WORKS — Brooklyn's Most Patient Band Makes Their Second Album

After seventeen years of playing together, the Brooklyn trio WORKS releases their second album, Scouring For The Elements, on November 1, 2024. The group—Michel Gentile on flute, Daniel Kelly on piano, and Rob Garcia on drums—has been making music together since 2007.

The twelve-track album includes compositions from each musician plus four group improvisations. Their combination of flute, piano, and drums sets them apart from typical jazz groups, creating music that has earned praise from critics at The Village Voice and DownBeat Magazine.

These musicians bring rich backgrounds to their collaboration. Michel Gentile, who studied at the New England Conservatory of Music, has played with Ray Charles, Joe Lovano, and Fred Hersch. His piece "Diary of a Missing Voice" comes from a deeply personal place—his three-year-old daughter's experience with selective mutism, during which she stopped speaking entirely. "She insisted on playing bass notes to a piece I thought I was composing alone," Gentile says. "In the end, she dictated the direction the music took." Another Gentile composition, "When Elephants Mourn Their Dead," reflects on how these animals show reverence for their deceased, suggesting lessons humans might learn about the sanctity of life.

Pianist Daniel Kelly writes music that often connects to specific places and memories. His composition "Forgotten Memories" uses four separate melody lines moving independently, while "Forest Walk" captures what he calls "the relaxing quality" of walking among trees. His piece "Experiment in 5" shifts between moods, opening with a lyrical melody floating over repeating piano patterns before jumping to aggressive, full-band rhythmic unisons. Beyond WORKS, Kelly has played with Grammy winners Michael Brecker and Joe Lovano and created music projects that mix journalism, literature, and visual art.

Time Out New York called drummer Rob Garcia "a prime mover in the current Brooklyn jazz scene." He's played on over 70 albums, including several Grammy winners, and worked with artists ranging from Wynton Marsalis to David Byrne to Diana Krall. His composition "Something That You Can Do" opens the new album with playful arrangements of pitch collections.

The title track, written by Gentile, connects to sculptor Jimmy Greenfield's work—specifically, an earth-carved piece showing three life-sized men searching. Gentile translated this visual art into music through a three-part canon structure.

Since 2007, WORKS has anchored Connection Works, a Brooklyn non-profit that has put on over 250 concerts and many educational workshops. Their concert series, Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open, regularly makes the New York Times critics' picks and has featured major artists like NEA Jazz Masters Dave Liebman and Sheila Jordan. The group has expanded beyond traditional jazz formats, performing with chamber orchestra and the Mivos string quartet, and commissioning big band pieces featuring the trio.

Their first album got four stars from DownBeat Magazine, which picked it as one of 2013's best releases. Ron Netsky in The Rochester City Paper wrote that the album "goes way beyond superb musicianship, entering the realm of true innovation." Dave Sumner at Bird Is The Worm called it "full of tiny thrills, evocative interludes, and a charming buoyancy."

The new album's final section features four group improvisations. "Sound Sanctuary" explores overtone patterns, while "Gravitas" builds from the piano's lowest strings. "Prepared Uncertainty" examines how limiting parameters can create freedom, and "Inverted Cloud" plays with perspective, showing how unconventional thinking can sharpen reality's focus.

The Village Voice noted the band's "dynamic writing," while Paul Pines of the Lake George Festival praised their ability to mix improvisation with "depth, humor and discovery." Writing in DownBeat, Chris Robinson highlighted their "meaty" compositions with "several clever wrinkles."

Listeners can hear the new music live at Brooklyn's IBeam on November 2 and at Quinn's in Beacon, NY, on November 11.