feature photo: Werner Siebert
Patricia Brennan made a big artistic statement in 2024 and she’s poised to make an even bigger one in 2025.
With each successive album, the ambitions of this vibraphonist, composer, bandleader and highly valued side woman greatly expands and she demonstrates that every grand vision she sketches out is well within her grasp. With Of The Near And Far (Pyroclastic Records October 24, 2025) she leverages her deep comprehension of the classical form, welding it with her home base of highly modern jazz and her affinity for turn-of-the-millennium vanguard alternative rock (think Radiohead) to realize original compositions and arrangements so novel and multilevel, a conductor — Eli Greenhoe — was brought in to guide the performances through the gauntlets.
To pull this off, Brennan overhauls the entire band from the prior year’s Breaking Stretch, save for bassist Kim Cass, in constructing a quintet-plus-string quartet. The quintet is loaded with major composers and leaders in their own right. Miles Okazaki on guitar, along with John Hollenbeck on drums and Sylvie Courvoisier on piano. Arktureye was enlisted to supply electronics and Brennan herself is quite adept at incorporating electronics into her vibes and marimba, and does so here.
Since chamber-like elements are part of the plan for this album, a string section playing alongside the ‘regular’ band makes sense. Two violins (Modney, Pala Garcia), a viola (Kyle Armbrust) and cello (Michael Nicolas) collectively serve this role.
“Antlia” is a reminder that as a vibraphonist, Brennan is also a percussionist. She devises a rhythm for Hollenbeck that also involves the string section and, of course, Cass: an intricate syncopation inseparable from the two-chord harmony. The electronics don’t really show up until the end, and from here on out, they often play a larger role, a big part of the astronomy theme for this set of works.
Arktureye’s concocts floating, ethereal textures for “Aquarius” that conform to Brennan’s spacious and echoing vibes; the string quartet uses classical flourishes that tethers the celestial song.
“Andromeda” is built upon a foundation of a salsa rhythm but Brennan layers on incongruous sounds in such crafty ways as the rhythm-tied melody swirls around in unexpected directions. Ultimately, it lands on Courvoisier’s wild statements and comes crashing down in a rock-fueled finale. “Citlalli” is what emerges from that rubble, the vibes ringing in a heavily reverberating chamber, where classical strings and contemporaneous electronics bleed out together in an uneasy, floating sound-mass.
“Lyra” follows the symphonic convention of multiple suites, the first a stately intro, followed by a piano/vibraphone interlude with avant-modern jazz leanings. It settles into an odd signature groove where the strings throw tension into it, ahead of Brennan taking the lead again. The concluding “When You Stare Into The Abyss” smoothly segues from a near-silent meditation into a symphonic, modulating murmur.
Through massive chops, boundless vision and sheer gumption, Patricia Brennan has emerged just five years after her debut record into one of the most important figures in the vanguard of jazz of this time. Of The Near And Far has all the originality, fearlessness and range that you look for to affirm that there are so many exciting avenues in music still left to be taken.
Pre-order/order Of The Near And Far from Bandcamp.
*** Patricia Brennan CD’s and vinyl on Amazon ***
- Soft Machine – ‘Thirteen’ (2026) - March 4, 2026
- Devin Gray – ‘Hz Of Gold‘ (2026) - March 2, 2026
- Triple Blind – ‘Cold Walk’ (2026) - February 27, 2026
