Michaela Steinhauer - Changes & Choices (2021)

The trio of Geof Bradfield on saxes and bass clarinet, Ben Goldberg on the clarinet and drummer Dana Hall create cool toned chamber bop on a collection of mostly originals. One of the ringers is a gurgling jungle rendition of Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn’s “Half The Fun”, complete with tom toms. The reeds are thick on the textured “Never Met A Stranger” and mellow in the lower register during the soft nimbus clouds of “Tioga Street Zenith”. The pace gets into a clippety clop three legged race on “Hit Flip Swith” and assert and free on the R&Bish “General Semantics” The team is most bopping over Hall’s brushes on Cecil Taylor’s warm “Air” and bopping on “8 De Agosto” with Bradfield’s tenor laconic on “Under And Over”. Casual charms.

Michaela Steinhauer tells poetic and deep stories in voices both hushed and bold with the intuitive support of alto saxist Alexey Kruglov and pianist Roman Stolyar. Steinhauer is reminiscent of Laura Nyro, going from poetry to post bop on the delicate to strong “Me, Myself and I” while breathy on the recitative “Abandoned Chapel”. Both voice and sax flutter through the personal “She’s Dancing” and the colors are most bold on “Nothing New Under The Sun”, with desultory piano and voice on “Why Is She Still Here”. Bohemian rhapsodies.