Marta sanchez quintet at the stone, nyc, May 18, 2023

• photography by ©Clara Pereira; text by Filipe Freitas

Drawing from her latest album - SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum), Spanish pianist/composer Marta Sanchez performed at The Stone with her supple quintet, whose original lineup observed two alterations. Tenor saxophonist John Ellis and bassist Harish Raghavan subbed for Roman Filiu and Rashaan Carter, respectively. Rounding out the group were altoist Alex LoRe and drummer Allan Mednard.

The concert began with “The Unconquered Vulnerable Areas”, which, showcasing incredibly structured collective passages, was enlivened by LoRe’s fragmented phraseology and ascendant moves with strong motivic intention. Later on, Sanchez and Ellis engaged in responsive improvisational tradeoffs. The sound was not great at this point - the volume of the piano was too low and the bass too high - and the problem was only corrected around the fourth tune. Yet, the quality of the interplay in the pieces that followed - “The Eternal Stillness” with its sweet, voluptuous lyricism, and “SAAM”, with its grandiose opening cluster chords, short-themed statement, funk-infused groove, and energetic saxophone solos with stirring drumming underneath - made the attentive listeners forget the issue. 

Sanchez excelled on “If You Could Create it”, and her delicacy of touch didn’t remove the melodic precision on the harmonically challenging “Dear Worthiness”. After the soft dance that is “December 11th”, a dedication to Sanchez’s late mother, they did “Hard Balance”, which featured Raghavan exploring the high registers of his instrument, and then concluded with “When Dreaming is the Only”, an opportunity for Ellis and LoRe to exchange fiery lines and raise combustible vapor pressure in the air.