Trombonist and keyboardist
Ryan Keberle
and his
Catharsis
ensemble offer a dreamlike blend of modal jazz and Brazilian sounds on 2024's
Music Is Connection
. The group, which has been together since at least 2016's
Azul Infinito
, features guitarist/vocalist
Camila Meza
, bassist
Jorge Roeder
, and drummer
Eric Doob
. They are led by
Keberle
, a globally minded performer who regularly splits his time between New York, Brazil, and France, heading projects that touch upon post-bop jazz, classical, Brazilian, and Latin traditions. With
, he manages to pull almost all of these genres together, crafting deeply lyrical and harmonically atmospheric songs that evoke a blend of influences from the exploratory '70s fusion of artists like
John McLaughlin
and
Wayne Shorter
, to the poignantly rendered Brazilian folk and pop of singers like
Gilberto Gil
Caetano Veloso
. Many of
' sonic textures are centered on
Meza
, whose sparkling guitar work and delicate vocals lend them an enveloping, golden-hour warmth. Often, as on "Throwback Moves" and "Sound Energy," she sings in a wordless lilt, harmonizing with
's vocals and synth accents before they take turns soloing in their own spiraling, kaleidoscopic lines. While much of the album has a circular, hypnotic quality, there are tonal shifts, as with the driving rock kineticism of "Hammersparks" and their languid, swooningly romantic reading of
Milton Nascimento
's ballad "Vera Cruz." There's also the ebullient
original "Arbor Vitae," featuring sometime-member saxophonist
Scott Robinson
, whose reedy, linear tenor work nicely brings to mind the relaxed '60s bossa nova of the
Stan Getz
João Gilberto
collaborations. With
,
make their own brand of contemporary mood music, one that's as relaxing as it is stylistically boundary-pushing. ~ Matt Collar