Brandi Disterheft - Blue Canvas (2016)

Juno Award winning bassist, composer, vocalist Brandi Disterheft releases "Blue Canvas", the highly anticipated follow up to her critically acclaimed 2012 release ‘Gratitude.’ Like a savvy card player, she pulls out two aces from her deck in the new offering - her third release on the Justin Time Records label - joining forces with hard bop veteran pianist Harold Mabern and drummer Joe Farnsworth. Recorded last summer in Montreal after a successful club engagement at the Festival de Jazz de Montréal, and apart from an array of classic standards like the funky opener, Bobby Timmons' Dis Here, Tadd Dameron's Our Delight and George's Dilemma (a rarely heard Clifford Brown item), "Blue Canvas" also features four of Brandi’s original compositions, in fact she specifically wrote the originals on this album with the trio in mind, including a waltz for the cello When the Mood Is Right and the daringly epic suite/story of the Crippling Thrill. Daahoud showcases the legendary Harold Mabern in his Teddy Wilson - stride-like ballad arrangement, and hear how romantic he makes this otherwise up-tempo song. The Beehive, Harold's composition is the highlight of the album with a signature Joe Farnsworth drum solo. In her eloquent liner notes, the multi-talented musician reminds us of the Muses of Ancient Greece, and how these Gods and Goddesses would lead the artist into a state of ecstasy. And such are the feelings that lead her to state that: “This album tells a story about that escape to freedom and the unyielding feeling of coming alive.”