The Sofia Goodman Group - Receptive
(Joyous Records, 2024)
Country music is not the only genre calling Nashville home. Witness the Sofia Goodman Group, a Music City mainstay for the past several years. Goodman is a Berklee-trained drummer who has been developing her band through the releases of Myriad Of Flowers (Self Produced, 2018) and Secrets Of The Shore (Joyous Records, 2023) to the present Receptive. Receptive brings with it a producer, Pascal Le Boeuf, Goodman’s first producer from outside her musical circle. Pascal immediately smooths the band’s sound with a refining fire burning low and steady.
Goodman leads a partially reconstituted octet that focuses on the midrange brass of Blaise Hearn’s even-tempered trumpet and Desmond Ng’s trombone coupled with Jovan Quallo’s lean alto saxophone and sinewy flute and Dan Hitchcock’s tenor saxophone. The recording includes eight lushly arranged originals that contain some surprises. “The Space Within” begins as a staccato figure that falls into a swinging 4/4 before emerging into a languid solo section featuring pianist Alex Murphy and Hitchcock as things heat up. “Socket” features Goodman displaying some impressive tom-tom work, navigating through an expressive free jazz section.
Goodman is obviously serious about her music and the growth between Secrets Of The Shore and Receptive is substantial. As Goodman continues to seek the sweet spot of her vision, she is certain to reveal many more treasures like this one.