Natalie Cressman: Turn The Sea

Trombonist/vocalist Natalie Cressman follows-up her excellent debut recording, Unfolding (Self Produced, 2012) with her fully realized yet completely different Turn the Sea. Cressman is a busy artist recently appearing on many projects as disparate as anchoring the horn section of Trey Anastasio's band and appearing on recording dates led by Peter Apfelbaum and Josh Roseman to her conspicuous role on Laura Furci's excellent Think Con La Tua Cabeza (2013)

Cressman brings these multiple exposures to bare on Turn the Sea. This is a collection of angular compositions that are as intricate as they are accessible. The title piece is given two mixes bookending the remaining seven songs. The rhythm line is infectious and insistent and very contemporary, representing a new alchemy for Cressman. The mix of Cressman's confident voice, tart trombone and crack songwriting establishes the artist well down the road from an already fully-established sound on Unfolding. The Jnthn Stein remix adds pop-synth to the song

"Fortune's Fool" uses judicious voice overdubs by Cressman, accentuating her well-conceived melodies within her clever arrangement. "Do Not As I Do" is a brightly sung and orchestrated, again with a complex (and catchy) bass underpinning. Cressman employs a little big band in a very contemporary way. There is a melding of her pop and jazz experience that is well captured in this format. Natalie Cressman continues to arrive and is sure to continue her brilliant evolution as a musician..