Pluto in Aquarius is the third album from cellist Janel Leppin‘s Ensemble Volcanic Ash. It follows 2024’s aclaimed To March Is to Love.
Fans of the quintet’s sometimes chaotic weave of formal composition and improvisation are in for something different here. These compositions and arrangements are lower to the ground, more intimate, and spacious even at their most adventurous. The avant chamber group of their first two outings has given way to a rawer, looser approach by these Washington, D.C.-area luminaries that include guitarist Anthony Pirog, bassist Luke Stewart, tenor saxophonist Brian Settles, and drummer Larry Ferguson. Leppin plays cello and the Yamaha CP-70 electric grand piano.
There is tension here, but it’s developmental…
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Pianist