BREW

from 19e Guelph Jazz Festival (2012) Paul J. Youngman – September 2012

Miya Masaoka/Reggie Workman/Gerry Hemingway

Brew is a collective trio that gave its first performance in New York in 1999. Employing compositions and improvisations from all three members, Brew dismantles previous paradigms of the role of koto, drums and bass and seeks to construct a new hierarchical model - subverting and re-defining the “leading line or melodic voice” and assumed role of the instruments. The strong artistic voice of each member renders this trio a singular place in improvised music.

Brew’s unique and original sound is shaped by the legendary bassist
Reggie Workman (with John Coltrane in the 1960’s, the Reggie Workman Ensemble, Trio Three) and kotoist and monochordist Miya Masaoka (projects with Bang On a Can, ROVA, Pharoah Sanders, Ornette Coleman, Fred Frith, George Lewis, Berkeley Symphony) and percussionist Gerry Hemingway (Anthony Braxton Quartet, Gerry Hemingway Quartet & Quintet, BassDrumBone, Marilyn Crispell).

Brew released a 2 CD set on Clean Feed Records on June 23, 2023 combining the 1999 studio and live recordings of Brew in NYC entitled "Heat" coupled together with the 2019 studio recording of "Between Reflection" You can hear excerpts from the production here.

Review from Simon Camatta in freStil

[Excerpt from full review] Trio Brew throws a lot of sound into this with this double release Universe. Heat from 1999 and Between Reflections twenty years later vividly document the band's history over several decades. Very energetically and musically weave on heat strings, cymbals, drumheads and a lot more about structures that swell in different ways. With great dynamics, lots of percussion and personality, slightly dramatic in between, and usually very impulsively, the three play around each other with big ears and playfulness. The pieces around five minutes jump between continents and Genres, continually spit out new sounds and yet are in their own way one unity. A hot affair.

[in Deutsch] Eine Menge Sound wirft das Trio Brew mit dieser Doppel-Veröffentlichung in das Universum. Heat von 1999 und das zwanzig Jahre spätere Between Reflections dokumentieren eindringlich die Bandgeschichte über mehrere Dekaden. Sehr energisch und musikalisch verweben auf Heat Saiten, Becken, Trommelfelle und noch einiges mehr zu immer wieder unterschiedlich aufschwellenden Gebilden. Mit großer Dynamik, viel Percussion und Persönlichkeit, leicht dramatisch zwischendurch und meist sehr treibend umspielen sich die drei mit großen Ohren und Spielwitz. Die Stücke um die fünf Minuten springen zwischen Kontinenten und Genres, spucken kontinuierlich neue Klänge aus und sind doch auf ihre eigene Art eine Einheit. Eine heiße Angelegenheit. Simon Camatta - freiStil Jan/Feb 2024 #111

Review from Marc Medwin in Point of Departure click link for full review.

[Excerpt from full review] The combination of recording sessions that span twenty-one years tempts the listener to consider how the group may have changed over that time, and one can definitely hear changes in recording technology, and effects, and inclinations towards multi-instrumentalism. But what persists is how well these musicians facilitate the manifestation of an uncommon common sound. Marc Medwin - Point of Departure

Review in DUSTED from Bill Meyer (December 11, 2023)

Brew is a trio that has existed since the late 1990s, when Miya Masaoka and Reggie Workman invited Gerry Hemingway to join their duo. They gigged and recorded enough around that time to put together a debut album, Brew, but never managed to line up its official release. They kept working together, and during a visit that Hemingway made back to New York (he currently lives and teaches in Switzerland) in late 2019 they checked into Acoustic Recordings for a day to make another record. Apparently Hemingway’s robust ongoing relationship with the Portuguese Clean Feed label propped the door of opportunity open wide enough to turn one album into two, so now we can consider 20 years in the history of a band you might not even have known existed.

Before considering the merits of Brew and Between Reflections as recordings, this has to be said — what a band! The unlikeliness of its line-up — one experimental koto player, one bassist who has John Coltrane, Art Blakey, and the New York Art Quartet on his c.v., and one drummer who juggles concepts, meters and sounds in settings as diverse as a piano trio playing Billy Strayhorn tunes and a band led by Anthony Braxton — is easily forgotten once you hear the depth of their rapport. Each musician places their distinct understanding of their instrument at the service of a mercurial collective sound, yielding consistently thrilling results.