Who Are You?

With Who Are You?, Ross has crafted another highly engaging small-group album that more than answers the question at hand. — AllMusic, October 2020, 4 and a half out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 23rd Oct 2020
Catalogue No: 0712750
Label: Blue Note

AllMusic

Editor's Choice

October 2020

Disc 1

Dream

Calling

Home

More?

After the Rain

Vartha

Marsheland

Disc 2

Waiting On a Solemn Reminiscence

King's Loop

The Nurturer

Gato's Gift

When My Head Is Cold

Harmonee

Such Is Life

3-1-2

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In 2019, vibraphonist & composer Joel Ross issued his Blue Note debut KingMaker to peer acknowledgment and wide critical acclaim. An introduction to his longstanding outfit Good Vibes, the album received nods from The New York Times’ Best Jazz of 2019, NPR Music’s Jazz Critics Poll and Rolling Stone’s 2019 Jazz Listener’s Guide. Now, expanding the breadth of his expression with his second release Who Are You?, the young artist has actualized his sound.

“This record is a culmination of our maturing – as people, as a band, within the music – it’s about figuring out who we are,” says Ross. Who Are You? features familiar Good Vibes associates Jeremy Corren on piano, Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone and Jeremy Dutton on drums, and introduces their newest collaborator, Kanoa Mendenhall on bass. Harpist Brandee Younger is also featured on five of the album’s tracks.

Inspired by communication through storytelling – a method he absorbed, in part, working with such creative forces as Ambrose Akinmusire, Marquis Hill and Makaya McCraven – and with input from producer Walter Smith III, Ross assembled the album’s narrative in halves. Tracks 1-7 provide setting, as well as character introductions; tracks 8-15, plot twists. Each artist advances the spirit of risk-taking, while maintaining Ross’ vision for story structure.

Reviews

October 2020

With Who Are You?, Ross has crafted another highly engaging small-group album that more than answers the question at hand.

December 2020

In the right hands the vibraphone can excel for its delicacy of tone and shimmering lyricism, and Ross upholds those values in no uncertain terms with pieces such as ‘More?’ in which he and his quartet conspire to hover on the melody and pulse of the music in a manner that loosely recalls the heyday of masters such as Bobby Hutcherson and the somewhat overlooked Jay Hoggard.

Who Are You?

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Who Are You?

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