On Banjo (Compass Records)
Alison Brown
Released May 5, 2023
AllMusic Favorite Jazz Albums 2023
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About:
As Amelia Earhart is to aviation, as Julia Child is to the culinary arts, Alison Brown is to the five-string banjo. She has broadened the instrument’s sound and identity with her distinctive voice as a player and composer, taking the banjo far beyond its Appalachian roots and earning praise from a variety of national taste-makers including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, and USA Today. She is a frequent collaborator with Steve Martin and Indigo Girls as well as the bandleader of the Alison Brown Quintet which is on a self-declared mission to bring the banjo to mainstream audiences.
On her new album ON BANJO, Brown offers a musical autobiography of sorts. Tunes that give a nod to her bluegrass roots sit alongside forays into Brazilian choro music, string quartet and swing era jazz and bossa nova. Brown invited an eclectic cast of guests to join her on the set of predominantly original tunes including three of her favorite fellow female virtuosos: Israeli jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen, mandolin whiz Sierra Hull and classical guitarist Sharon Isbin. Other guests include fiddle icon Stuart Duncan, cross-cultural string masters Kronos Quartet and comedian/actor/banjo player Steve Martin who contributes clawhammer banjo to a tune which he and Brown co-wrote.
While Brown came to national attention as a teenager in the Southern California bluegrass scene, she has always been driven to explore other musical possibilities for the banjo and she has been blurring musical boundaries since the beginning of her career. From her GRAMMY-nominated debut forward, her music has boldly included elements of jazz, Latin and Celtic music in addition to bluegrass. ON BANJO is a continuation of Brown’s innovative, technical, and compositional artistry. What genre is it? Who cares? It’s Alison Brown music.
Track Listing:
1. Wind the Clock (Alison Brown) 03:58
2. Choro ‘Nuff (Alison Brown) 03:38
3. Foggy Morning Breaking (Alison Brown / Steve Martin) 03:40
4. Sweet Sixteenths (Alison Brown) 04:00
5. Sun and Water (Here Comes The Sun/Waters of March) (George Harrison / Antônio Carlos Jobim) 03:34
6. Old Shatterhand (Alison Brown) 02:59
7. Regalito (Alison Brown) 03:44
8. BanJobim (Alison Brown) 04:35
9. Tall Hog at the Trough (Alison Brown) 03:03
10. Porches (Alison Brown / Chris Walters) 04:47
Personnel:
Alison Brown: banjo
Garry West: bass (1, 5, 6, 8)
Chris Walters: piano (1, 2, 5-8)
Matt Coles: percussion (1, 5, 8)
Jordan Perlson: drums (1, 5-8), percussion (1, 5, 6)
John Ragusa: flute (1, 5, 6, 8)
Mark T. Jordan: organ (1, 5)
Emily Rogers: cello (1)
Kristin Wilkinson: viola (1)
David Angell: violin (1)
David Davidson: violin (1)
Anat Cohen: clarinet (2)
Douglas Lora: guitar (2)
Alexandre Lora: pandeiro (2)
Steve Martin: double banjo (3)
Sierra Hull: mandolin (3, 4)
Stuart Duncan: fiddle (3, 9)
Chris Eldridge: guitar (3)
Todd Phillips: acoustic bass (3, 7)
Sharon Isbin: guitar (7)
Kronos Quartet: strings (10)
Recorded at Compass Sound Studio
Produced by Alison Brown and Garry West
Recorded and mixed by Matt Coles at Compass Sound Studio, Nashville TN
Kronos Quartet produced by Kronos Quartet and Reshena Liao; engineered by Zach Miley,
assisted by Dann Thompson; recorded at the Scoring Stage at Skywalker Sound, Marin, CA
Mastered by Randy LeRoy at Tonal Park, Takoma Park, MD
Photography by Russ Harrington
Styling by Melanie Shelley
Package design by Robert Hakalski
Review:
It’s hard to overstate the excitement five-string banjo master Alison Brown generated with Simple Pleasures, her debut album in 1990, and its 1992 follow-up, Twilight Motel. Though she’d established a reputation for virtuoso musicianship with Alison Kraus’ Union Station over several years, these albums revealed a stylistic innovator on an instrument whose primary players were male. In addition to bluegrass and folk, Brown is equally proficient in jazz, Latin, blues, classical music, and global genres. On Banjo is her seventh album and first since 2015’s wonderful Song of the Banjo. With her longstanding quintet and special guests, she delivers an uncharacteristic, all-instrumental date that amounts to a musical autobiography.
Opener “Wind the Clock” pays homage to John Hartford — particularly his “Gentle on My Mind.” Brown enlists a string quartet as she winds bluegrass chops inside a jazzy harmonic progression. Clarinetist Anat Cohen joins for “Choro Nuff,” a melodic and rhythmic reinvention of the 19th century Brazilian instrumental folk form. The interplay between principals is dazzling as they crisscross Brazilian and Latin jazz as the rhythm section syncopates. Brown knew she wanted to play banjo after hearing Flatt & Scruggs’ “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” at age ten. Here, she and banjoist/writer/comedian Steve Martin offer “Foggy Morning Breaking,” a flowing celebration of bluegrass and mountain music. Brown plays in the left channel, Martin in the right. They dovetail and underscore one another in unison and call-and-response with quietly dazzling chops. The tune is given additional wings by mandolinist Sierra Hull, fiddler Stuart Duncan, guitarist Chris Etheridge, and bassist Todd Phillips. Speaking of Hull, she and Brown offer a striking, fleet-fingered, intricately detailed duet in “Sweet Sixteenths,” wherein Hull uses every note on her instrument’s first string. “Sun and Water” is Brown’s visionary medley of George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s fingerpopping samba “Águas de Março” (“Waters of March”). She gets assistance from flute, piano, Hammond B-3, and percussion. Brown effortlessly binds one melody to another amid rhythmic invention from two percussionists and her bassist, husband, and producer Garry West. “Old Shatterhand” is prime Brown. Written for the band, it joins swing jazz and progressive bluegrass to rock dynamics and Baroque harmony. “Regalito” was composed specifically for classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, who elegantly goes head-to-head with the banjoist on the intricately detailed melody. “BANJOBIM” is a banjo-composed jazz-samba with lush chord changes and sultry flute from John Ragusa. A set highlight, its chart finds Brown playing an all-wood banjo with a sound hole called “the banjola.” “Tall Hog at the Trough” is a virtuosic, fire-breathing, banjo and fiddle duet with lifelong friend Duncan. Closer “Porches,” with Kronos Quartet, revisions a melody by Stephen Foster. Despite the title, its interwoven lyric and harmonic frame renders it a parlor waltz and a pastorale simultaneously. On Banjo is an adventurous, dazzling, skillful showcase for Brown’s advanced compositional and boundless playing skills that directly addresses her restlessly creative musical appetite.
Thom Jurek (AllMusic)
