Ensemble Volcanic Ash

A composer and cellist who’s honed a singular synthesis of composition, orchestration and improvisation, Janel Leppin is best known as half of the experimental duo Janel and Anthony, which she co-leads with her husband guitarist Anthony Pirog. The chamber-jazz Ensemble Volcanic Ash materialized after years of incubation on Washington D.C.’s verdant new music, jazz and improvised music scenes. With this release, she steps forward as a bandleader in her own right, delivering a gorgeous debut brimming with singular musicians. The seven-piece group melds an illustrious array of D.C. talent into a glimmering expressive organism that surges, expands, ebbs and dances in multiple directions at once.
The powerhouse cast gets plenty of opportunities to shine, but it’s Leppin’s compositions that define the group in radiant, Technicolor splendor. Elegant and raw, persuasively logical and thrumming with emotion, her lapidary themes take shape with exquisite detail. Like with jazz’s most consequent composers, Leppin’s writing flows from the idiosyncratic voices in her ensemble, players who imbue every passage with their irrepressible personalities. As an instrumental voice she’s the first among equals, laying down expansive emotional parameters with each striking solo and cello-forward... more
credits
releases July 29, 2022
Janel Leppin – Cello, Keyboards
Luke Stewart – Bass
Kim Sator – Harp
Anthony Pirog – Guitar
Larry Ferguson – Drums
Sarah Hughes – Alto Saxophone
Brian Settles – Tenor Saxophone
Compositions by Janel Leppin.
Recorded by Mike Reina at The Brink Analog and Digital Studio, Centreville, VA on January 23, 2022.
Mixed and mastered by Mike Reina.