Details: From graciously contoured contrapuntal writing to deep guttural sounds to up-tempo Mach speed episodes and the sonic beyond, Maxine has created a whirlwind of resonant adventures. An imaginative and creative outpouring of beautifully balance expressiveness full of rich and prophetic trombone playing by Maxine to hauntingly beautiful moments by her band and special guest Peter Evans. I suggest that the listener open their ears to hear a wide range of musical emotions channeled through the magic of composition, rehearsal, theme and variation explorations and finally-the resulting recording. Angular, pulsating, brooding, moody, pondering, slippery, trance-inducing, playful experimentation, intensely fiery and free-flowing. These are just some literal images that come to mind when I listened through Maxine's magnificent debut recording. Special guest Peter Evans adds a well-poised contrast with his perfected technical buoyancy and insistently developed ideas. Combined with his extreme use of range and register and endless chop proficiency he counters Maxine's full rich sound in a truly dynamic fashion. From his piercing development of ideas over the sung drones and moment of ohm on Chant to the Mach-speed piccolo trumpet solo on Hymn, pure brass excitement abounds. The accompanying musicians share graciously in the development of each piece and add the perfect input and responses to the direction that Maxine has created with her writing and solo work. Maxine is a wonderful leader, an adventurous composer, and a world class trombonist with a deeply rooted gorgeous sound, balanced intellectually with creative ideas built to endlessly fly around the world with. In the music, Ingrid Jensen

Maxine Troglauer - Hymn (CD)