Using the constellations as her inspiration composer, vibraphonist and marimba player Patricia Brennan gazes skyward and delivers a fantastical set of music. You may have noticed there’s been a bunch of great new vibes-players making waves in the last few years. Joel Ross, Sasha Berliner, Warren Wolf and Chien Chien Lu have all delivered strong releases. In that pack Patricia Brennan also stands tall and this album feels like a highlight in an already dynamic career.
The ten-piece ensemble that Brennan has assembled for Of The Near And Far marries the worlds of jazz and new music in varied combinations. Brennan is joined by pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, guitarist Miles Okazaki, bassist Kim Cass and drummer John Hollenbeck, complemented by violinists Modney and Pala Garcia, violist Kyle Armbrust and cellist Michael Nicolas as well as the electronic musician Arktureye, all conducted by Eli Greenhoe. The results are stunning and varied. The cosmic colission with Hollenbeck on Antlia is jaw dropping – one of the tracks of 2025 no doubt.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the sky and the stars,” Brennan says. “If you really look closely, everything can be connected through geometrical shapes. I became curious as to how I could translate that into music in the same way that I’ve translated numbers into rhythmic structures in the past. This album confirms a wild theory that I had, that I could find symmetry harmonically or melodically by superimposing two symmetrical shapes – one from astronomy and one from music.”
Turn off the lights, pray for a clear sky, turn the music up loud and marvel at near and far.
This is Our Chosen One