The quintet has released the final album of a remarkable trilogy inspired by Melford’s fascination with artist Cy Twombly. It’s a keeper.
Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Quintet
Sure Grand Out (RogueArt)
A review
As she did on For the Love of Fire and Water and Hear the Light Singing, pianist and composer Myra Melford again turns to the work of artist Cy Twombly for a scintillating collection of compositions for her exceptional Fire and Water Quintet: Melford (piano), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor and soprano saxophones), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomeka Reid (cello), and Lesley Mok (drums). The album opens on the title track, with a kinetic, angular, Monk-ish piano figure that turns up again and again in the tune, providing the ground on which the quintet dances. Having played together for four years now, these musicians possess an uncanny awareness of one another, never missing a step as they move through the track’s written and spontaneous elements—not always easy to distinguish—with different combinations of players coming to the front as the track unfolds. It’s a pattern that repeats throughout the album, with small cells of rhythmic energy, rather than a melodic head, providing the starting point, reappearing, and often serving to divide a composition’s largely improvisational sections. While the previous albums focused more on specific Twombly pieces, Sure Grand Out occupies itself with a broader perspective, as Melford says in Steve Smith’s excellent liner notes: “I’m getting to a distillation point where it’s more about responding to a greater depth of understanding and knowledge of his work, and less about individual pieces—his use of energy, his use of gesture, how he distributes those gestures in space, the physicality of his work that’s obvious in the larger paintings, where he’s using a mop to paint and make these gestures.” Energy, gesture, timbre, spatial awareness, kineticism, and an irrepressible spontaneity infuse all of Melford’s compositions, and the Fire and Water Quintet’s electric energy, virtuosity, and fearless collaboration enable a clear expression of her artistic intentions. You won’t come away from this music humming a pretty melody, but its determined optimism and its unique musicality may well elevate your day, as it did mine.
The album is available on CD, on Bandcamp (CD and digitally), and at shows. No streaming services.
For more on Melford’s approach to the Twombly project, check out this conversation we had.
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© 2026 Mel Minter