Pedernal

Baltimore-based pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn has taken her instrument well beyond its expected idiomatic confines to develop one of the most distinctive voices in improvised music. On *Pedernal*, she leads a quintet made up entirely of strings, save for drummer Ryan Sawyer. Accompanied by violinist Mark Feldman, guitarist Mary Halvorson, and bassist Michael Formanek, she weaves an unusual ensemble fabric with her dark and warm pedal steel tone at the center. This unique instrument allows her to create lyrical legato through lines even in highly abstract contexts, as well as surpassingly strange harmonies and sonic textures—all with an approach to phrasing and articulation that is identifiably pedal steel through and through. The players take up challenging written passages with poise and dig into the varied improvised scenarios that Alcorn cooks up. The elements all coalesce with particular clarity on “Circular Ruins.” On the final track, “Northeast Rising Sun,” the mood of cloudy mystery lifts: The band can be heard laughing as they rehearse a section with handclaps, then jump into an infectious melody that wouldn’t be out of character for Pat Metheny.

After a series of solo, duo, and trio recordings, Baltimore-based pedal steel maven Susan Alcorn steps out on her own as a bandleader with Pedernal. Enlisting a top-flight band (frequent collaborators Mary Halvorson and Michael Formanek, Mark Feldman, and Ryan Sawyer), Alcorn debuts five wide-ranging original tunes that draw from the many musical worlds she’s passed through, touching on jazz swing, improvisatory exploration, and pedal-steel twang. The title track and the suite-like “Circular Ruins,” both written during a month off the grid in a cabin in New Mexico, display both her gift for melody and her appetite for following where improvisation leads. “Night in Gdansk,” long a staple of her solo sets, and the hand-clap-driven “Northeast Rising Sun” bookend the emotional extremes of the music, from brooding to buoyant. Animated by her compositions and fantastic ensemble and solo performances, Pedernal paints a comprehensive musical self-portrait of an artist reaching a peak.

By now, creative music fans know Susan Alcorn for her feat in bringing the pedal steel guitar to New York's downtown music scene, with guitarist Mary...