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With classical influences and studies with jazz improvisational masters saxophonist Warne Marsh and vocalist Jay Clayton behind her, Maryanne de Prophetis, also an award winning poet, is a name decidedly outside the saturated mainstream world of jazz vocalists.

Her debut CD A Glance is the work of a trio formed in 2002 with pianist Frank Kimbrough and trumpeter Ron Horton. Kimbrough and Horton, already well-established, consummate and versatile artists, have been among the most active members of the Jazz Composers Collective—a group of musicians formed by the inspiration of New York-based bassist Ben Allison—a group free to explore new territories of improvisation and composition.

The musical essence that breathes through the eight compositions of the CD is a kind of minimalist sound, due to the absence of bass and drums, which contributes to the nearly chamber-like ambience. The piano of Kimbrough works by crystallizing, distilling notes with purity, while endowing silences and pauses with meaning. The flugelhorn of Horton, with haunting melodies and sub-melodies, elegantly, like steps in the night, illuminates the assymetrical vocal unfoldings of de Prophetis.

As for the vocal . . . a supple and expressive mezzo which winds itself through the most intimate twists and turns of the refined harmonies, freely exploring the open zones between composition and improvisation, manifesting itself warmly and sincerely, unpretentiously, without sharpness or shrillness . . .

Among the eight compositions (not all on the same level), All These Years, You and Dog Walker in particular stand out—All These Years recalling a certain European experimentalism of the ‘70s, the nocturne You with the soft flugelhorn of Horton in evidence, the magnificent Dog Walker—one is made to think of Lennie Tristano the year he met Jeanne Lee

Enchanting.

Vincenzo Roggero—All About Jazz, Italy

(translated from the Italian by Anna Tollin)