Angelica Sanchez: Float The Edge

Here, New York City-based pianist Angelica Sanchez employs the herculean rhythm section of Michael Formanek (bass) and Tyshawn Sorey (drums) and is the follow-up to her duet outing with renowned trumpeter, composer Wadada Leo Smith, Twine Forest (Clean Feed, 2014).

Sanchez can be quite cerebral and is irrefutably focused while also showing a penchant for injecting harmonious motifs into her body of work. For the most part, she seldom takes the band into extended free-form jaunts while also delving into orbital movements where her meticulous inner-workings often radiate a good deal of sensitivity. Multi-conceptualized pieces such as "Substance of We Feeling" begins with her nimble passages and twirling accents, leading to staggered patterns and shifts in tempo, along with bop and some nods to Thelonious Monk. Here, Sorey peppers his associates with swarming cadences and cymbal shadings while using the brushes.

"What The Birds Tell Me" is a yearning ballad, contrasted by Formanek's supple notes, as Sanchez' use of space becomes part of the musical portraiture. However, the pianist etches a rather evasive theme. Yet they raise the pitch on the following track "The Traveler," via a bottom up series of discourses, powered by the drummer's bustling brushwork and the trio's fragmented breakouts, cascaded by Formanek's intense solo spot towards closeout.

The leader communicates a manifold viewpoint on this articulately engineered program, entrenched with plenty of stirring improvisational campaigns; although various bridge sections and passages focus more on the mechanical aspects of the trio's delivery system.