Few Of A Kind debut EP

A few years back, I joined the reboot of a chamber ensemble, started by trumpeter Brandon Ridenour and violinist-singer Ben Russell. They'd already brought on two other new musicians: Andrew Gutauskas on bass clarinet & baritone sax, and Yousif Sheronick on percussion - both conservatory-trained and brilliantly versatile, like Ben and Brandon. "You guys know I didn't, like, study study music, right?" Yes, they did. I've been the giddy kid sister of Few Of A Kind ever since.

And now we have an EP out! It includes a fresh take on "Transcontinental, 1:30am" from my Dreaming Through the Noise days; Brandon's timely, St.-James-Infirmary imbued setting of the Maya Angelou poem "Alone"; a wild romp in 5/4 time called "Fives Alive" by Andrew, channeling machine-learning mayhem; and Ben's impassioned arrangement of Bobby Bland's gem "Two Steps From the Blues."