Madre Vaca Half a Decade Later

I first became aware of the Madre Vaca jazz collective a little over five years ago. This was when they released an album entitled Winterreise; and, as someone that believes that there is no such thing as too much of the composer Franz Schubert, I could not resist listening to it. (I assume that most, if not all, readers already know that the album title is taken from Schubert’s D. 911 song cycle of the same title!) My conclusion was that Madre Vaca has “repurposed Schubert for an objective he could not have possibly imagined;” but I still enjoyed listening to the results.

The cover of Madre Vaca’s latest album, courtesy of Jazz Promo Services

At the end of this past May, Madre Vaca released its latest album, entitled Yukon. Bassist Thomas Milovac has replaced Mike Perez. However, the other three members of the quartet on this album remain the same: Jonah Pierre on piano and keyboards, Jarrett Carter on guitar, and Benjamin Shorstein on drums. Shorstein is the only member of the quartet that does not contribute as composer to any of the album’s eight tracks.

There is definitely no quibbling over the musicianship of all four of these performers. Nevertheless, I have to confess that none of the three composers get the juices flowing. Mind you, the skills of the players serve up much to offer on any given track; but I suspect that many listeners will not sustain one-track-after-another listening to the entire album! That may explain why the only option on the Amazon.com Web page is for MP3 download. A CD for this content may appeal to some as a “journey” similar to that of D. 911; but, personally, I prefer to enjoy each of the individual tracks for its own virtues, independent of its “neighbors!”