Patricia Brennan at The Jazz Gallery

Patricia Brennan
The Jazz Gallery
New York, NY
December 6, 2024

One string quartet, a grand piano, a double bass and a drum kit were squished onto the cozy stage at The Jazz Gallery, but vibraphonist Patricia Brennan still had enough room to boogie. Even in Midtown Manhattan, where every square inch carries a hefty premium, there was space for movement behind the bandleader's hardware. And there were movements about space, too.

"Suite of the Near and Far" was composed as part of Brennan's ten-month residency at this venue, which supports creative risk-taking for musicians. The Mexican-born artist is a keen stargazer and took inspiration from constellations for this music. She cataloged the northern sky and designed graphic scores based on her data. This resulted in a set of meteoric movements and intergalactic interludes that made their world (and universe) premiere in early December.

The string section opened proceedings with a passage of eerie extended techniques. Drummer John Hollenbeck then ignited a Latin-inflected and hip-hop-adjacent groove. Brennan slipped into her dancing shoes, shoulders waggling and head bobbing as her mallets zipped across the vibraphone. It was a blazing launchpad for a stellar evening.

The voyage encountered electromagnetic radiation, alien technologies and a sprinkling of stardust during the second movement. Brennan activated gadgets and doo-dads via her left hand, while applying a violin bow to the tone bars of her vibraphone to produce a fingertip-on-crystal-wineglass sound. It was the most wistful, head-in-the-cosmos moment of the night.

Things got rocky on the next tune, with Miles Okazaki's electric guitar zooming into the center of the sonic solar system. Brennan's music is often constructed around shifting rhythms, but exerts a strong pull on the listener by achieving toe-tapping momentum, even when the off-kilter concepts threaten to collapse under the weight of their own gravitational force.

Later, Brennan engaged in direct dialog with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier. The two took turns to form phrases before overlapping. It was a highlight, partly because the piano got eclipsed in the mix for most of the night. It was also a glimpse into the future, as Brennan and Courvoisier are releasing an album for their duo project TALAMANTI in 2025.

Ambitious projects like "Suite of the Near and Far" carry serious risks of malfunctions, misfires or failures to launch. However, this was a successful mission. Brennan's orchestration of an unorthodox cluster of instruments propelled her audience to otherworldly realms of dark matter and glowing supernovae. For a moment, it was enough to make a cramped corner of Midtown Manhattan feel spacious and ever-expanding. And each movement contained enough rhythmic rocket fuel to keep Brennan hopping around to her own cerebral and celestial compositions.

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