The 2025 release Standard Stoppages marked the 20th anniversary of the Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion. As a result, it contains quite a mix of material, from that provided by the group’s longtime collaborators to pieces from composers outside its usual orbit. The mixed-bag effect common on anniversary releases can be a negative, but here, it works to showcase the range of influences that appear in the group’s work. The members reached out to various figures with whom they hadn’t collaborated in the past as a way of marking the occasion. One of those was the Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain, who died during the album’s production, and fans of his music may well want to hear the album for his two-movement Murmurs in Time alone. The work is an interesting fusion of Hussain’s usual procedures with classical composition, but equally noteworthy are the pieces Third Coast Percussion has arranged from pieces in other media, works that one might not initially suspect would be amenable to percussion treatment. Consider Jessie Montgomery’s three-movement In Color Suite, from an earlier work originally for tuba and string quartet. Another possibility is offered by Dzoka Kumba of Zimbabwean player Musekiwa Chingodza, who plays his own mbira here, backed by the ensemble, with a mix of Shona and Western percussion instruments. The album is not only highly listenable in itself but also offers a new direction for an ensemble that has been around for 20 years and seems likely to be around for 20 more. Another strong point is the sound from a production team headed by Judith Sherman and Colin Campbell from a pair of Chicago studios; the group’s physical layouts are captured in a way that will reward holders of fine stereo equipment or headphones.

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