An absorbing solo vibraphone session from jazz vet David Friedman, who went twenty years since his last solo outing. His newest, Weaving Through Motion, is likely to lead to some regret that he doesn’t do the solo thing a bit more often. Along with a bunch of Friedman originals, there are four covers, including Monk’s “‘Round Midnight” and Michael Legrand’s “The Windmills of Your Mind.” Just a real intimate, patient set of tunes that gives the listener the sense that they are there in the room as Friedman works through his ideas.

Some notable tracks: “Turn Left” has the dreamy, uneasy stillness of the darkness just before sunrise. At the other end of the spectrum, “Ona” is all bright eyes and optimism, cheerily rattling of sunny statements. In like fashion, he takes “Almost Blue” for a spin with a pop music enthusiasm and hammers home the song’s catchy melody with an infectious exuberance. And though he references a classic-turned-prog-rock band on “No (Changes) – With Compliments to the Band ‘Yes’,” the mesmerizing rhythmic attack is more akin to the Krautrock school of ambient music, ala Cluster.

Plenty here to like.
Your album personnel: David Friedman (vibraphone, marimba). Released on Traumton Records.
Jazz from the Berlin scene.
Available at: eMusic | Amazon MP3 | Amazon CD | iTunes | Traumton