Barcelona-based Coloma Bertran likes to call her playing eclectic violin. Which is to say that she's as comfortable with fiddlin' a hoe-down as she is with a baroque quartet. Most of the time on this album she sounds a lot like a violinist who adores Django Reinhart.

Coloma Bertran Principis (Microscopi)

And boy, is there a lot to like there. But Bertran merely dabbles in the Gypsy blues, preferring to spin and whorl into completely different dimensions. Most often on this album she is playing with a quartet, but the numbers and instruments vary according to the needs of the song.

Not unlike Coltrane so many years ago (in fact, years before the movie), Bertran reinvents "My Favorite Things" in such a personal way that her rendition is more of statement of who she is rather than what the song means to her. She is so invested in the song that it is a true expression of her.

As is this album. Bertran's interests range far afield, and her playing pushes that range even farther ahead. Far from stuffy, Bertran's eclecticism is a populist joy. She can bow up a storm, but even at her most frenetic she still sounds like she's conversing. Her ability to express intimate ideas in an almost off-handed way is impressive. Fun and wondrous.

Jon Worley