The new CD from banjoist Alison Brown, The Company You Keep, will be released April 7 on Compass Records.
The album features her quartet: John Burr on piano, Garry West on bass, Joe Craven on mandolin and fiddle and Larry Atamanuik on drums. Additional guest artists include John Doyle on guitar, Stuart Duncan on fiddle and Kenny Malone on drums.
The music places Brown’s banjo in a mainstream jazz rhythm section and is highly melodic, with several heads played in unison by the piano and the five string. Of course the soloing is first rate throughout.
Compass, which was founded by Brown and West in 1995, is offering a special promotion on the first 5,000 units shipped. These will be packaged with both the audio CD and a DVD that features a concert with The Alison Brown Quartet and Joe Craven shot at Vanderbilt University in December 2008. The concert includes songs from The Company You Keep as well as several from Alison’s earlier releases.
Audio samples can be found on the Compass web site, where pre-orders are being accepted.
