Multi-instrumentalist and sonic risk-taker Sarah Marie Hughes is one of this area's more adventurous talents. I think I became aware of her because of her participation in the extraordinary "Instant Night" single from Beauty Pill. Having seen her peform, I know she's capable of multiple styles, but I was pleasantly surprised by the hard jazz on the new ZARA.
Out now, this album finds Sarah commanding some familiar names -- Abram Wolfe Mamet on French horn, and Nate Scheible on drums, to name two -- in order to craft something bracing. "Talking in the Temple (No. 3)" lets the empty spaces between horn bursts add nuance to the tune, with Mamet, Hughes (on soprano sax), and Robert Muncy (on alto sax) charting a tentative path toward melodic clarity. "I Love You, Please Help Me" is more chaotic, shades of Dolphy and Mingus (in his Big Band phase) here. This one is fiery, less avant-garde than old guard hard bop. "Flat Foot Ballerina (No. 3.5)" is even better, with Mamet and Hughes sort of dueling around a central figure in the composition. Elsewhere, "Highway Eye (No. 4)" is nimble and playful in spots, while the closer "Baby No. 1 Lives Forever" finds the whole ensemble confidently racing forward.
This release is adventurous but not off-putting, bold but just conventional enough in form as to not alienate old school jazz heads. And those who are followers of Hughes' more out there work, will find that most of ZARA is, if not out there, singularly adventurous in spirit, and intense on its own terms. What I liked about ZARA was how I could place it in a larger jazz context, even while appreciating one of the D.C. area's bright players taking some real risks and pushing the envelope.
ZARA by Sarah Maries Hughes is out now. Details below.
[Photo: Sarah Maries Hughes Bandcamp]