Angelica Sanchez - Mirror Me (Omnitone 12203)

by Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

Featuring Tony Malaby on tenor sax, his wife Angie on piano and compositions, Michael Formanek on double bass and Tom Rainey on drums. The Stones (Stephanie & Irving) were the first to sing the praises of pianist Angelica Sanchez and her splendid quartet. I had already heard Angie's partner Tony Malaby, local tenor sensation, with a number of fine bands led by Tim Berne and Mark Helias, as well as Tony's own unit plus the recent co-led quartet with Louie Belogenis. This is Angie's debut as a leader and it is certainly a sublime and stimulating surprise. She balances the extremes of taste and touch with the opening of "Fresh Hell", with her harp-like flourishes and Tony's dreamy, rather flute-like tone of his tenor sax. When the rhythm finally enter, they all swirl together in a somber flutter of spirited waves. I dig the way Angie's solo evolves from dense to sparse and especially the magical weaving of rhythmic threads by the fabulous Tom Rainey. The other wonderful thing about this entire endeavor is the way Angie often brings out Tony's more lyrical side. These pieces are consistently fascinating in the way are structured, but never difficult to listen to, never about swinging too hard, but the mysterious way they move or work. The title track stretches out time and notes drift by slowly, yet the thread that holds it together flows subliminally underneath. I swear I hear Tony playing haunting flute above Tom's hypnotic mallet work, but it just the cautious tone of his tenor once again. The quartet is often split between two different yet inter-connected sections, the piano trio moves in one direction, but changes (tempo) when the sax appears. It seems to me that a great deal of work went into this superb work, since there is so much craft to the way each piece works, flows and surprises us on many levels. With some time, this wonderful mystery will be revealed.