Trombonist and composer Kalia Vandever has been featured in this space before; she led a recent installment of Take Five, with the lead single from her album Regrowth… “Soft" is the composition that opens the new album, with a melody whose offbeat syncopation, arranged for Vandever's trombone and Immanuel Wilkins' alto saxophone, combines poplike concision with a whisper of classical minimalism.
…Despite the roil of some world-historical disruptions, Vandever has only sharpened the angle of her ascent, both as a solo artist and in the role of support. Vandever's forthcoming album — fittingly titled Regrowth, and due out on New Amsterdam Records on May 6 — confirms her strengths as a composer and bandleader with a distinctly contemporary point of view.