Is it possible to review an Alison Brown album without mentioning Bela Fleck?
Apparently not yet, for the history of modern banjo is like a tumbling row of dominoes, with each player nudged by whoever came before them. Thus it was Fleck’s fate to be compared to Eric Weissberg, who had been compared to Tony Trischka, and he to John McEuen, and so on down the line to Earl Scruggs (and beyond).
Time does eventually let us consider these artists on their own merit. Stolen Moments is, then, one more step toward enlightenment, so that even the dimmest bulbs can understand why Brown’s similarities to Fleck — mainly, jaw-dropping virtuosity — are ultimately beside the point.
There are, for example, few thrill rides on Stolen Moments. Evidence abounds of Brown’s technique — that lickety-split run at the end of the second verse on “Musette For A Palindrome”, played in harmony with mandolinist Mike Marshall, is especially sweet — but it invariably serves the arrangement, with little of the “gasp!” factor Fleck often induces.
Some of this owes to the instrumentation — no strap-on drum controllers, no faster-than-light string-popping bass. Jazz is less of a factor, aside from a brief and brilliant solo by pianist John R. Burr on “One Morning In May”. And there are guest vocals, the best coming from Beth Nielsen Chapman on Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel”, which elegantly reflects Brown’s aesthetic: simple, eloquent, and fully original.