Written and performed in the “stolen moments” between her work as the head of American roots label Compass and as a new mother, banjoist Alison Brown’s new album offers 11 sweet and precisely metered slices of contemporary bluegrass, Celtic traditional music, light jazz and pop-country. Throughout, Brown and her excellent supporting band-featuring fiddler Stuart Duncan and mandolinist Sam Bush-showcase breathtaking speed, polish and clarity. Unfortunately, the gleam applied to each track can dull the excitement or, worse, make a track sound treacly; an overly sweet rendition of Paul Simon’s “Homeward Bound” and the colorless “McIntyre Heads South” flirt with a blandness too light even for NPR. More resonant at a sprint, Brown and company get rambunctious in the addictive “The Sound of Summer Running” and the percussive, music-box teeter-totter of “Musette for a Palindrome.” Stolen Moments is certainly filled with life, but the CD is at its best when it shelves its motherly caution.
Alison Brown: Stolen Moments
JazzTimes may earn a small commission if you buy something using one of the retail links in our articles. JazzTimes does not accept money for any editorial recommendations. Read more about our policy here. Thanks for supporting JazzTimes.
