This 24-year-old San Francisco-born, NY-based vibraphonist-composer showed great promise on her 2019 debut Azalea, with her unique brand of obliquely impressionist Milesian electric jazz and her Gary Burton-inspired four-mallet approach. Having previously contributed to bands among them Tyshawn Sorey and Nicolas Payton, she releases an even stronger second album Onyx. Berliner hires a hipper personnel for a more direct, theme-solos based approach but the creative musicianship and ensemble cohesion are palpable throughout the recording. The drummer Marcus Gilmore’s hypnotic, razor-sharp whirlwind grooves ups the intensity, skirting the borders of hip-hop and latin-fusion genres, while James Francies’ exhilarating acoustic piano solos are a highlight. Berliner makes her mark as a composer-arranger too opening with the haunting ‘Jade’ that faintly echoes Wayne Shorter with her and saxophonist Jaleel Shaw sustaining the mystery vibe in their sharply focussed solos.

The only non-original ‘My Funny Valentine’ is performed as two parts with the first being a highly impressive vibes monologue of theme and looping embellishments; it leads into the second part played by the quartet on which once again Francies’ piano shines brightest. Female jazz vibraphonists might not come along too often, but genuinely fresh-sounding voices on the instrument such as Sasha Berliner’s are in even shorter supply.