New Album Review – Patricia Brennan’s “Breaking Stretch” (Pyroclastic, released September 6th, 2024)

It’s been an exceptional year so far for jazz and experimental albums (see my mid-year round-up), but even amidst that bounty, I’m most excited about Patricia Brennan’s Breaking Stretch, out this Friday, September 6th, on Pyroclastic Records. Brennan is one of the most notable jazz musicians around and has been an essential side person in the bands of Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara, as well as on albums by Stephan Crump, Alan Braufman, Matt Mitchell, and many others. But as great as her side person work is, Brennan’s leader records are the ones I’m obsessing over. Her first album, 2021’s Maquishti, introduced Brennan’s rich and percussive sound on solo vibraphone and marimba and documented her experimental streak where she tweaks the vibraphone with subtle electronic effects. Maquishti is a luminous tour de force that contains mystery and rhythmic complexity. With her follow-up a year later, More Touch, Brennan expanded on the rhythms in her debut with a quartet of her vibraphone plus Marcus Gilmore on trap drums, Mauricio Herrera on persuasion, and Kim Cass on bass. It’s an album that presents music woven into a complex but introverted dance, where no one line dominates the others. More Touch is a feast for headphone listeners where you dance in your mind.

With Breaking Stretch, Brennan builds on the well-developed sound of the More Touch quartet by adding three horns – Adam O’Farrill on trumpet, Mark Shim on tenor saxophone, and Jon Irabagon on alto and sopranino saxophones. The music of Breaking Stretch still has the dense complexity and heady compositional ideas of its two predecessors, but the addition of horns coincides with a shift in attitude – where Maquishti centered a meditative quietude and More Touch glowing introverted rhythms, Breaking Stretch takes an exciting extroverted turn. The rhythms now loudly proclaim themselves, and Breaking Stretch not only dances, but also burns.

There’s so much to discuss about this album, but a few things stand out to me. Right away, you can hear the intricate writing for the three horns. For example, on the title track, those horns play the tune’s melody while elaborately embroidering the melodic line, tugging at the melody in hypnotic patterns. “Breaking Stretch” features several sections where the horns play beautifully written material, often framed by voicings that seem spontaneous. I’m not sure I can tell the some of the written material from the improvisations, surely a sign of a group with the talent and the permission from their leader to stretch out. The arrangements throughout Breaking Stretch give the group an outsized, vibrant footprint – Brennan states in the liner notes she is “asking the horn players to explore the outer edges of their sonic envelopes,” which “gives the illusion of a larger-than-seven sound.” Brennan seeks to “push sonic boundaries up-to-but-not-over the tipping point, while staying true to the inherent nature of the music.” The result sounds truly assured in every way.

The musicians sound particularly inspired in this context, and rise to the highest level. This music trades heavily in percussion — the playing of Marcus Gilmore and Mauricio Herrera sound as if they are one, and their beats play a crucial role in organizing the nuanced music. For an example of their simpatico playing, check out the incredible last three minutes of “Palo de Oros (Suit of Coins),” or better yet, the video of that performance by Frank Heath. Bassist Kim Cass supports the rhythms with a dynamic tone that sounds like an electric bass, but you’ll see in the Frank Heath video that he’s playing an upright, which shows that Cass can do anything. Listening closely to Cass’s bass lines is rewarding; his playing is always on the move, simultaneously playing rhythmically and melodically and providing urgency at every step.

The extroverted personality of Breaking Stretch really highlights the horn players, who are all incredible. Adam O’Farrill’s trumpet plays a brilliant high end, and he adds electronic effects to his playing on three tracks. It took me multiple listens to figure out that the menacing sound at 1:40 into the opening track is O’Farrill’s trumpet with electronics – mysterious and amazing! The prolific Jon Irabagon plays with his typical fire, taking solos that push all kinds of boundaries throughout, both on alto sax and sopranino. I have to give a special mention to Mark Shim. Frankly, I have not heard his playing since the album New Directions, which came out 24 years ago. What a revelation to listen to Shim now! His husky tenor sax tone contrasts with the brighter tone of the other players, and the flow of his solos sounds very alive and in the moment, with a spontaneity that reminds me a bit of Joe Henderson. Yes, that’s high praise – Shim is incredible here, and I really hope he will record and play more often.

As for the leader, her playing here is as remarkable as always. The sound of her vibraphone playing is magnetic, often surreal, and I especially love the marimba solo on “Mudanza (States of Change),” which calls back to the beauty of Maquishti. But the revelation here, even more than Brennan’s playing, is the depth of her writing, concept, arranging, and bandleading. For her compositions, Brennan draws on many sources of inspiration, often explicitly intellectual, emotional, and musical. For example, “Sueños de Coral Azul (Blue Coral Dreams)” paints a musical portrait of an immigrant’s journey, depicting the mixture of feelings when leaving one’s home and creating a new one. Other songs find sources of inspiration in poetry, astronomy and astrology, sculpture, and psychology. At the same time,  the music is rooted in fascinating musicological concerns. “555” is a play on repetitions of the number five, which divides the composition and meter into groups of five elements. “Palo de Oros (Suit of Coins)” takes the shape of the pentacle from the game of the song’s title and uses that as inspiration for its rhythmic structure. Brennan states that the title track “juxtaposes binary and ternary feels, creating the illusion of constriction and dilation coexisting within the same space.” The brilliance of this set of compositions is that they allow for multiple entry points for listeners and also have the depth to keep you coming back again for more.

Breaking Stretch continues an exciting narrative in Brennan’s leader discography. Maquishti, More Touch, and now Breaking Stretch form a unified whole as well as a dynamic narrative. These albums document a growing aesthetic, advanced conceptual ideas, and the creation of one of the world’s most exciting working groups. With Breaking Stretch, Patricia Brennan has established herself as one of the most accomplished leaders in improvised music, one who has a specific vision, can write compelling tunes, and has realized that vision with the perfect musicians. It’s time to celebrate this moment by seeing this music live (in New York, that’s tomorrow at Nublu). This is music of the mind has now been lit up with an incredible fire; time to move the tables apart and dance!

More notes on Brennan and Breaking Stretch:

Bandcamp Friday!
Don’t forget that Breaking Stretch releases on Bandcamp Friday (9/6/2024). In addition to this excellent album, you’ll want to support your favorite artists on the day the biggest chunk of your purchase goes directly to the creator. After you’ve listened to Breaking Stretch, I recommend you check out new albums by its musicians. You can start with the new album by trumpet player Adam O’Farrill, HUESO, where O’Farrill gets to show his lyrical gift and features his very simpatico Stranger Days quartet. It’s a great release. You can also check out sax player Jon Irabagon, who always has several new records out. Just in July, he put out Blue Hour, a duet with Brian Marsella on keyboards, Dinner & Dancing, a live date from 2023 with the great quartet of Mark Helias, Barry Altschul, and Uri Caine supporting Irabagon’s battery of saxes, and I Don’t Hear Nothin’ but the Blues Volume 3 Part 2: Exuberant Scars, another live date with percussionist Mike Pride and the two guitars of Mick Barr and Ava Mendoza. Excellent stuff, and keep an eye on Irabagon’s label; when you come back, something new will surely be waiting for you. Finally, bassist Kim Cass recently released Levs on Pi Records, an album of intricate rhythmic explorations set against moody voicings. Cass, Matt Mitchell, and Tyshawn Sorey set a new standard for virtuosity here. Don’t forget to check out these outstanding releases!

Videos by Frank Heath
It’s always a revelation to see music being created in action, so the video that Frank Heath has made for the opening single “Palo de Oros (Suit of Coins)” offers a great insight into how this band works, especially the dynamic rhythmic interplay of the percussion. Heath also made a very different video for the second single, “Earendel,” which imaginatively captures the essence of a song about the furthest star from the Earth.

Interviews with Brennan!
To prepare for this piece, I read a number of terrific interviews with Brennan, which I recommend for further exploration of this great artist. I would start with the recent interview at Burning Ambulance, where Brennan composed thoughtful responses to written questions. Last year, Troy Collins at Point of Departure did an interview with Brennan that went into detail about her inspiration for an exploratory approach to sound, for which she credits groundbreaking drummer Evelyn Glennie. The longest and most thorough interview with Brennan is at Dada Strain, where Brennan talks at length about the vibraphone and marimba, her approach to playing, how she developed her sound, her writing process, and her relation to the tradition. Also, check out the fun Downbeat blindfold test, where Brennan insightfully breaks down music thrown at her with no prep!

Definitive Solo Vibes
I keep returning to Brennan’s debut album as a leader, Maquishti. If you haven’t heard Maquishti and hear either Breaking Stretch or More Touch first, you may be surprised what a quiet, peaceful listen Maquishti is. It’s just solo vibraphone and marimba, with Brennen playing material that relies on sound and space with subtly deployed rhythmic ideas. It’s an album that demands some patience from the listener but pays it back many times over, as they say. It’s a modern classic, and I can’t recommend Maquishti highly enough. Plus, you can still get the vinyl at Bandcamp – my copy is below!