Any assessment of the most exciting burgeoning talents in
Nashville writ large should
include Sofia Goodman--she's a jazz
drummer, a composer, a bandleader, and a change agent. On the heels
of her nationally recognized 2023 release "Secrets of the Shore,"
Sofia now presents "Receptive," an impressive collection of eight
pieces for octet, produced by Pascal Le Boeuf.
RICHMOND, Calif., June 18,
2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Sofia Goodman
continues her meteoric ascent in the jazz world with "Receptive,"
her July 26 release on Joyous
Records. The much-lauded Nashville
drummer-composer presents on her third album a profoundly personal
cycle of eight original compositions that explore the human values
that she holds most dear. The team that augments her journey
through her inner self includes the latest incarnation of the
renowned Sofia Goodman Group—trumpeter Blaise Hearn, trombonist Desmond Ng, saxophonists Dan Hitchcock and Jovan
Quallo, pianist Alex Murphy,
bassist Leland Nelson, and
percussionist Jimmy Lopez—as well as Grammy-nominated musician and
recent Nashville transplant Pascal
Le Boeuf, who serves as producer.
[Producer Pascal Le Boeuf would] want us to
really experiment and get into new territory and get out of our
heads to try new things. Having him in the studio raised the bar
for everybody there, because he's such an amazing talent.
"Receptive" represents a careful refinement of the rich,
expansive approach that was the hallmark of Goodman's previous
album, 2023's "Secrets of the Shore." It offers the same panoply of
grooves, lush harmonies, and textural colors, delivered in a
variety of introspective moods (befitting their titles) as well as
with a fresh compositional and conceptual confidence.
She attributes this in part to the involvement of Le Boeuf, her
first experience with an outside producer. "He'd want us to really
experiment and get into new territory and get out of our heads to
try new things," Goodman says. "Having him in the studio raised the
bar for everybody there, because he's such an amazing talent."
Let there be no doubt, however, that Goodman is the leader;
"Receptive" is her vision. From the sweet warmth of the opening
"Trust," to the suspenseful stop-time and driving swing of "The
Space Within," to the knowing contentment (and again, driving
swing) of the closing title track, the drummer's presence both
literal and psychic is unmistakable.
But that doesn't mean the other Group members aren't powerful
presences in their own right. Quallo's gorgeous flute illuminates
the charming "Allow," both in his pacific reading of the melody and
his gymnastic solo (which Lopez follows with a purposeful solo
statement of his own). Nelson and Ng each offer sharp-eared melodic
submissions on "Presence," while "Socket" finds Goodman's
thoughtfully improvised drums leading the whole Group into a dark,
querulous free counterpoint that calls upon the listener to be
receptive indeed.
Sofia Goodman was born
December 22, 1987, in Michigan, but adopted as an infant by a family
living near Boston, Massachusetts.
There her musical pursuits began with childhood piano lessons. A
friend's drum kit, however, quickly stole both her ears and her
heart.
She was a punk-rock kid when she attended Berklee College of Music's Summer Program—but a
class there taught by bassist esperanza spalding turned her head.
She enrolled in Berklee's undergraduate
program, determined to hone her craft as a drummer, and gradually
made her way deeper into jazz as she was earning her degree in Drum
Set Performance.
Goodman's postcollege life in Boston was suddenly upended by a fire that
consumed her apartment in the city. Needing a fresh start, she
relocated to Music City, USA, also
known as Nashville, Tennessee. It
was an ideal place for a young freelance musician to live and
work—and, as it turned out, the city's concert halls and recording
studios were filled with far more than just the country music it's
best known for.
Goodman plied her skills with musicians of all stripes, at the
same time studying composition for a master's degree from
Belmont University. It was only a short
time before she was ready to form her own band. Those early efforts
would evolve into what is now the Sofia Goodman Group, building a
following throughout the South and into the Midwest. Her first
album, 2018's "Myriad of Flowers," received a nomination for Best
Jazz Album from the Nashville Industry Music Awards. With "Secrets
of the Shore," Goodman's 2023 follow-up, she won that award, and
began as well to gain national recognition in the greater jazz
community. "Receptive," her third effort, pushes her further still
on the path to success.
The Sofia Goodman Group will be playing the following CD release
shows: 7/26 The Bop Stop, Cleveland; 7/27 Preservation Pub, Knoxville, TN; 7/29 Analog at the Hutton,
Nashville.
Media Contact
Terri Hinte, Terri Hinte Public
Relations, +15102348781, hudba@sbcglobal.net,
http://www.terrihinte.com
Terri Hinte, Terri Hinte Public
Relations, +15102348781, hudba@sbcglobal.net
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SOURCE Sofia Goodman