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Muriel Grossmann: Reverence

By Chris May
June 16, 2020
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Since the late 1990s, the Spanish island of Ibiza has been synonymous with two things: electronic dance music and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine aka MDMA or ecstasy. Austrian-born saxophonist

Muriel Grossmann

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Muriel Grossmann has lived on Ibiza since 2004 and her intense wall-of-sound style of astral jazz suggests she is familiar with both those pillars of Ibizan nightlife.

Grossmann has not spent her time in Ibiza simply partying and chilling, however. Reverence is her eleventh album since moving to the island. She fronts her regular quartet comprising bass guitarist

Gina Schwarz

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Gina Schwarz, drummer

Uros Stamenkovic

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Uros Stamenkovic and guitarist

Radomir Milojkovic

guitar, electric

" data-original-title="" title="">Radomir Milojkovic, who has been with her since her debut, Homecoming Reunion (Dreamland, 2007). The group has been expanded for Reverence by Hammond B3 organist

Llorenc Barcelo

organ, Hammond B3

" data-original-title="" title="">Llorenc Barcelo, who makes a terrific addition to the lineup.

Grossmann's main saxophone is the tenor, though she also plays alto and soprano. Her composing style is strictly modal and her sound evokes late period

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane and post-Coltrane

Pharoah Sanders

saxophone, tenor
1940 - 2022

" data-original-title="" title="">Pharoah Sanders. Her harmonic palette is limited but she makes up for it through the exuberance and commitment of her playing. Milojkovic brings echoes as diverse

Sonny Sharrock

guitar, electric
1940 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Sharrock,

James Blood Ulmer

guitar
b.1942

" data-original-title="" title="">James Blood Ulmer and

Grant Green

guitar
1935 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Grant Green; Barcelo's B3 is winningly retro; and Schwarz and Stamenkovic drive the groove. Such is the band's hard-wired intensity on some of the tracks that it touches on

La Monte Young

composer / conductor

" data-original-title="" title="">La Monte Young and drone music.

"

Count Basie

piano
1904 - 1984

" data-original-title="" title="">Count Basie once said about his band that he wanted it sounding like one big drum," says Grossman. "That's what I aimed for with this album." She hits the target, ramping things up with a little Phil Spector along the way and enriching the percussive mix with African instruments including a balafon, kalimba and ngoni.

Reverence is a double album which clocks in at around 77 minutes. The pace is mostly high energy but Grossmann rings the changes with more restrained and reflective passages. If you like some rocket fuel with your astral jazz, this one is for you.

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Track Listing

Okan Ti Aye; Union; Water Bowl; Sundown; Chase; Tribu; Afrika Mahala; Morning.

Personnel

Muriel Grossmann

saxophone

Radomir Milojkovic

guitar, electric

Llorenc Barcelo

organ, Hammond B3

Gina Schwarz

bass

Uros Stamenkovic

drums

Album information

Title: Reverence | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: RR Gems

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