Janel Leppin - Ensemble Volcanic Ash [CD]

Janel Leppin's Ensemble Volcanic Ash materialized after years of work on Washington D.C.'s vibrant new music, jazz, rock and improvised music scenes. The group's eponymous album captures Leppin's highly personal vision, a stylistically polymorphous sound that the Washington Post aptly describes as "embodying all the complexity and grace of human cooperation." A composer and cellist who's honed a singular synthesis of composition, orchestration and improvisation, with the chamber-jazz Ensemble Volcanic Ash, Leppin steps forward as a bandleader in her own right, delivering a gorgeous debut brimming with singular musicians. The seven-piece group melds an illustrious array of D.C. talent into a glimmering expressive organism that surges, expands, ebbs and dances in multiple directions at once.  "This work is a braiding together of over 32 years of classical and jazz study on the cello with more than 20 years performing in Washington D.C.," Leppin says. "It is a distinct place to learn and try new things. I've worked with some of these musicians for well over a decade and I think it shows in the music." Leppin is also a celebrated textile artist who transforms her onstage outfits into chromatically extravagant woven creations (the album includes Leppin's woven portraits of each Volcanic Ash musician as well as her shimmering cover art).