by Steph Cosme
Shiri Zorn, George Muscatello, and Mauricio Zottarelli, have released an album that thrives in a trio of voice, guitar, and percussion. The result is Looking for Light an album with an uncommon sonic palette that feels vivid and compositionally refined. The eight selections drawing from jazz, Brazilian samba, Middle Eastern modalities, and chamber-like interplay, the trio constructs an immersive musical dialogue of originals and arrangements.
Shiri Zorn is a vocalist that uses her voice as a tone sculptor, phrase-shaper, interpreter, and genre bridge. Whether channeling the airy restraint of the cool jazz era or infusing her sound with Middle Eastern melisma, she brings elegance and vocal depth in equal measure.
George Muscatello assumes many roles in a bass-less trio, and he meets the challenge with lyrical ingenuity. His harmonic textures are lush and his playing transmits a strong sense of time. His solos are always thematically driven as he engages in musical storytelling with clarity and nuance, guiding each track’s harmonic arc.
Mauricio Zottarelli is the glue for the rhythmic fusion, delivering refined playing with a deep pocket. His percussion dances with the trio’s sound. His use of silence, texture, and deep listening adds richness to the group’s sound. He is the energy behind the album’s rhythmic cohesion.
“It’s Alright with Me” is built from Zorn’s vocals functioning as a percussive instruments. The feel intensifies as Zottarelli and Muscatello layer in. The song develops with each player entering new textures each time through the form. This forward moment is climaxed in an interlude where trio play a common figure. During the solo section, Muscatello’s guitar outlines the harmonic space and provides resonate counterpoint. The trio works to bring the imagination of the arrangement to life as Zorn’s phrasing is precise and emotionally open. The trio performs a creative reinterpretation of this standard.
Within the framework of “So Nice (Summer Samba),” the trio takes us on a sonic topography that feels playful and conversational. Zorn’s unaccompanied singing of the melody rings with clarity, her tone forming the latticework of the melody with fluid phrasing. The interplay and layering between Muscatello and Zottarelli has the nuance that defines this sound space with an engaging rock overtone. The three players inflect the feel with ornamentation, gently developing the tune’s creative arrangement and introducing its many flavors of musicality.
“Nothing at All” is a Muscatello and Zorn original composition that thrives on interesting textures and melodies. Muscatello’s guitar lines give the modal colors of the feel. Each feel has a bassline, like paths through the harmonic forest. Zorn’s voice becomes an instrument of lyrics and tone, always attuned to the emotional interplay of the moment. Zottarelli lays down a rhythmic terrain that pulses from below, his motion is felt, guiding the listener through the piece’s shifting parts. This original shows the interior landscape the trio can rendered in delicate detail to create an enjoyable sonic architecture. You don’t just hear the song, but enter it.
In Looking for Light, Shiri Zorn, George Muscatello, and Mauricio Zottarelli have a conventional trio crafting immersive sound spaces. Each track is sculpted world of music patterns and surprises. Across the album, the trio uses space of guitar, voice, and percussion to interlock with rare sensitivity. What emerges is a trio that co-create acoustic ecosystems, inviting listeners to inhabit the music. That’s the short of it!
