Though she hasn’t recorded prolifically in the trio format with bass and drums, pianist Angelica Sanchez is marvelously effective in that setting, as her 2017 outing, Float the Edge, amply demonstrated. While that release featured her playing original music with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, Sparkle Beings finds her with Formanek and drum legend Billy Hart, aka Jabali, a Sanchez mentor recording with her for the first time. “Generational Bonds”, “Phantasmic Friend” and “Sparkle Beings” are improvised, abstract, largely out-of-tempo ruminations that reveal a deeply attuned trio chemistry in every moment. “A Fungus Amungus” is a Mary Lou Williams solo piano piece from Black Christ of the Andes (1964), reimagined for trio in a way that highlights the group’s empathic interplay and primal power. “With (Exit)” is from Cecil Taylor’s 1968 Blue Note album, Conquistador!, distilled down from its original length to a relatively straightforward theme and exposition. “Preludio a un preludio”, one of the more subdued pieces, is by Mexican pianist and bolero composer Mario Ruiz Armengol, while the closing track is from Duke Ellington’s 1972 album Latin American Suite, the grandeur of which comes across even without a big band.