# Feminist CD review: Stephanie Richards – Take the neon lights 2019: Video, Sounds, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/03/08/feminist-cd-review-stephanie-richards-take-the-neon-lights-2019-video-sounds-cd-cover/
- Published: 2019-03-08T13:58:29+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**New York-based composer and trumpet/flugelhorn extraordinaire, Stephanie Richards
returns with a follow up album to her stunningly sparse, cyclically inspired (as
Richards’ instruments were set up in a semi circle during recording sessions) 2018
album, Full Moon (Relative Pitch).  The new collection of compositions is entitled
Take the Neon Lights (Birdwatcher).**

A glaring difference between _Full Moon_ and _Take the Neon Lights_ is that Richards
expanded her band enlisting, James Carney on piano, Sam Minaie on bass and Andrew
Munsey on drums, compared to her duo collaboration with Dino J. A. Deane on _Full
Moon_**. **Of course, this expansion of instrumental collaboratorsmakes _Take the
Neon Lights_** **fuller and more layered. My interpretation of the album’s title
would be that Richards created an ode to New York City and the hustle and bustle
of urban life. The second track of the album, “Brooklyn Machine,” is uptempo where
Richards plays short, tights riffs that morph, slur and transform throughout the
composition, creating a free jazz track with just enough chaos to convey the gritty
beauty, busyness, unpredictability and stressful navigation of gentrification that
exists in the borough.

After the first two tracks, the album begins to gradually slow down, allowing the
listener more of a chance to hear the interchanges and chemistry between Minaie’s
bass playing, Carney’s piano performance and Munsey’s honed hi-hat skills and drumming.

The third track, “Time and Grime” opens with a tribalistic-jazz fusion drum solo
from Munsey, that is mixed his bellowing bass drum and mixed with brushed toms that
are played in a uniquely flowing, almost circular, rolling pattern. Richards and
Minae come in together with sparse, clipped, 8th notes that swirl around one another.
Carney comes in later with a similar playing style. The band only slightly swells
through the middle of the song, but their chemistry is so on point that even the
smallest crescendo is perfectly blended between all players.

As the album continues, Carney’s piano playing begins to take more of a lead in 
the band without overshadowing Richards’ controlled and focused performances that
remain steeped in free jazz and creative music language. The band has a natural 
flow, each player knows when to fill the smallest hole of silence. If Minae’s bass
and Munsey’s drumming are bonding and melding, Carney pauses, then finds his place
whether it is to play a brief chord driven a riff to fill in a sparse moment, or
to play light arpeggios to blend and bond with Richards’ trumpeting, which at times
can be fast-paced or slow and vulnerable. Each player has a well timed intuition
and is able to make Richards’ compositions move forward without a hitch.

The fourth track, “Rumor of War,” is a Hitchcockian piece resembling a battle growing
from a creepy suspicion followed by the slow spreading of paranoia. The following
track, “Transitory (Gleams),” continues the theme with a crawling, sensual, low,
minor-toned musical expression that is somber and portrays a feeling of loneliness.
From “Time and Grime” through to the end of the album continues to exude instrumental
scenes of pain and glamour, privileged depression and invokes the complex sadness
that Billie Holiday so brilliantly sang during her short, yet essential and emotionally
penetrating life.

Stephanie Richards reveals a bit more about herself in the album as a composer and
her ability to create scenic creative music. Her eclectic trumpet style, which is
played in “movements,” throughout each song makes her playing stand out. She isn’t
afraid to bring different moods in her style, never allowing herself to be pressured
into establishing a one mode, seeming uninterested in having her sound being recognizable
in a way where she plays in just one way, or where her albums sound similar enough
to give listeners a chance to know what to expect.

This album is also timely because of the emotions, feelings of betrayal and vulnerability
that are currently going on in the close-knit jazz community in New York. Richards
observes what is going on around her and within to express herself. Whether she’s
looking up at the moon, trying a new way of arranging her instruments or telling
a story. She has a freedom and musical self awareness that is refreshing and out
of the box. The liner notes for Take the Neon Lights on Richards’ Bandcamp profile
reads, _“Using NYC as a backdrop, her compositions are named from poems by icons
Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and Allen Ginsberg, to name a few. Her music explores
a spontaneous prose of grit and brilliance; the ugly beauty of NYC._“

If you are a casual listener, you will be taken on a slow, Edgar Allen Poe-esque
ride that isn’t necessarily scary, but is a look at the world and perspective of
the musician and human being, Stephanie Richards. This album is really strong and
the intention behind the compositions are very well executed. The band gels more
and more as the album goes on and it is a pleasure to listen to. The work is extremely
well done, even outside of the mixing and mastering, Richards is opening up and 
understanding more and more about how to create crisp thematic scenes and images
through her music.

![Image result for Stephanie Richards – Take the neon lights](https://i0.wp.com/
f4.bcbits.com/img/a1716966144_10.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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