In the wake of the latest acclaimed release from Mustafa Stefan Dill’s Love Unfold the Sun, Explode Yourself, the ever-inventive, ever-expressive Dill (guitar, oud) brings a new free-improv quartet, Love Unfold the Moon, to the stage at Entropy Gallery in Santa Fe on July 11 to celebrate its first release, Hidden Promises in Joined Terrains, Apex Emerging. (On July 2, Love Unfold the Sun will make a much-anticipated appearance at the Outpost in Albuquerque.)
Love Unfold the Moon
Hidden Promises in Joined Terrains, Apex Emerging (Norumba Records)
A review
If Love Unfold the Sun’s electric Explode Yourself blasted open a path through the planet-threatening miasma of hate, greed, and ignorance with its 10 tracks of well-placed detonations of joy, Love Unfold the Moon’s acoustic Hidden Promises in Joined Terrains, Apex Emerging (HPJTAE) takes a somewhat less aggressive but equally intense approach to widen the path.
In the new quartet, Dill is joined by an intergenerational crew that includes veteran bassist Ben Wright and two newcomers, violinist Ash Mattia, currently at Berklee College of Music, and drummer Thor Rodriguez, a CalArts jazz student. The difference in age and experience presents no difficulties in communication among these four expert musicians as they undertake a long-form collaboration that features both free improvisation and composed passages.
“Our methodology inverts the standard jazz modus operandi,” Dill explains in his notes on the recording. “Rather than the unidirectional linearity of head-solos-head, in LUTM written motifs and unison passages surface from within the improvisational flow and are arrived at, rather than departed from.”
The journey to and from these passages moves through a range of Dill’s and his bandmates’ influences—blues, classical, flamenco, jazz, and Middle Eastern makams. While the piece is continuous, with an ever-changing musical topography, it is subtly demarcated into three parts on the album—“HPJTAE, Part 1,” “HPJTAE, Part 2,” and “HPJTAE, Part 3”—indicating Dill’s passage from guitar to oud and back to guitar. (A digital-only bonus track, the lovely “Taksim, Makam Taos,” is also available, with additional tracks to be released in 2026.)
Dill’s choice of violin and violinist defines the character of the quartet. Mattia’s sound, which ranges from something like a harmonica to something like an electric guitar, his deft touch, his responsiveness, and his fearless expressiveness belie his youth. A violin and oud passage in the more seductive and subdued “HPJTAE, Part 2” is particularly noteworthy.
HPJTAE demands active listening and rewards it. The opportunity to hear this group live presents an invitation to a potentially ecstatic experience.
Mustafa Stefan Dill — Love Unfold the Moon CD Release Concert
A Presentation of the Avant Jazz Workshop Series
Entropy Gallery
1220 Parkway Drive Santa Fe, NM 87507
July 11 • 7:30 p.m.
Doors 7:00 p.m.
$10
Mustafa Stefan Dill — Love Unfold the Sun
30th Annual Summer Thursday Jazz Nights
Outpost Performance Space
210 Yale Blvd. SE
July 2 • 7:30 p.m.
Doors 6:30 p.m.
$17.13–$33.10
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© 2026 Mel Minter