Following up her 2017 debut EP Tetrawind (“kinetic and abstract … intuitive and confident,” jazzweekly.com), tenor saxophonist, composer and vocalistMaría Grand returns with her full-length debut Magdalena from the innovative Biophilia Records. Her guiding intent is to explore modern family relationships through the lens of Egyptian and early Christian myths, connecting them to the pioneering work of family therapist Virginia Satir. Proceeding from the conviction that “healing families heals humanity,” Grand conceives a set of music within “a feminine non-hierarchical power structure,” she explains. “This means that the traditional form of solos is exploded into a more collective conversation.”
In the mercurial, asymmetric rhythms and flowing dialogue of Grand and her core trio with bassist Rashaan Carter and drummer Jeremy Dutton, we hear the musical analogue of two parents and a child. This trio dynamic is manifest most clearly on “TI. Isis,” “TII. María” and “TIII. Magdalena,” each constructed around a particular triad and inspired by three mythical women who serve “as examples of a woman’s power,” Grand says. These pieces also contain layers of symbolism: on “TI. Isis,” as Grand states in the liner notes, “The melody has every note that exists in a chromatic scale except for one, the piece that Isis didn’t find after Osiris died.”
The guests appearing on Magdalena serve to vary the sound and the relational dynamic, “providing more complex domestic structures to the music,” Grand offers. Pianist David Bryant, who played a brilliant role on Tetrawind, lends bracing and mysterious harmonic aspects to five tracks. On the duet piece “Imani/Walk by,” inspired by vocalist and composer Imani Uzuri, we hear from pianist and Biophilia founder/director Fabian Almazan, who interprets the song with gradually increasing adventurism. We also hear Grand stepping away from the saxophone to sing. “I’ve always written songs with lyrics,” she says, “and I don’t see that as fundamentally different from the instrumental music. For me it’s about balance: it’s a more vulnerable and fragile part of my expression.”
Grand’s compositional methods tend to mirror the often very personal meanings of the songs themselves. “Workshop,” with its heightened tension and release, is the most directly inspired by Virginia Satir’s model of the family therapy workshop or “family constellation.” In this experience, Grand explains in the notes, “tension builds when people release deep trauma into the world. The pain that was hidden makes its way to the surface and is finally recognized.”
“Where Is E,” a reflection on Grand’s estranged sister Eleanora, is more personal still: “In the intro the piano and saxophone are together, and then eventually they separate. The whole thing is about looking for her, so we go through every triad and see if we can find her. It’s kind of like going through the whole phone book. I wrote the song hoping it would move the energy so that then I would actually meet her.”
“La Inmortal” and “Ejes y deseos” serve as a narrated opening and closing statements, the former with the poetic recitation of vocalist Jasmine Wilson, the latter with the rap vocal of Amani Fela. Grand wrote the words herself but wanted to incorporate other voices to bring them to life. “I recited a poem on Tetrawind,” Grand recalls, “but on ‘La Inmortal’ I wanted someone with unaccented English, and it was important to me to have another woman on the album. On the closing track, which is in 11, Amani got it right away. If he hears a rhythm he understands what it is. He sang on my 2017 Jazz Gallery commission ‘Embracements’ and was just incredible.”
Magdalena will be released by Biophilia Records as a Biopholio™, a double-sided, 20-panel origami-inspired medium bursting with vibrant artwork and liner notes; each one made entirely out of FSC-certified, robust paper, hand-folded and printed using plant-based inks. In each Biopholio™ is a unique code to digitally download the music in the preferred format. This innovative design caters to the environmentally conscious listener, who is aware of the harmful effects of plastic in the environment, yet feels that a digital download is just not enough. Biophilia’s artists are united by a common interest in having a positive impact on the environment and our communities. To that end, they collaborate with organizations that specialize in conservation, sustainability and outreach initiatives.
"On “TetraWind,” an EP released this year, Ms. Grand, 25, unfurls a teetering logic. She conjoins the spiky rhythms of Rashaan Carter’s bass with tilting sheets of harmony, built by her tenor saxophone, David Bryant’s keyboard and Roman Filiu’s alto saxophone. As an improviser, the Swiss-Argentine Ms. Grand is both measured and frank, often venturing into gentle provocation."
-The New York Times, Giovanni Russonello
"..a dynamic, Colemanesque solo from saxophonist María Grand.."
-the Chicago Tribune, Howard Reich
"[María Grand] is an excellent, exploratory saxophonist you should all know. I first encountered her at a Steve Coleman and the Five Elements show in NYC last year. As you're aware, that is not exactly an easy gig to get. She contributes to Steve's 'Synovial Joints' album, if you want to hear her in that context. [...] Grand's pieces are full of wild twists, turns and time signatures, yet hang together in a compelling way. This is stuff for adventurous listeners. There's excellent interplay between Grand and alto saxophonist Román Filiú.
-Anil Prasad, found of innerviews.org
