More Touch

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Mexican vibraphonist Patricia Brennan was an established figure on the New York City jazz scene by the time she released her 2021 solo debut, Maquishti.  It's a sui generis album that features Brennan performing original compositions and improvisations, unaccompanied, on vibraphone and marimba. Maquishti hints at jazz and contemporary classical but Brennan, who at times broadens her palette by using extended technique and guitar pedals, creates a unique sound world.

On More Touch, Brennan is joined by drummer Marcus Gilmore, Cuban percussionist Mauricio Herrera, and bassist Kim Cass. You can file this album under "jazz," but Brennan and her cohorts produce music that—like the very different Maquishti—can be hard to pigeonhole. Afro-Cuban rhythms and Afro-Mexican elements are a key part of the mix, and the ensemble's timbral combinations are unusual. 

The loping groove of "Unquiet Respect" brings to mind the syncopated accents of reggaeton as angular vibraphone lines dance with the bass in off-kilter ways. (In her liner notes, Brennan writes that the song's rhythm was popular in Veracruz, her hometown, in the 1990s; that part of Mexico has strong musical ties to the Caribbean.)

"Space for Hour," the longest track, begins with a sort of "duet" for marimba and silence before the other players join in. As the group moves through various sections, they display equal facility with swing and fusion. 

Dedicated to Brennan's late aunt and godmother, Gloria, "The Woman Who Weeps" has a spare-yet-spacious quality that nicely contrasts with the dense material found elsewhere on More Touch. Gilmore's brushed cymbals and Cass's searching bass imbue the elegiac piece with a sense of gravity. The vibraphone-generated electronic squiggles that appear throughout the album evoke animated spirits in this setting.  

Closer "And There Was Light" opens with Herrera's Batá drums, an instrument with an essential role in the practice of the Afro-Cuban religion, Santeria. Marimba, splashing cymbals, bowed bass, and electronics play off this foundation as the music dramatically unfolds. Later, the sounds gracefully fade away, signaling the end of a journey.  © Fred Cisterna/Qobuz