Ryan Keberle & Catharsis - Music is Connection (2024) [Hi-Res]

Since the beginning of humanity, people have gathered around fires, where music, singing, and dancing brought humans together. Moving to music feels as natural as breathing, echoing the rhythm of our heartbeat. Through sound, we celebrate, warn, connect, protest, and share our stories. Music goes beyond words, tapping into feelings and connections that we can’t quite put into speech, linking us to each other and to the world in ways that touch us deep down.

On Music Is Connection, trombonist Ryan Keberle and his cohort reflect on the connection amongst themselves as musicians, connections between musicians and audience and connections between audience members. Listeners and performers often organize themselves socially around certain sounds and vibrations. You have the jazz scene, the punk scene, the classical scene. All of these musical communities foster deep connections that feel like family. Much like Catharsis itself. The title is also a nod to their 2011 debut, Music is Emotion.

“Music brought this band together over a decade ago and has allowed us the unbelievably rare opportunity to form a shared musical language and deep level of musical trust that I am incredibly grateful for,” says Keberle. “It has brought us together with listeners around the world – from Tokyo to Arcata, from Manhattan, Kansas to New York City, from Cologne to Cork. It has also allowed us to share with many others the belief that we hold dear: that through aural and physical connections, music can deepen one’s ability to hear more detail, more clearly, not just to music but to each other, and potentially deepen one’s ability to feel and empathize, making the world a more empathetic place.”

And, although this record looks to celebrate and highlight the past 10 years of Catharsis, it also serves as a declaration of exciting things to come from the band and its individual members. Some of those revisions include the band returning to its roots and now working primarily as a quartet. Keberle does more singing and keyboard playing than ever before on this record, vocalist and guitar shredder Camila Meza is playing more guitar than ever in the band, and the band is taking advantage of the recording studio utilizing overdubs, multi-instrumentalism, and post-production effects.

Ryan Keberle – Trombone, Wurlitzer, Roland Juno Synth, Piano, Vocals
Camila Meza – Vocals, Guitar, Guitar FX
Scott Robinson – Tenor Saxophone (track 9)
Jorge Roeder – Acoustic Bass
Eric Doob – Drums, Percussion