Reviews of The Mara Rosenbloom Trio's Debut Release, Prairie Burn
“…a trio recording of bristling provocation and full-bore group improvising…her strongest statement as a bandleader and her most dauntless effort as a pianist.” - GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO, THE NEW YORK TIMES
“ONE OF THE TEN BEST JAZZ ALBUMS OF THE YEAR!” - LUCIDCULTURE
****4 ½ STARS! - DOWNBEAT
"The [Mara Rosenbloom] trio achieves an elusive chemistry and degree of spontaneous interaction that transcends mental boundaries. The compositions, especially the four-part title suite, ripple, surge, and shimmer with ruminative rigor. Rosenbloom unleashes a burnished, smoldering lyric quality on pieces that eschew linear structuring devices in favor of natural, flowing developments, her deft rhythm section supporting every twist and curve." PETER MARGASAK, THE CHICAGO READER
“PUNK ROCK ENERGY…” – MIDWEST JAZZ RECORD
“…engaging new album by the pianist Mara Rosenbloom…A focused blast of restive, energetic postbop…” – NATE CHINEN, THE NEW YORK TIMES
“"[Rosenbloom's] quantum leap into greatness. An absolutely feral, largely improvisational suite...unbridled ferocity and a remarkable chemistry...a true trio effort" - NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY
“…Midwest-cum-Borough scorcher and hopefully will help place Rosenbloom’s music centrally on the map.” - CLIFFORD ALLEN, THE NYC JAZZ RECORD
"Count pianist Mara Rosenbloom as one of those singular personalities pushing, probing, and exerting influence on the balance between idea and execution...bold and aggressive. It's a compelling aural conflagration, but one that's controlled and continually redirected. Rosenbloom, bassist Sean Conly, and drummer Chad Taylor toy with avant-western motifs, spiky gestures, and excitable grooves, taking blissful jaunts across the scorched land in a rickety carriage of their own creation. It's a wild ride in the best sense of the phrase...While the title suite could've made for a short but satisfying album on its own, Rosenbloom sweetens the deal here by adding two solo piano numbers...Both are undiluted works of beauty produced by a wholehearted poet of the piano. Prairie Burn delivers in all the right ways." - DAN BILAWSKY, ALL ABOUT JAZZ
"Pianist Mara Rosenbloom proved she can be powerful and sensitive in equal measures. Feeding our spirits with moments of pure extemporaneous creativity, she performed for an hour in the good company of bassist Sean Conly and alto saxophonist Darius Jones... Commanding the piano with a natural grace, she embarked on a musical journey filled with stunning rhythmic accentuations, intricate textures, and elegant sounds." JAZZTRAIL (Live Concert Review, Dec 2017)
Reviews of The Mara Rosenbloom Quartet's 2013 Release, Songs from the Ground
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"Rosenbloom renews the trite formulas of jazz with sparkling compositions that are both lyrically contemplative and rhythmically pulsating...This quartet plays music that renders believable the future of jazz. As both a player and composer, Rosenbloom is already singular and ahead of those players satisfied to reside in the dull water of familiar elements." Jakob Baekgaard, All About Jazz,
"This is tough, almost abrasive modern jazz, whose moments of lyricism or raw feeling are all the more powerful for taking no prisoners along the way. Rosenbloom hails from Madison, Wisconsin and there's an earthy, outdoors quality to her music that is delightfully unsettling and wholly unlike the air-conditioned, temperature-regulated sound that often passes for quartet jazz these days. Having Darius Jones on the strength is further guarantee of creative integrity and authenticity...Rosenbloom herself works the piano hard, worrying at ideas, nudging along vamps, making unexpected note choices." Brian Morton, The UK Jazz Journal
"Pianist Mara Rosenbloom seemingly has a million catchy riffs and artfully employs them to share a personal circumscribed space but also to provide melodies for powerful improvisation. Both these aspects of her playing are wonderfully in evidence on Songs From the Ground. The seven self-penned tunes run the gamut from pensive soliloquies to earthy, blues-infused modern jazz...the Quartet uses its contrasting voices to tell fascinating stories." Elliot Simon, The New York City Jazz Record
“Many readers will not be familiar with the name or music of New York-based pianist, composer, arranger and educator Mara Rosenbloom...I think we have just made a discovery equally important as the shape of a wheel...Rosenbloom's lyrical compositions and piano playing, working alongside Jones' soulful and emotional sax are matches made in heaven...The sounds captured on Songs from the Ground are not cluttered, each instrument has its own clearly defined place, there is no battling over who, why, where, when just an almost inbred synergy." Barry Wight, Costa News SPAIN
"Pianist Mara Rosenbloom suffuses artistic vision into each musical gesture—each corner and crevice—of her recent release, Songs from the Ground...an accumulated sum of highly musical moments that suggests the absolute clarity of an artistic aesthetic—the focus and direction of her musical voice are undeniable." Mark Lomanno, PhD, The Rhythm of Study-A blog for Improvising Jazz Communities
"Soulful, songful, striking" Time Out New York
"Mara Rosenbloom es una de las voces al piano más sorprendentes y originales de la escena actual. Una auténtica revelación." Translation: "Mara Rosenbloom is one of the most surprising, original piano voices on the current scene. A true revelation." Time Out Barcelona
Earlier Reviews -
"Mara Rosenbloom has something special. I saw it coming even in her early compositions. She just has a musical vision and not even music college was able to dilute it. Listen and watch as her music evolves. We are all going to be more and more delighted by it." Kenny Werner
"'Beautiful' seems like one of those words jazz folks seem to look at askance. It isn't as bad as "smooth," maybe, but still. And yet that's perhaps the best word for composer/pianist Mara Rosenbloom's music, from her sinuous melodies to her rhythmic poise to her exquisitely harmonized everything." The Baltimore City Paper
"Pianist Mara Rosenbloom’s latest album Songs from the Ground is elegant and purposefully crafted...It’s ridiculously catchy, very accessible and just as smartly assembled and played." Lucid Culture
"Soulful...A productive & hardworking group." Bob Karlovitz, The Pennsylvania Tribune
"Mara is a stellar pianist who has a fresh New York sound, great tone, modern harmonic ideas, and rhythms the entire ensemble can latch onto and build from, thus creating that ensemble “synergy effect” jazz audiences love so much." Ben Friberg, The Pulse, Chatttanooga, TN
"[Rosenbloom] is a mature composer and a lyrical storyteller behind the piano." Aaron Williams, RVAJazz Blog, Richmond, VA