Category: Muriel Grossmann

On a four-track double album, Austrian saxophonist Muriel Grossmann pays tribute to the music of two American visionaries: McCoy Tyner and Bob Weir. Though the music of the jazz pianist and Grateful Dead guitarist would not seem to have much in common, Grossmann’s festive, idiosyncratic renditions suggest some intriguing links. With an ear for robust melody and an open-ended approach, Grossmann has created a moving tribute that suggests the only true way to carry on is to transform.

Muriel Grossmann’s The Light Of The Mind is almost certainly her most “good time” record to date, with her trademark spiritual jazz blended with no small measure of funky rhythms and transcendental hooks, as she completes a saxophone hat-trick, playing soprano, alto and tenor. The title track alone showcases her prowess and Coltrane study on tenor, as well as her knack for penning a melody so infectious that it lingers in the subconscious mind long after the needle returns home.

Muriel Grossman already has a formidable discography, releasing over a dozen albums over the last fifteen years, mostly on her own DreamlandRecords label in Spain; so, it’s a little shocking that her stateside debut is this late coming. But the double LP Devotion on Jack White’s Third Man Records, does not blow the opportunity. If this is the first thing you are hearing from her, you may be taken aback by how confidently this group traces the many musical tributaries in and out of American soul.