Shuteen Erdenebaatar: Bright Folk

Be it said that Bright Folk, 28 year-old pianist/composer/bandleader Shuteen Erdenebaatar's third, vivaciously daring Motéma recording, was born with a depth of classical understanding and underpinning that most fail to entertain well into their AARP membership.

The unspoken hypothesis put forth on Bright Folk is that it is the most personal but wide-open statement of intent heard in these parts in a longish while. Take, for instance, the barely contained, Celtic title shanty. Its Gobi-swept, Mongolian breezes wrest our conceived differences to the hard desert ground. Driven by Erdenebaatar and the dizzingly conversant recorder of returning guest saxophonist Jakob Manz (who has toured with the quartet for several years), the track sails on world currents all its very own.

But jumping ahead to the fourth endowment is not the way to embark on the nine novellas Erdenebaatar conjures for Bright Folk. Because Bright Folk ripples to exciting life with "Do You See The Stars I See?" Highlighted by a highly charged soprano solo courtesy of young Belgian tenor/soprano sax phenom Simon Comté that races along a roiling accompaniment by drummer Amir Bresler and Erdenebaatar's life collaborator, bassist Nils Kugelmann, it is an opening number not to be dismissed.

Setting aside both her commanding and combatant sides (defining characteristics for any artist worth their salt), the pianist pulls us into the mystic with the haunted "Becoming." Then clears the decks with the high tide of "After All This Time," a sure assurance that the young'uns are making music the old way—solid, certain, and with a groove that beckons and hallows both distant past and near future.

Considering the quartet's global touring schedule—in 2024 Erdenebaatar was invited back to her homeland to showcase  Bright Folk by the Concerto 21 Foundation (a nonprofit cultural foundation that focuses on supporting and mentoring exceptional, forward-thinking musical artists)—"Home Is You" holds a surprisingly reflective, fireside intimacy. Sharing the magic and muse of Geri Allen, the quietude carries over into the mosaic group celebration of "Page #7671." Despite evidence to the contrary, Bresler leads "In Praise of Light." "River Sound" imagines the music of all our great rivers—the Nile, the Ganges, the Hudson, the Missouri, the Yangtze, the Tuul, the Kherlin, and the Spree—before commerce, before man set sail for conquest and rare earth minerals. It is a beautiful closing statement for a most beautiful endeavor.