Vibraphonist, marimbist, and composer Patricia Brennan celebrates her album Of The Near And Far on Pyroclastic Records (out October 24, 2025).

Brennan draws deep inspiration from astronomy, blending music with cosmic observation. Fueled by her lifelong fascination with constellations and geometrical patterns in the sky, Brennan superimposed celestial shapes onto musical structures to craft the album’s harmonic and melodic content. Composed during her 2024 Jazz Gallery Residency Commission, the album builds on her acclaimed 2024 release Breaking Stretch and expands her creative scope by incorporating her classical training, electronic experimentation, and love for 1990s alt-rock. Featuring a ten-piece ensemble that merges jazz, string quartet, and electro-acoustic elements, Brennan constructs compositions that defy categorization, with string writing inspired by classical composers, alongside avant-garde textures rooted in contemporary chamber and percussion music.

Thematically, Of The Near and Far traverses myth, science, and emotion. Each piece is tied to a specific constellation or astronomical idea — like “Andromeda,” which reflects mythic drama and galactic chaos, or “Antlia,” which depicts mechanical precision. Brennan’s approach balances intellectual design with instinctive musicality, ensuring emotional resonance within her conceptual frameworks. Ultimately, Brennan sees this project as a personal and artistic attempt to connect her inner world of sound with the infinite universe, affirming a shared origin and destiny between humanity and the stars.

“The jazz world can get stuck in a battle between the head and the heart, but rarely do you find an improviser like Patricia Brennan [whose] music seems to exist in a realm outside the body, but stays loaded with feeling.” –The New York Times

Modney violin
Pala Garcia violin
Kyle Armbrust viola
Michael Nicolas cello
Sylvie Courvoisier piano
Miles Okazaki guitar
Kim Cass bass
John Hollenbeck drums
Arktureye electronics
Patricia Brennan vibraphone with electronics, compositions
Eli Greenhoe conductor

A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing.

Vibraphonist, marimbist, improviser and composer Patricia Brennan “has been widely feted as one of the instrument’s newer leaders,” observed The New York City Jazz Record. She was recently awarded “Vibraphonist Of The Year” by the 2025 DownBeat’s 73rd Critics Poll and “Mallet Instrument Player of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association on their JJA 2025 Jazz Awards. She was also a nominee for the JJA’s “Up & Coming Musician of the Year” award. Brennan also won the rising star vibraphonist award in DownBeat’s 70th (2022) and 72nd (2024) Critics Poll.

Her extensive sidewoman credits include her work with the Grammy-nominated John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, Michael Formanek Ensemble Kolossus, Mary Halvorson’s Amaryllis and Arturo O’Farrill’s Grammy-winning Afro Latin Jazz Big Band, amongst other groups and collectives.

Brennan’s own projects include the solo project Maquishiti; MOCH, a collaborative duo with percussionist, drummer and turntablist Noel Brennan (Arktureye); More Touch, a quartet with Mauricio Herrera on percussion, Marcus Gilmore on drums and Kim Cass on bass; the Patricia Brennan Septet, featuring the rhythm section from More Touch supplemented by Adam O’Farrill on trumpet, Jon Irabagon on alto and sopranino saxophones and Mark Shim on tenor saxophone; and Talamanti, a piano and mallet percussion duo with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier.

Brennan’s most recent album, Breaking Stretch, garnered widespread acclaim, earning spots on multiple Best Jazz Albums of 2024 lists including The New York Times Top 10 and NPR’s 50 Best Albums of 2024. Breaking Stretch was also awarded “Album Of The Year” on the 2025 73rd DownBeat Critics Poll. Patricia Brennan’s work has been released on labels including is a Valley of Search, Pyroclastic Records, BlueHaus Mallets artist, and Audeze artist. Patricia is currently faculty at the Jazz Arts program at Manhattan School of Music, the Jazz Studies program at NYU Steinhardt and the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.