If someone played you saxophonist
Muriel Grossmann's 2023 album
Devotion and said it was a lesser-known organ and psych-soul-jazz album from the late '60s, you might just believe them. It's an evocative vibe the European instrumentalist has been perfecting for over a decade and which she brings to new levels here. The album, which marks her debut for
Jack White's
Third Man Records, essentially finds her splitting the difference between 2018's
Coltrane-inspired
Golden Rule and the organ-soaked approach of 2019's
Reverence. Helping her achieve this spiritual combination is her longtime quartet with guitarist
Radomir Milojkovic, Hammond B-3 organist
Abel Boquera, and drummer
Uros Stamenkovic.
Grossmann also displays her versatility, playing, at various times, flute, the stringed kalimba, harmonium, and sundry percussion instruments throughout the album. Together, she and her band conjure an earthy, spice-filled atmosphere that brings to mind the classic sound of albums by
Grant Green,
Charles Earland, and
Dr. Lonnie Smith. With her big, full-throated tone and spiraling riffs,
Grossmann also often recalls the style of Argentine saxophonist
Gato Barbieri. Songs like the opening "Absolute Truth" and the title track have a funky, globally inspired sound that mixes swinging modal jazz with Latin- and Afro-Cuban-sounding rhythms. Equally engaging are cuts like "Calm," with its slow groove and twangy guitar, and the hard-driving "All Heart," both of which sound impossibly like
John Coltrane playing with Malian desert blues outfit
Tinariwen. ~ Matt Collar
