The Tomeka Reid Quartet - dance! skip! hop! (Out of Your Head, 2026) *****

By Gary Chapin

Every once in a while I’m reminded that I have a sweet spot in music and when that spot — that spot of sonic, cosmic equilibrium — is hit, then things in my head are just, in a profound way, going to be okay. The spot is defined by a deep groove, reckless composition, and a romance with the outside. Think of records by Eric Dolphy, Air, the Jazz Passengers, or Mike Formanek. My point (and I do have one) is that the Tomeka Reid Quartet (featuring Reid, cello; Mary Halvorsen, guitar; Jason Roebke, bass and cassette; Tomas Fujiwara, percussion) hits that spot dead on, and I am five stars happier than before I listened.

I wasn’t surprised that this was so. Reid comes out of an org (the AACM) that pioneered groove outre music, and she’s part of a group … or movement? school? tribe? “group of people who play all the time on each others’ records” … for whom this sort of Hemphilian tomfoolery is bread and butter. I’m talking about the nexus that includes (but is not limited to) Reid, Halvorsen, Fujiwara, Nick Dunston, Patricia Brennan, Adam O’Farrill, and the late, wonderful, Susan Alcorn.

This particular record telegraphs its intentions with its title, “dance! skip! jump!” It’s a string ensemble with percussion, and the title track timbrally evokes Black string bands. It’s got the lightness and ebullience (both necessary if you are going to “skip!”) Fujiwara’s brushes do a lot of the levitating. The second track, “a(ways) For CC and CeCe,” starts in a knotty place with the drums and bass giving attitude. When Reid enters on cello, It becomes an ode, loving well. “Oo long!” sets a hip and sinister groove. I am charmed by the pun title and want to know what it has to do with the apparently hip and sinister tea. “Under the Aurora Sky” enters a balladic or pastoral space, introspective. “Silver String Fig Tree” is a freer, more expansive conversation between the players with some interesting structures supporting it — for example, a section were Reid repeats a five note riff with a lot of space, and the others live on top of that.

Best of 2026 so far.