Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Muriel Grossmann: Universal Code

6

Muriel Grossmann: Universal Code

By

View read count
Muriel Grossmann: Universal Code
Infectious is a word much maligned of late. What with a worldwide pandemic, the word has come to stand in for other terms such as contagious and transmittable. The word though has another meaning as demonstrated by saxophonist Muriel Grossmann's Universal Code. Infectious can also mean irresistible or compelling in an infectious way. Together with her quartet, Grossman broadcasts her engrossing message as a cross between soul jazz and uplifting spiritual music.

Universal Code contains the Paris-born, Vienna-raised saxophonist now living in Spain with her working quartet with two Serbian-born musicians, guitarist Radomir Milojkovic and drummer Uros Stamenkovic, plus the Spanish Hammond B3 organist Llorenc Barcelo. The quartet is joined on three tracks by Austrian double bassist Gina Schwarz. If we were pressed to characterize the sound, the first impressions might lead us to the recordings of Les McCann and Richard "Groove" Holmes or Hank Mobley and Larry Young, plus early guitar work of George Benson. These influences plus Grossman's penchant for the sound of John Coltrane surface in tracks like the groovy blues-tinged "Post— Meditations" where Grossman doubles on tenor saxophone. The same can be said for "Compassion" where Grossman's tenor is accompanied by marimba, the vibe mixes soul and R&B into a kind of party anthem. The quartet utilizes Barceló's organ for the baselines, except for the three tracks with Schwarz. Her double bass towers over "Transience," "Non-Duality," and "Essence," which allows Barceló to add overtones and colors to the tracks. The blues-drenched "Essence" finds Grossman's soprano saxophone landing on the smoothest of glide paths. Grossman's music adds the term "easily transmissible" to her definition of musically infectious.

Track Listing

Resonance; Clarity; Interconnection; Transience; Non-Duality; Essence; Liberation; Post- Meditation; Compassion.

Personnel

Radomir Milojkovic
guitar, electric
Llorenc Barcelo
organ, Hammond B3

Album information

Title: Universal Code | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Dreamlandrecords

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.