Javier Santiago

SLUGish Ensemble: In Solitude

by Robert Middleton
October 14, 2023

This is an extremely satisfying and enjoyable album on so many levels. First of all, it is infused with lovely, dancing grooves. The opener, “Del Sur," sets the pace with a provocative, snakelike bass clarinet solo. It all falls into place like a song one has known forever. Most of the songs name-check the streets of the Miraloma neighborhood in San Francisco, where Steven Lugerner lived during the pandemic and where he came to embrace solitude. In the ...