Best of 2019 #56: Marta Sanchez Quintet – “El Rayo de Luz”

Choppy waves jostle the boat and they crash loudly upon the shore and move at brisk speeds that defy the tranquility of a serene lake, and, yet, if those waves were composed by Marta Sánchez, that lake would still elicit a powerfully hypnotic effect.  The pianist has a talent for setting melodies free in a turbulent environment, and yet attaining a flow like the sweetest song.  Her 2015 release Partenika was proof of that talent in the strongest sense, perhaps captured most vividly in the staying power of the melodies, and how some had an almost timeless quality to them, even as they were framed by compositions that were clearly made from the stuff of the present day.  Her 2019 release El Rayo de Luz continues in that vein, but diverges where Sánchez focuses more of her attention on the nuance of those waves, and how tiny permutations effected at just the right moment make the biggest splash.

Your album personnel:  Marta Sánchez (piano), Roman Filiu (alto sax), Chris Cheek (tenor sax), Rick Rosato (bass), and Daniel Dor (drums).

Released on the Fresh Sound New Talent label.

Music from New York City.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Cool album cover artwork by Alicia Martin Lopez.

Listen | Read more | Available at:  Amazon – Bandcamp