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Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet: For the Love of Fire and Water

As did MZM and Tiger Trio, Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet brings together experimentally minded women who push the frontiers of jazz and “new music.” On the ten movements (I–X) of For the Love of Fire and Water, Melford (piano and melodica) is joined by widely traveled and heralded innovators Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor and soprano saxophones), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Susie Ibarra (drums/percussion). In many pieces, Melford’s writing, melodically approachable while unabashedly abstract, offers the sparest clues and frames for improvisation, and the players take full, freewheeling advantage of the nudges toward unfettered spontaneity. In others, the compositions are more the focus, to equally dazzling effect. Sometimes Melford sits back; often enough, however—in solos, highlighted duos and trios, and the most raucous ensemble excursions—she owns the moment with Cecil Taylor–like power and dexterity. She also inspires breathtaking tranquility: Movements IV and X—while intermittently disrupted by contorted, gurgling, and jittery extended techniques on guitar, reed, cellos, and percussion—slow the pulse and offer space for calm reflection. 

The post Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet: For the Love of Fire and Water appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet: For the Love of Fire and Water

As did MZM and Tiger Trio, Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet brings together experimentally minded women who push the frontiers of jazz and “new music.” On the ten movements (I–X) of For the Love of Fire and Water, Melford (piano and melodica) is joined by widely traveled and heralded innovators Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor and soprano saxophones), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Susie Ibarra (drums/percussion). In many pieces, Melford’s writing, melodically approachable while unabashedly abstract, offers the sparest clues and frames for improvisation, and the players take full, freewheeling advantage of the nudges toward unfettered spontaneity. In others, the compositions are more the focus, to equally dazzling effect. Sometimes Melford sits back; often enough, however—in solos, highlighted duos and trios, and the most raucous ensemble excursions—she owns the moment with Cecil Taylor–like power and dexterity. She also inspires breathtaking tranquility: Movements IV and X—while intermittently disrupted by contorted, gurgling, and jittery extended techniques on guitar, reed, cellos, and percussion—slow the pulse and offer space for calm reflection. 

The post Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet: For the Love of Fire and Water appeared first on The Absolute Sound.

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