The harp continues to flourish in jazz. Classics by Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby, who first brought the instrument into improvisation, are being rediscovered – not least thanks to the memory-rich, forward-looking work of contemporaries like Brandee Younger and Amanda Whiting. The classically trained Welsh musician released two albums in the past year alone: The Liminality of Her and the Christmas record A Christmas Cwtch, which paid tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s Peanuts soundtracks, among others.
Now Whiting presents Can You See Me Now?, an EP that comes with restrained running time but sounds all the more expansive. Her delicately listening harp lines are combined minimally invasively with subtly taut beats, creating a sense of space and contemplation despite the compact form. Whiting is supported by her trio colleagues Aidan Thorne (bass) and Jon Reynolds (drums), plus producer Adam Scrimshire and Faye Houston, whose choral voice repeatedly opens new horizons to the chamber music intimacy. On »What Is It We Need?« – the EP’s only conventional song – Alice Russell takes the vocal part: restrained but penetrating. You really don’t need anything more.
