Album Review: Marilyn Mazur—‘Elixir’

Jazz percussionist Marilyn Mazur has played with in the bands of jazz greats such as Miles Davis and Gil Evans. Her new solo album is called “Elixir.” (Courtesy of Marilyn Mazur)

Someone once dubbed Miles Davis’s surviving sidemen “the Sons of Miles,” but where would that leave Marilyn Mazur, who played on the trumpeter’s arguably last great recording—“Aura,” and toured with him for nearly half a decade?

Perhaps the “Daughter of Miles” is appropriate since Mazur continues to thrive on her latest album “Elixir,” which features sax player Jan Garbarek.

With the opening track, “Clear,” Mazur establishes the mysterious nature of the music to follow, but Garbarek’s tenor is surprisingly warm and tender. Indeed, her percussion seems to propel him toward some of his most explicitly jazz-sounding performances of recent years.

Mazur supplies “Dunun Song” a strong groove that has Garbarek swinging surprisingly hard on tenor. “Joy Chant” is even more upbeat, with bright tonal colors produced by Garbarek’s soprano and Mazur’s percussive accoutrements, sounding almost like a steel pan.

Mazur and Garbarek cover quite a bit of ground in their varied set. “Mountain Breath” is a brief exotic pastoral for flute, whereas “Totem Dance” is a hypnotic trance-dance. With Garbarek on tenor, it almost suggests some of Charles Lloyd’s more mystical music.

Only “Winter Wish,” another tenor feature, has the sort of austere, Nordic vibe one might expect of a Garbarek session on ECM. Mazur has played on a number of the Norwegian reedman’s sessions, which evidently has led to a musical empathy of a very high order. They sound perfectly in sync throughout “Elixir,” conveying an easy, unforced manner.

Mazur’s percussion solos interspersed throughout “Elixir” are quite evocative and even melodic. Pieces like “Metal Dew,” “Mother Drum,” and “Creature Walk” have a strong rhythmic pulse that is easy to get caught up in. Whereas, improvisations like “Sheep Dream” and “The Siren in the Well” eerily suggest scenes of nature at night.

Loose and improvisational, “Elixir” still holds together quite cohesively. While spacious and moody, it should not be dismissed as experimental or self-consciously intellectual. Indeed, Mazur and Garbarek often produce the joyful sounds of an accessible brand of jazz.

Joe Bendel blogs on jazz and cultural issues at www.jbspin.blogspot.com , and coordinated the Jazz Foundation of America’s instrument donation campaign for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina.