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Tomeka Reid Quartet: Dance! Skip! Hop!
While the Taborn album is bathed in abstract chamber aesthetics, the five-selection Dance! Skip! Hop! focuses on groove and rapport, giving us sides of Halvorson and Roebke that are not often heard. The result is a string-centered joy ride that combines cello, guitar and bass in celebration of two of Reid's favorite people, the late CC (aka Clarence James), a regular at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge, and her Great Aunt CeCe, who is still with us and who remains a personal inspiration.
The title cut opens the album, and the music reflects the title, with Fujiwara's minimally funky beat underpinning a danceable, twangy pick-and-grin duet from Halvorson and Reid. "a(ways) For CC and CeCe" continues the bright mood, with Roebke giving rhythmic depth to Reid's fusionesque bowing, with Halvorson in tandem. "Oo long!" a paean to a favorite restaurant with her favorite tea, is a hip chamber swing ditty empowered by Fujiwara's funky shuffle and amplified by Halvorson's psychedelic solo. "Under the Aurora Sky" settles things down as Reid bows a pensive melody aside Roebke's contrapuntal bass; Halvorson and Fujiwara add commentary to a piece that seems to tell a story. The finale, "Silver Spring Fig Tree," is a chamber jazz moment where cello, bass and guitar mix to create a dramatic mélange.
Dance! Skip! Hop! is a spirited collection from the clearly symbiotic Tomeka Reid Quartet, a breath of fresh, bouncy air in this uncertain season.
Track Listing
Dance! Skip! Hop!; a(ways) For CC and CeCe; Oo long!; Under the Aurora Sky; Silver Spring Fig Tree.
Personnel
Album information
Title: Dance! Skip! Hop! | Year Released: 2026 | Record Label: Out of Your Heads Records
About Tomeka Reid
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