A cellist, composer and educator in the fertile Chicago jazz
scene, Tomeka Reid makes her debut as a leader in the company of Jason Roebke
on bass, Mary Halvorson on guitar and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. The music is an
interesting mix of progressive jazz with classical flourishes. Eric Dolphy’s
“17 West” is a perfect introduction, since Ron Carter played cello on the
original recording, and Reid plays with tightly coiled energy here shadowed by
guitar and drums. Mary Halvorson’s guitar playing is pointillistic and artistic
amidst the shimmering cello. The swing of “Etoile” has a bit of a sadder feel
from Reid’s cello, and she shows that she is capable of great emotional range
on here instrument. Her soloing is unhurried and quite beautiful and pleasing
to listen to, with the gentle swing of bass and drums supporting her
underneath. Mary Halvorson moves in adding carefully articulated notes to the
proceedings in a well thought out solo statement. Roebke’s bass is deep and
resonant in his brief solo turn, before the music returns to the full band’s
delicate, yet dynamic improvisation. “Woodlawn” has medium tempo, with Mary
Halvorson developing interesting sounds from an opening solo, and as the band
slowly builds the pace around her. Reid’s plucked solo gets a high pitched
sound juxtaposed against the bass and drums, and then moves to a crystalline
bowed section. “Samo Swing” is a short and brightly up-tempo performance with
Mary Harvorson’s guitar snaking thought a thicket of deep bass and drums,
before Reid takes center stage with a plucked solo of her own, making clipped
sounds that offset the guitar very well. Harvlorson comes back with a cool
toned guitar solo that concludes the tune. This was an interesting album, Reid’s
cello and compositions were able to develop a wide range of textures for the
musicians to explore, and it was interesting to here her in this environment.
The bass and drums played pretty much straightforward and this allowed a lot of
open space for the leader and Mary Halvorson to make their imprint upon the
music. Tomeka Reid Quartet - amazon.com
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