https://murielgrossmann.bandcamp.com/album/union
Genre: Spiritual Soul Jazz
Rating: 5/5
released on bandcamp November 2, 2021
This is the first I remember hearing the music of Muriel Grossman but I can tell you this is going to stay on steady rotation. Union is in every way an excellent listen. I need to pay closer attention. I know why this missed me up to now though. It’s because I’m always on the lookout for free and avant-garde jazz too much at the expense of everything else. I can’t beat the excellent bandcamp notes for this so I definitely encourage you to read them. As for my impression of this, Grossman is obviously heavily influenced by Coltrane. You can hear echoes of My Favorite Things and Giant Steps but I’d bet a nickel her favorite is Alabama. That’s contrasted with Llorenç Barceló work on the classic Hammond B-3. I’m not just comparing Barceló to Jimmy Smith because that’s obvious as hell. Barceló’s playing actually has that same hot sauce. So sue me. Sounds like an odd contrast doesn’t it? It’s not. It all flows perfectly. It’s as easy as your first piss in the morning. Radomir Milojkovic’s guitar is sort of like David Gilmour jamming with Jimmy Smith. They might think this is bullshit if they read this but I swear to the Goddesses that there’s a touch of Ummagumma in there. Milojkovic’s playing is extraordinary. Classic jazz blues hard bop soloing but no matter how quickly the notes pile up on top of each other the tone remains immaculate. Uros Stamenkovic keeps it all together on drums and wraps it in a bow making this one of the best jazz releases I’ve heard from 2021.
Warmth Highest 