CD REVIEW
3.5 stars
TROMBONIST Shannon Barnett‘s first album as band leader displays the deftness and subtlety of an accomplished young player with no need to be strident.
With Nashua Lee on guitar, Christopher Hale on acoustic bass guitar and Ben Hendry on drums, Barnett explores the softer side of her horn in gentle encounters with a restrained rhythm section.
There is jaunty, staccato ’bone in the admirably titled Abercrombie Byron Hippie Knife Fight, soft-edged punch in Pesos and an edgier, more brassy feel in Sidelines.
Arguably this debut outing could have included stronger individual statements, but Barnett’s wistful soliloquy of wondering and wandering in Pathos is reward enough, the ’bone sounding luxurious enough to lie on.
Download: Pathos
CD launch: Sept 28, Bennetts Lane, 9pm
ROGER MITCHELL
This review was published in the Play liftout of the Sunday Herald Sun on Sept. 26, 2010
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