LEADER

MAQUISHTI

Solo debut album that features a combination of compositions and improvisations by Patricia Brennan. Released in January 15, 2021 on the label Valley of Search. Recorded in August 2018 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, this project is a documentation of a sonic and personal journey using mallet percussion as a vessel. By exploring sonic textures via extended techniques and electronic effects, each piece in this project creates a unique and incomparable experience. Maquishti was included on The New York Times 10 Best Jazz Albums of 2021. See Music page to listen/buy.

MORE TOUCH

A quartet with a quite unusual instrumentation: mallet percussion + effects, percussion, drums, and bass. Essentially, a small percussion ensemble with bass, carving a space where rhythm, color, and texture flourish. More Touch features: Kim Cass on bass, Marcus Gilmore on drums and Mauricio Herrera on percussion. More Touch is also the title of the debut release of this project which was released on November 18, 2022 on Pyroclastic Records.

MOCH

Nahuatl for “all, everything”, MOCH is a collaborative electroacoustic duo with percussionist, drummer and turntablist Noel Brennan (DJ Arktureye) plus the addition of special guests. Previous guests have included bassist Michael Formanek, percussionist Mauricio Herrera, among others. In December 2019, MOCH premiered an audio visual suite composed by Patricia Brennan called “Raíces Jarochas” (Roots from Veracruz) inspired by sounds and memories from Brennan’s native Veracruz. This suite was part of the 2019 John Zorn commissioning series at National Sawdust.

“The music is tight but fluid, and moves from earth to sky and back with ease. It’s melodic and oozing within spacious, woven structure. For one brief passage, at the end, Brennan plays unamplified marimba with the most condensed harmony of the evening. It is striking. Otherwise she is melting the vibraphone into Mauricio Herrera’s patient, intricate Afro-Latin rhythms, or returning to an impressive duet with Michael Formanek on upright bass. They offer as virtuosic a scat as you can imagine, in unison, and delightful.”

Lana Norris, National Sawdust Log 2019

patricia Brennan’s SEven

Patricia Brennan’s SEVEN is a septet comprised of some of the most creative leading improvisers of the time. The core instrumentation of this septet is Patricia Brennan’s original More Touch quartet featuring Kim Cass on bass, Marcus Gilmore on drums and Mauricio Herrera on percussion with the addition of three horn players: Adam O’Farrill on trumpet and electronics, Jon Irabagon on alto and sopranino saxophones and Mark Shim on tenor saxophone. This group is inspired by the concepts of roles of expansion and defiance of expectations. The common goal is to stay truth to the nature of the music regardless of the expectations each instrument presents by pushing the sonic and technical boundaries of the ensemble and the individual.

The septet’s debut recording is expected to be released on September 6, 2024 on Pyroclastic Records.

talamanti

TALAMANTI is a project and a body of work for piano and mallet percussion. This project is inspired by the uniqueness of the instrumentation and the limitless sonic possibilities of the combination of both instruments. Along with the extraordinary pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, both musicians will explore and push the sonic boundaries that their respective instruments present as well as develop a new collective improvisational language that will expand on the legacy of this unusual instrument pairing within jazz and improvisational music.

This duo made its debut with a premiere performance at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY on December 6, 2023. The recording of this project will take place in the Spring of 2024 with an expected release in 2025.

SIDEWOMAN

THE JOHN HOLLENBECK LARGE ENSEMBLE

“John Hollenbeck’s 19-piece Large Ensemble can explode with rhythmic drive and technical dazzle, or it can evoke serene calm, tone poetry and even prayer. It’s a big band for a new eclectic world, building on the legacy of seminal big-band composer Bob Brookmeyer and other role models. Hollenbeck holds it together with intricate drumming, compositional acumen and searing wit as he marshals the resources of top jazz improvisers.”

David R. Adler, TimeOut NY

MICHAEL FORMANEK ENSEMBLE KOLOSSUS

A large ensemble in the form of a full size jazz orchestra, assembled in 2013 to perform the compositions and arrangements of Michael Formanek. Their first CD, The Distance, on ECM, received Five Stars in Downbeat and much praise in the international media.

“The esteemed bassist and composer Michael Formanek hasn’t led a big-band recording until now, but with this release by his 18-piece Ensemble Kolossus he joins the ranks of state-of-the-art orchestral experimenters […] Working with longtime associates, Formanek nails every element of large-ensemble writing: sustained long forms with continuous development, lucid relationships between improvised and written material, details that ring out as part of a clearly articulated whole. Add to that a deep grasp of knotty grooves, free-form improv, fetching themes, and sweet, sweet swing. The sequencing is peerless […] Extraordinary.”

John Garelick, The Boston Globe

WEBBER/MORRIS BIG BAND

Anna Webber and Angela Morris, two composer-performers whose music overturns expectations for the jazz big band, have co-led this ensemble of stellar New York improvisers since 2015. The band’s instrumentation is a jazz staple, but the composers’ respective pieces are equally rooted in minimalism, pop, noise, and other music of the past century or so. Integrating improvisation and composed material in unorthodox ways and using extra-musical sources – such as poetry or mathematics – to form the foundation of new works, the traditional big band sound mutates into something unpredictable. The saxophonists take turns filling the tenor chair while the other conducts her own works. Greenleaf Music, Dave Douglas’ imprint, will release their debut recording in 2020.

MATT MITCHELL PHALANX AMBASSADORs

The ultimate in maximizing the potential of my fellow band members. Stretch goals.

TOMAS FUJIWARA 7 POETS TRIO

7 Poets Trio formed during Fujiwara’s Stone residency in April 2018. The rapport was instantaneous and their debut was described by All About Jazz as “a meshing of chamber jazz, modern classical composition, and improvisation, although most of Fujiwara’s music sounded well organized in advance. All three players rose to an individual expression, working as a composite unit to deliver solo embellishments. Roles were malleable, as the listener decided whether everyone was soloing, or no-one. All three members were devoted to establishing a sensitive group consciousness, and they succeeded eminently.”

RogueArt · Blend : KP - 7 Poets Trio - Excerpts

MARY HALVORSON’S AMARYLLIS

A newly formed sextet of master improvisers, including Halvorson, Patricia Brennan (vibraphone), Nick Dunston (bass), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), Jacob Garchik (trombone), and Adam O’Farrill (trumpet).