JazzKLUB / Tomeka Reid Quartet / Three string instruments and drums at post-bop gallop - NOSPR

In 2022, when Tomeka Reid was granted the MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the “genius grant”, critics aware of her achievement had no doubt that the prestigious award was in the right hands. Reid’s cello parts have contributed to the sound of the flagship bands of the Chicago scene over the last two decades, since her 2002 debut with Nicole Mitchell. The artists’s quartet concept consists of three string instruments and drums – the very idea of such a composition of the star-studded band intriguing in itself. The quartet’s musicians are equally comfortable at post-bop gallop, in patulous blues, and in swinging ballad – creative reworkings of tradition being Reid’s composing specialty. Every piece is churning with ideas and energy (and sometimes even a sense of humour), all the bandmembers’ originality and propensity for free-jazz experiments making every second of the ensemble’s music worth of the listener’s attention.  

Tomasz Gregorczyk