snobb
Tomeka Reid is young Chicago-based cellist and "Quartet" is her debut release as leader (she already released an album with soundtrack for "Hairy Who & The Chicago Imagists" documentary two years ago).The album contains ten perfectly written and executed cuts recorded with great quartet (incl. Mary Halvorson on guitar,Jason Roebke on bass and drummer Tomas Fujiwara),collective of leading young New York and Chicago adventurous jazz musicians.
Tomeka is far not a newbie on jazz scene, she played with such greats as Anthony Braxton and Nicole Mitchell. From very first sounds (album's opener is only non-original composition here - it's Eric Dolphy's "17 West") it becomes obvious that Tomeka's music is rooted in old Chicagoan AACM tradition. Well composed pieces all are groovy, often quite catchy and contains complex improvisations which never become chaotic,screaming or too noisy. Her models are Billy Bragg (and Nicole Mitchell), and sounding modern her music returns the listener back to times when jazz compositions were memorable, well executed and harmonic.
All band perfectly play together and since music sounding is more accessible than regular solo works of quartet members(partially guitarist Mary Halvorson and bassist Jason Roebke), this album is excellent introduction to the world of modern adventurous music for open ears newcomers. At the same time I am sure Tomeka's debut can attract many more conservative listeners who are usually afraid of "avant-garde jazz" tag and possibly find Mary Halvorson's and Jason Roebke's own albums too quirky and chaotic.