Frequently topping jazz media polls in the US since her 2021 solo debut release Maquishti, the young Mexican-born New York resident vibraphone-marimba specialist Patricia Brennan is also a strikingly original contemporary jazz composer. Although her Latin heritage is key to her intricately percussive writing, she previously engaged with leading classical orchestras and jazz ensembles in her home city as well.

Her third album, the second for pianist Kris Davis’ label, is largely made up of musicians she's shared the bandstand with since residing in New York - guitarist Mary Halvorson's Amaryllis as well as the ensembles of Matt Mitchell and Tomas Fujiwara.

Adding a triumvirate of frontline horns to 2022's impressive More Touch quartet, the pungent horn arrangements perhaps draw some inspiration from her work with the larger ensembles of John Hollenbeck and Michael Formanek. Her originals, almost half of which come with Spanish-language titles, convincingly balance an eccentric playfulness with a spooky grey soundworld.

There are tunes that drag Bernard Hermann-ish jazz noir and elements of Mingus into deeper abstraction and ones where chamber avant-classical jazz and bop idioms are filtered through an arcane sonic landscape. Her signature bendy sci-fi tones on vibes are placed tastefully and never sound gimmicky.

The Jamaican-born Mark Shim on post-bop tenor, is an unsung lyrically incisive soloist and natural foil for higher-toned sax specialist Jon Irabagon's more high-wire post-Ornette approach, and the tonal extremes suggest a larger ensemble soundscape. With Breaking Stretch Brennan continues to be an impressive alternative voice on the New York jazz scene.