The Sofia Goodman Group: Receptive

Receptive is the third album as leader of the Sofia Goodman Group by Nashville, Tennessee-based drummer and composer Goodman, following 2018's Myriad of Flowers and 2023's Secrets of the Shore, both on Joyous Records. As on those earlier recordings, Goodman shows her compositional skills with a series of mostly meditative and personal themes designed to entice an audience while enlivening and amplifying her able sextet.

The results are mixed, with moments of vibrance and charm countered by others that lack whatever is needed to capture and hold one's interest. Goodman and the group are at their best on up-tempo numbers, of which there are three. Everyone seems more loose and comfortable in that milieu as the group embraces a positive groove and soloists follow suit. As for Goodman, her role is basically that of timekeeper—which she enacts quite well. She takes only two extended solos, the first on the sunny and rhythmic "Allow," on which flutist Jovan Quallo is exemplary.

Pianist Alex Murphy and tenor Dan Hitchcock share center stage with Goodman on "The Space Within," whose quirky time signatures give the leader ample rationale for rhythmic gymnastics. The session closes with the last of the burners, "Receptive," whose soloists are Murphy and Quallo, this time on alto sax. Goodman is not averse to using dissonance as a stratagem, as she does on the dark and skittering "Socket," while Hitchcock creates some discord of his own on the brooding "Gratitude." Elsewhere, trombonist Desmond Ng acquits himself well on "Channel," and he and bassist Leland Nelson are impressive on the peaceful "Presence."

Goodman is a splendid drummer as well as a writer who shows great promise. With Receptive, she takes another forward step along those paths, one that augurs well for future enterprises while lending substance to those she has undertaken so far.

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