By Bradley Bambarger | Published January 2019
Enrique Haneine’s previous album saw him leading from the piano, but The Mind’s Mural finds him doing so from behind the drum kit. Born and raised in Mexico, but now a New Yorker, Haneine has a knack as a composer for both sinuous rhythms and free-flowing lyricism. His quartet for The Mind’s Mural—two horns plus bass and drums—often evokes a smooth, pure-toned version of the vintage Ornette Coleman weave, with the absence of a chordal instrument leaving plenty of space for Catherine Sikora (soprano and tenor saxophone) and Anna Webber (tenor saxophone) to wind melodic lines around and across one another, often creating harmonies between themselves.
Every track has an ear-catching allure, with the dreamy pace and tarter-than-usual mix of Sikora’s soprano and Webber’s tenor making “Motionless Passage” a real highlight. “Like A Bronco” is another, with seemingly every note the horns, bass and drums play working as a hook. As a drummer, Haneine can have a lithe, coloristic touch, as well as a rolling, tumbling rapport with bassist Carlo de Rosa, whose woody tone was captured beautifully by the recording—and showcased to particular effect in his long, absorbing solo on “The One Eleven Tale.”
“Life Of Its Own” has a Middle Eastern feel (with the composer perhaps tapping into his Lebanese ancestry), though the piece also ends up hinting at classic Ethio jazz. For all the excellent playing by Haneine and Rosa, much of the leader’s music depends here on the tonal and rhythmic chemistry between Sikora and Webber, and they play like kindred spirits on this track, as throughout the album.
The Mind’s Mural: Once A Thought; The Seventh Layer; The One Eleven Tale; Just Because; Motionless Passage; Hidden Mirrors; Reality Shape; Like A Bronco; While You’re Away; Life Of Its Own; Komet. (66:13)
Personnel: Enrique Haneine, drums, percussion; Catherine Sikora, soprano, tenor saxophone; Anna Webber, tenor saxophone; Carlo de Rosa, bass.
