Composer-Pianist Leads a Stellar Quintet

Since arriving in New York City from her native Madrid in 2011, Spanish pianist-composer Marta Sánchez released an impressive string of quintet albums on the Barcelona-based label Fresh Sound New Talent that earned her critical acclaim. New York Times’ jazz critic Ben Ratliff listed her 2015 outing, Partenika, among his Top Ten recordings of that year. Her 2017 followup, Danza Imposible, and 2019’s El Rayo de Luz were similarly praised for their deft use of polyphony, interwoven lines, overlapping rhythms, and bold group improvisations. Current NYT jazz critic Giovanni Russonello touted Sánchez’s quintet as “one of the most consistently satisfying bands in contemporary jazz” while Nate Chinen, former NYT jazz critic and current editorial director for Newark-based radio station WBGO’s website, likened her “melodic counterpoint with a clockwork ingenuity” to Argentine composer Guillermo Klein, whom Sánchez studied with in Barcelona and considers a mentor.

In his Fresh Air review of Danza Imposible, jazz critic Kevin Whitehead pointed out Sánchez’s skillful use of “hocketing,” a technique of sharing parts of a melody between two or more voices that harkens back to medieval times and is also present in early New Orleans jazz. The two voices that she has exclusively used to engage in her refined game of hocketing on the front line of her potent quintets are alto and tenor saxophones. On Sánchez’s latest release and her debut on the London-based indie jazz label Whirlwind Recordings, SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum), those voices belong to Cuban-born tenor saxophonist and longtime collaborator Roman Filiú and his alto sax counterpart Alex LoRe. Together the two saxes navigate Sánchez’s intricate chamber-like compositions with exacting precision, creating beautiful harmonies, shifting counterpoint lines, and interwoven melodies while often building tension by playing one horn against the other. It’s been Marta’s modus operandi since she began gigging in Spain, revealing her classical training (she studied at Madrid’s Real Conservatorio Superior de Música) along with her obvious love of jazz improvisation.

On SAAM, a collection of pieces composed during the pandemic lockdown of 2020, when her own mother became a victim of COVID-19, Sánchez’s overall tone is decidedly darker and more abstract than her previous recordings, reflecting some inward examination of her own fears and sense of loss. There is nothing here as giddy and uplifting as the title track to Danza Imposible, a buoyant ditty which has the effect of hearing birds simultaneously chirping in the trees, though the composer explains it was actually her attempt at mimicking the digital delay echo effects she heard on a recording by electronic music maestro Aphex Twin. “Sometimes I do a lot of that,” she said. “I create effects by trying to imitate things that come from other work. And I imitate it with the saxophones.”

Instead of something as effervescent and ebullient as “Danza Imposible,” SAAM tends towards melancholy odes like the somber “Dear Worthiness” and mournful “The Eternal Stillness.” Sánchez’s tender homage to her mother on the elegiac “Marivi,” is the lone tune on the album not featuring the two saxophones upfront engaging in hocketing, call-and-response, or interwoven lines. Instead, it features special guest trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire blowing warmly melodic lines and vocalist Camila Meza delivering the touching lyrics (in Spanish) with a sublime touch. The delicate and ruminative “The Hard Balance” continues this inward-looking theme while “December 11th,” the day that her mother died, is an exercise in gentle polyphony from the saxes, tinged in melancholy and highlighted by a cascading piano solo from the composer.

“I think, in general, my writing has been evolving to a dark place and a bit more abstract,” said Sánchez. “But aside from that, the pandemic did have a big effect on this record. At first, I actually was thankful for the extra time it gave me because I was super busy the previous months before the pandemic hit, and it was good to have time to practice, to relax, to write music and everything. But then as the pandemic was evolving, it became about being at home all the time, staying inside day after day, which is really hard to deal. I started having panic attacks, which is something that I never had before. People that never went through that don’t understand the feeling, but it’s like really hopeless and suddenly you don’t see any meaning to life. ‘The Eternal Stillness’ reflects that feeling of nothing changing, about going through the same patterns, the same feelings about yourself and your life. And it reflects this feeling of hopelessness that I was feeling, where I was like losing my faith in everything. And then the thing that happened with my mom, that I lost her…yeah, that was hard.”

At her lowest ebb during lockdown, when she couldn’t escape being fully in her own head, Sánchez began to question her own worth during lockdown, a sentiment which is reflected in her somber ballad, “Dear Worthiness.” But there is also a pugnacious aspect to SAAM in the kinetic groovers “The Unconquered Vulnerable Areas” and “When Dreaming Is the Only,” which bookend this very personal project. Both compositions are powered by the crisply interactive pulse of drummer Allan Mednard alongside the rock-solid lines of bassist Rahsaan Carter and feature the spirited trading of outstanding saxophonists LoRe and Filiú; the latter is primarily an alto player, but he shifted to tenor for this recording to make way for LoRe. The dissonant comping, angular lines, and insistent grooves of these opening and closing numbers carry a kind of Steve Coleman and Five Elements vibe. And Sanchez acknowledges the influence. “Steve is like an influence on almost everybody because a lot of the musicians that are on the scene now have played in his band,” she said. “So he has been like a mentor for many musicians. Of course, I listen to this music and I know a little bit of his concept because I know people that play with him, and they explained to me some of the things he’s doing.”

Regarding her own signature use of polyphony throughout SAAM, Sánchez said, “It’s not something that’s totally new. If you listen to my first quartet record in Spain, there are a lot of those elements already there through the way piano interacts with the saxophone to create contrapuntal melodies. But it’s developed a little bit more having another voice in there, the second saxophone. So I’ve been writing for quintet since arriving in New York because I wanted to create more layers and different textures, and I wanted one more voice to be able to develop that part of my composition. And I chose saxophone because I like the register and all the flexibility that it brings, but also the warmth of the instrument.”

Between her inventive use of counterpoint, her gift for melody, and her ability to conjure up moods and deep feelings by weaving melodies into intricate latticework patterns, Sánchez has distinguished herself as a talent deserving of wider recognition. And she mines the motherlode of personal, very human expression on SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum).