CD Review: ‘Sangria’ Bubbles with Rhythm
The CD cover describes the musical content as, “An Indo Latin Jazz Musical Experience”. That is probably a pretty good summation of Mariah Parker’s debut release, Sangria, which is Spanish for ‘bloody’. Notably, ‘sangria’ is usually referred to as a red wine. In that case, Mariah’s piano and santur playing is definitely intoxicating. Mariah is joined by Matthew Montfort on scalloped fretless guitar/flamenco guitar, Kash Killion on bass/cello, Debopriyo Sarkar and Anuradha Pal on tabla, Duru Demetrius on percussion, Mindia Devi Klein on flute, Paul McCandless on sax/horn, and Brian Rice on timbales. The songs are warm, inviting, and indicative of a world jazz release. The tracks are completely void of vocalizations. Sangria includes musicians from bands such as Oregon, Sun Ra, and Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters. Explore the world through the music of Mariah Parker. ~ Matthew Forss