says. These sounds influenced and shaped her vision accordingly. "Los Otros Yo (The Other Selves") is gloriously rhythmic, while the closer, "Earendel," has a cosmic, drifting aimlessly in outer space vibe, which brings up the "electronics" element that is found here. Trumpeter O'Farrill and Brennan add ghostly enhancements to lift the music a notch. Or two. Brennan's upping the ante with the addition of horns and the deft use of electronics says the future is certainly wide open for her.

Additionally, the album's cover art and the in-sleeve booklet are a perfect accompaniment to the music she makes—spiral galaxies, nebulae, bright orange lava and volcanic gasses rising into the sky can all be perused as a saxophone screams through the sky like a meteor.

Cosmic indeed.