https://mammalhands.bandcamp.com/album/gift-from-the-trees
Jazz
Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
released March 31, 2023
Listening to this I wanted to place this somewhere on the musical spectrum and immediately I thought Windham Hill. Then I wanted to think what could I cross that with and I figured something on ECM would probably do but as I persused the ECM discography it started to occur to me that Gift From the Trees, which is a fine record, doesn’t really transcend beyond Windham Hill. They do what George Winston and Alex De Grassi (even though Mammal Hands is guitar-free) very well but on this record, to my ears, they don’t offer anything more.
In many of my reviews I make mention of my opinion that not being pioneering does not preclude excellence. Just being who and what you are and doing that really well is always a possible path to greatness. These are really well-constructed songs. They have catchy hooks that build on themselves. The trio is intelligently restrained. It’s a good listen and a fresh interpretation of a sound often unfairly dismissed by critics.
Warmth Highest 