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This is Ben Williams Week!

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

Two nights ago, bassist Ben Williams, winner of the 2009 Thelonious Monk Competition sold out The Harlem Stage Gatehouse on the heels of the release of his debut album, State of Art (Concord Jazz).

The New York Times‘ Nate Chinen wrote in the Jazz Listings for June 24 – 30:

“You may know Mr. Williams, a bassist, for his sterling sideman work, or for winning the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2009. Now you can know him for “State of Art,” his polished debut, due out on Tuesday on Concord. It’s a portrait of modern jazz at the crossroads of pop and R&B…”

That was followed up by the Times’ Ben Ratliff who wrote in The Week Ahead:

“The jazz bassist Ben Williams, originally from Washington but living in Harlem, won the Thelonious Monk Competition two years ago…He’s serious, with excellent rhythm, tone, and energy. The record — summery, cruising jazz-funk with a Fender Rhodes — improves toward the middle of each track, when the band members interact and start to show what they can really do…”

The Washington City Paper’s Mike West wrote an album review of State of Art but his most impressive words for Williams came in his weekly Set List:

“It might not be out of line to suggest that Ben Williams is the face of a new golden age in D.C. jazz. The New Yorker-by-way-of-Michigan Park came up working with local bass gurus Michael Bowie, Herman Burney, and Carolyn Kellock before moving onto Michigan State University, Juilliard’s Jazz Studies program, and finally the Big Apple jazz scene, where he played with edgy young musicians like Stefon Harris and Marcus Strickland, as well as artists like Jacky Terrasson and Terrell Stafford. Then he won the 2009 Thelonious Monk Competition for bass, and immediately graduated from insider’s favorite to ‘The One To Watch’….This one is the event of the week.”

The Washington Examiner called him “an original” and “a natural bass player.”

CapitalBop.com’s Giovanni Russonello interviewed Williams and previewed his show thusly:

“Williams’ acoustic bass playing is warm, earthy and precise – not to mention richly lyrical; it’s no wonder he’s a sideman for some of the top names in the game, including Jacky Terrason and Marcus Strickland. As a bandleader, he’s a crusader for the contemporary, playing cards from throughout the deck of African-American popular music. On the album…you’ll find grooving original compositions, a tune dedicated to a hard-bop great but narrated by an emcee, a Woody Shaw classic infused with go-go rhythms and covers of songs by Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. Not to mention one glistening, dissected version of a jazz standard.”

The Washington Post raved:

“Ben Williams is not your usual 20-something jazz musician. Unlike so many of his peers, the bassist doesn’t try to stuff 16th notes into each solo, instead filling them with melodic, carefully shaped phrases.”

This past weekend, Williams made a homecoming to his native Washington, DC for his debut as a bandleader at Bohemian Caverns along with Marcus Strickland on tenor sax, Christian Sands on piano, Gilad Hekselman on guitar and John Davis on drums with special guest percussionist Etienne Charles on djembe and other percussion on Saturday night. Williams had packed shows both nights.

Ben Williams & Sound Effect perform July 19 at 92YTriBeCa as part of the The Checkout Live Series hosted by Josh Jackson of WBGO-FM Newark. At 8:00 p.m. 200 Hudson St. New York, NY / http://www.92y.org/Tribeca

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Bassist Kermit Driscoll Releases His Long Anticipated Debut Album on Nineteen-Eight Records, ‘Reveille’, April 5, 2011

Monday, May 30th, 2011

Featuring guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and pianist Kris Davis

One thing’s certain: it was definitely worth the wait. Kermit Driscoll has been a remarkable bassist and inspired sideman for the last 30 years, but he’s never released an album of his own. Reveille, a program of kaleidoscopic funk, experimental abstractions, and fetching intricacies, rectifies that. It is an achievement that lets the world know Driscoll now wears another hat as well: that of a cagey bandleader.

Reveille’s star-studded quartet united for only a day, but it performs like a group that’s worked together for ages – which in some ways it indeed has. Driscoll and guitarist Bill Frisell are longtime partners. The pair met on the first day of classes at the Berklee College of Music during the mid-‘70s. During that Boston stint, they also connected with drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, the master percussionist who went on to share the stage with everyone from Sting to Frank Zappa to Jeff Beck. (The three played in a New England lounge band, and Driscoll says that somewhere there’s a picture of them sporting their orange disco suits.) Rounding out the Reveille ensemble is pianist Kris Davis, an insightful improviser who’s currently garnering critical acclaim on the New York jazz scene. Under Driscoll’s guidance, this foursome connects on a deep level, making music that blends keenly individual approaches with a palpable sense of sharing.

“There’s not a better compliment I could possibly hear,” says the 54-year-old bassist. “We wanted to make sure we were playing together as a quartet, and I truly think that happened. Actually, we didn’t work at all. We spent the day in the studio having a ball. Joking around, calling up old friends, and playing, playing, playing.”

It was a health crisis that reunited Driscoll with his old pal Colaiuta. The bassist’s near-fatal battle with Lyme disease in 2006 found them reconnecting after being separated for a number of years by the whirlwind of busy schedules. During Driscoll’s worst days, the drummer would call and assure his friend that they were “definitely going to play again.” A year or so later, after an outpouring of good will that included a few benefit concerts, the bassist began to recover.

“It was the energy and love of people,” he says, “and it was quite a lesson. Anything can happen. Vinnie had been so helpful. I definitely wanted to follow up on his offer to play and wanted it to be with Bill, like the old days. Problem is, those two are so busy, it took two years to grab one day when they both could do it.”

Driscoll’s been composing for decades, and Reveille’s program is filled with tunes both ancient and fresh. The poignant “Farm Life” goes back 20 years. In the hands of Frisell, its melody becomes a shimmering string of notes. “Hekete,” named after the goddess of the crossroads, is a new piece that’s truly a siren song. From the glistening intro to Davis’ enchanting circular patterns to the bouncy swing that concludes the action, it demonstrates Driscoll’s view of flexibility.

“I don’t compose all that much,” he says, “but for this record I had the luxury of choosing the things I really wanted. And listening to the results got me excited. I must have written two discs worth of tunes since we cut this album – a real hot streak.”

The non-originals he chose also reveal something about his musical personality. Miles Davis’ “Great Expectations” is an aggressive nugget that everyone gets to rock out on. “Big Fun was the first jazz record I got after leaving a session at Interlochen Arts Camp as a kid,” he says. “I also have this great memory of me and Bill and Joey Baron in a Paris taxi while ‘Great Expectations’ was playing. We just looked at each other and said ‘Oh shit, listen to this.’” It’s exact opposite, the trad twang tune “Chicken Reel,” brings a different kind of frolic to the table. “I set up a sheet with just the melody and said, ‘Okay, let’s play. We morph into other times – it’s a bit of a joke, but it’s fun.”

Driscoll was completely taken with the way his bandmates addressed the variety of material. Colaiuta filled in drum parts that the composer’s charts left wide open. “The more you listen to this album, the more you’ll hear his magic. I don’t even know what the hell he’s playing on ‘Four Hearts.’ It stays in time but moves around. Vinnie always has something like that going on. It’s no surprise – back in college I watched him sight read Charles Ives scores.”

Dedicated jazz fans know that Driscoll and Frisell have been frequent collaborators. The bassist was central to the guitarist’s critically celebrated mid-80s trio, and Driscoll calls his friend a mentor. “I really got fired up about the bass when I met Jaco Pastorious early on, but who’s kidding who, Bill is my main influence. In fact, he has overly influenced me. He is a badass.”

Driscoll met Davis at a rehearsal of John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble. They were playing the drummer’s “Foreign One,” and he found Davis’ touch to be “ballsy.” He immediately set up an informal session in Brooklyn. “Kris, Jeff Davis and I messed around together, and she would sometimes play just one note or stop playing completely – and I said ‘Oh boy, this is the perfect piano player. I don’t know anyone else who’d just take their hands off the piano. Kris is incredible on ‘Hekete.’ She speeds up, slows down, she knows exactly what not to play.”

The same could be said for Driscoll. He uses both electric and acoustic instruments on Reveille, and from the eerie tones of “Ire” to knotty grooves of “Boomstatz,” he leaves plenty of open space around him – another reason that the band sounds so connected. “I could have played a bit more,” he concludes, “but I’m so glad I didn’t. It would have turned into some kind of bass player record, and god, we don’t want that. This album is all about exchange and interaction. The way we worked together, the way John Guth mixed it with a couple of wrong notes left in – I wanted to keep it pure. It all came together, and it sounds a lot better that way – nothing but fun.”

Kermit Driscoll’s Website

Nineteen-Eight Records

Follow Kermit Driscoll on Twitter

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Marco Cappelli Acoustic Trio Releases “Les Nuages En France” on Mode Records; NYC Release Party May 1st

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Guitarist Marco Cappelli Releases Les Nuages En France,
With His Acoustic Trio Featuring Ken Filiano & Satoshi Takeishi
On Mode Records’ Avant Series


With Music Inspired By The Crime Novels of Fred Vargas

New York City CD Release Party
May 1, 2011 – 7:30 PM
at DROM
85 Avenue A (between 5th & 6th Streets)
New York, NY 10019
(212) 777-1157

If the evocative atmospheres and skewed, sinuous grooves of Les Nuages En France, the debut CD by the Marco Cappelli Acoustic Trio, conjure an air of mystery and suspense, credit their inspiration to the crime novels of author Fred Vargas.

A uniquely gifted guitarist who blends influences from the contemporary classical and avant-jazz/improv realms, Cappelli discovered the work of Vargas (the pseudonym of French historian Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau) through a friend and was instantly drawn in by the writer’s unusual approach to the thriller.

“I found her books interesting because they’re not just suspense stories. I was touched by her psychological analysis of the characters, the way she used the pretext of a thriller story to analyze relationships between characters.”

Each piece on Les Nuages En France is named in reference to characters from Vargas’ novels, written in conjunction with similarly-inspired poems by Italian poet Barbara Raggi. Cappelli explains that his attraction to these novels stems from his father, a judge who instilled his humane philosophies into his son.

Photo Credit: Peter Gannushkin

“My father never treated the matter of being a judge like a mathematical thing: you murder somebody, you get this many years of jail,” Cappelli explains. “I grew up with the idea that you always have to consider the human aspect of judiciary cases; you always have to see the other side of the story.”

The album’s liner notes include a quote from the author explaining her distaste for the complex, extremely violent thrillers that make up most of the genre these days, from books to movies. Cappelli sympathized with that from his father’s personal experiences, and found Vargas’ comments similar to his own approach to music.

“The expression in music is something you have to make very simple,” he says. “That’s what I tried to do with these pieces, to have a very direct relation to the sound that I was working on with my partners in the trio. There’s no deep, intellectual thinking behind the playing. It’s pretty direct and based in the everyday musical experience I share with these musicians, but it has a deep feeling in it.”

Conservatory-trained in Rome and Basel, Cappelli became one of Europe’s leading contemporary classical guitarists. Since moving to New York, he has complemented his work in the classical world with extensive experience on the avant-garde and improv scenes. In addition to the Acoustic Trio, Cappelli leads or is a member of the Naples-based chamber group Ensemble Dissonanzen; Syntax Error, which performs music in accompaniment to films and images; and the NYC-based quintet Italian Doc Remix (IDR), which blends jazz and Italian folk music.

Cappelli assembled the Acoustic Trio as a showcase for his unusual custom-built instrument, an amplified classical guitar modified by the addition of eight sympathetic strings underneath the standard six. “You don’t have to talk with these guys,” Cappelli enthuses about his bandmates, bassist Ken Filiano and percussionist Satoshi Takeishi. “They play what you didn’t know you had in mind.”

Ken Filiano is a remarkably diverse bassist who has worked with artists including Nels Cline, Bobby Bradford, John Carter, Warne Marsh, Roswell Rudd, and Don Preston. He leads and composes for his quartet with Michael Attias, Tony Malaby, and Michael T.A. Thompson. Filiano and Cappelli first met while recording with pianist Anthony Coleman for John Zorn’s Tzadik label. “Ken is the king of acoustic bass,” Cappelli says. “His sound and his groove are amazing and his improvisational skill is just perfect.”

Japanese-born percussionist Satoshi Takeishi studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston and has developed a highly individual approach to rhythm and color, influenced by his studies in Colombia and the Middle East. He has worked with a wide array of musicians such as such as Eliane Elias, Eddie Gomez, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, Anthony Braxton, Mark Murphy, Herbie Mann, and the Paul Winter Consort. “Satoshi has a very special sound,” Cappelli says.

Release Date: March , 2011

Marco’s Website
Marco’s Facebook Page
Mode Records

For more information on Marco Cappelli, please contact: Matt Merewitz / matt@fullyaltered.com or 347-384-2839.

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Joe Fiedler Trio’s Sacred Chrome Orb Out Now; NYC & East Coast Tour Dates

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Versatile Trombonist JOE FIEDLER Releases SACRED CHROME ORB, March 29 on Yellow Sound Records


Tour Dates Around NYC & East Coast Following CD Release

Anyone who’s ever puzzled over the oddly altar-like mirrored globes that serve as the centerpiece of many a suburban garden will instantly be in on the joke that provided the title for trombonist Joe Fiedler’s Sacred Chrome Orb (Yellow Sound Records, release date March 29). While Fiedler attaches no particular significance to the name, it does represent a delight in the incongruous, a refreshingly skewed perspective, and an off-kilter sense of humor, all qualities that pervade the music of his unique, intensely expressive trio.

On their third CD, the Joe Fiedler Trio has developed an expansive language all their own. Fiedler is an inventive trombonist whose talents have found him founding the eccentric brass band Big Sackbut, working with visionary leaders Andrew Hill, Lee Konitz and Maria Schneider and avant-garde giants Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor; in big bands led by Satoko Fujii and Charles Tolliver; a member of the Captain Beefheart tribute band Fast and Bulbous; or accompanying pop stars like Jennifer Lopez and Wyclef Jean.

His compositions thus draw on a wealth of diverse sources and experiences, but nothing has been more inspiring, he insists, than his bandmates themselves. In bassist John Hebert and drummer Michael Sarin, he has found two highly individual voices who meld into a chameleonic unit, able to morph from the airy to the explosive with supple, surprising grace.

The uncommon trombone/bass/drums line-up was inspired by similar trios led by Albert Mangelsdorff (to whom Fiedler paid tribute on the trio’s 2006 debut) and Ray Anderson. But despite surface similarities, Fiedler, Hebert and Sarin have evolved their own unmistakable slant on that tradition, which the leader was keen to showcase on this new release. “The trio has matured nicely,” Fiedler says, “and has something strong to say.”

Nowhere is the group’s cohesive strength more evident than on the title track. A tightly-woven mesh of angular lines and stop-time rhythms, the tune’s urgent vitality demonstrates the trio’s ability to wrest emotion from complexity, each sharp turn and sudden lurch striking sparks.

The piece was in part inspired by the use of similar dynamics by saxophonist/composer Bennie Wallace, Fiedler says. Many of the compositions on the album, in fact, took other musicians or styles as the leaping-off point for creation, though the links between inspiration and outcome are rendered virtually invisible by Fiedler’s original approach.

“I get into these listening phases and tunes come out of them,” Fiedler explains. “I’ll hear or feel something that just gives me a little nudge. If I played you the records, they wouldn’t sound anything alike, but one rhythm or shape or vibe will push me to sit down and write something weirdly related.”

Both “Ging Gong” and “Ethiopia” came from one such period, which Fiedler spent intently listening to Ethiopian pop singers. The stream of Fiedler’s creative consciousness can be traced to a high bass line that Hebert plays on the bridge of his instrument in “Ging Gong,” which Fiedler intended to approximate African thumb piano – an instrument not present on the pop records he was listening to at the time.

Similarly, the buoyant lyricism of “#11” was sparked by a recording of a Rachmaninoff cello sonata performed by Vladimir Horowitz and Mstislav Rostropovich at Carnegie Hall’s 85th anniversary; the ebullient “Priestish” by a Billy Harper tune that Fiedler performed while on tour with tuba player Bob Stewart’s quintet; and the shadow-tinged “Next Phase” was written mid-flight after listening to Andrew Hill.
The latter is also a showcase for Fiedler’s dramatic use of multiphonics. His approach advances the technique used by players from Mangelsdorff to Coltrane, freeing him to use harmonics and overtones pianistically. “I used a much more sophisticated use approach to multiphonics this time around,” Fiedler says. “I see it as a major departure; it reminds me of the difference between Dixieland versus more modern jazz.”

Fiedler announces his bold take on multiphonics from the outset, entering the opening track, “Occult”, with a sound like a train whistle. The atmosphere that this striking sound creates is sustained throughout the ensuing six minutes, with both the leader and Hebert stretching out over Sarin’s simmering intensity.

As its title implies, the groove-heavy “Two Kooks” is an opportunity for the trio to embark on a more light-hearted excursion. “I felt like we needed to just swing and get funky on something,” Fiedler says, “to do something fun and not as serious.”

On a more personal note, “Chicken” was named for the composer’s six-year-old daughter, though, as Fiedler admits, “it’s not really a kid tune. When I played it for her, she ran out of the room and buried her head in the sofa. I’m not sure what that means.”

Whatever it means for Fiedler’s young daughter, Sacred Chrome Orb is likely to provoke strong reactions in any listener, even if it doesn’t send them scrambling for the couch cushions.

Joe Fiedler Trio Tour Dates:

April 10 – Saint Peters/Jazz Vespers, NYC (with Kozlov, Sarin)

April 19 – University of the Streets, NYC (with John Hébert-bass, Michael Sarin-drums)

April 21 – The Local 269, NYC (with John Hébert, Michael Sarin)

May 1 – The WindUp Space, Baltimore, MD (with John Hébert, Michael Sarin)

May 16 – The Lily Pad, Boston, MA (tbd)

May 27 – Muddy Waters, Burlington, VT (with Rob Morse-bass, Dan Ryan-drums)

May 29 – On The Rise, Richmond, VT (with Morse, Ryan)

Joe Fiedler Website

Joe Fiedler on Facebook

Joe Fiedler on Myspace

For more information on the Joe Fiedler Trio, please contact Matt Merewitz

Fully Altered Media / matt@fullyaltered.com or 347-384-2839.


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Steven Lugerner Releases Double Album, Plays Brooklyn & Bay Area Shows

Monday, April 4th, 2011

Lugerner Joined By Myra Melford, Darren Johnston & Matt Wilson
On These Are The Words, Based on Kabbalist Numerical System

Lugerner’s Septet With His New York Peers Featured on Narratives

A Bay Area transplant to the NYC scene, multi-reedist Steven Lugerner releases two albums that display the full spectrum of his compositional abilities. A student of such luminaries as Fred Hersch, Ralph Alessi, Jamie Baum, Jane Ira Bloom and fellow multi-instrumentalist Charles Pillow, Narratives features Lugerner’s working septet, while on These Are The Words he is joined by trumpeter Darren Johnston, pianist Myra Melford, and drummer Matt Wilson.

Heard throughout both discs on alto and soprano saxophones, flute, clarinet and double reeds, Lugerner’s musical training began in the third grade on clarinet. From there, he became involved through concert and symphonic bands throughout his school career, including the Peninsula Youth Orchestra, where he discovered and picked up the oboe. “Doubling was something I fell into; it’s the way I function in playing music,” says Lugerner. “Whenever I’m writing music or improvising, I never hear my role being exclusively on one instrument. I always hear certain portions of any given piece played by different instruments. Doubling has leaked into all other aspects of my musical life.”

Comprised of a crew of good friends and fellow New School alumni, the septet on Narratives was born out of Lugerner’s diverse musical background. “Symphonic music is a really heavy influence, and being a part of a youth orchestra at such an early age certainly rubbed off on how I hear and conceive music in my head.”

Musically maturing around San Francisco’s burgeoning hardcore/metal scene and the city’s diverse cultural environment, Narratives was conceptualized with a wide-reaching aesthetic. Each member of the band was selected for their specific sound, with trumpeter Itamar Borochov’s idiosyncratic trumpet style balancing Lucas Pino’s tenor virtuosity; pianist Glenn Zaleski’s “improvised symphonies” colored by guitarist Angelo Spagnolo’s sonic manipulations; anchored by the fat rhythm section of Ross Gallagher on bass and Michael Davis on drums. “All of these compositions have been floating around in my head for close to four years,” Lugerner says. “Each one has seen multiple rewrites and revisions, slowly blossoming into individual narratives.”

Calling the Torah “the ultimate narrative,” These are the Words is based on The Five Books of Moses and the practice of Gematria, which assigns numerical values to the Hebrew alphabet. A method favored by medieval Kabbalists, Gematria was often used to derive further insight into the mystical interrelationship between words and ideas.

Lugerner’s move to New York prompted a rediscovery of his Jewish heritage. “I began studying with a local rabbi, in addition to Judeo-Christian theology courses at the New School. During that time, I was exposed to a lot of new ideas and knowledge. Somewhere along the line, I was introduced to Gematria.” Lugerner uses multiple Gematria methods as his compositional and improvisational launching point, selecting verses from the Torah and applying their Gematria numbers. These numbers were utilized in compositional techniques: in the creation of melodies and harmony, as intervallic relationships to use in improvising, time signatures, and tempo markings. “I wanted to create Jewish music that didn’t necessarily sound overtly Jewish. I wondered if it was possible to create something undeniably Jewish, just by its association with its raw materials.”

With all this underlying structure, These are the Words is still full of spontaneity and vibrancy. The compositions allow much space for improvisation, and the full band only met in the studio to record. The ensemble was inspired by a show Lugerner saw at the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco, featuring Melford and Johnston with clarinetist Ben Goldberg and bassist Lisa Mezzacappa. The quirky instrumentation and Melford’s intensity stuck with Lugerner. Johnston often fills the trumpet chair in Lugerner’s septet on the West Coast, and Melford’s playing history with Wilson spans many years. This pair of pairings defines the sound of These are the Words as much as its lack of bass. “Playing without bass, I felt, would free Myra and Matt’s roles, and would expose the colors in what Darren and I are playing,” says Lugerner, describing the specificity of the mute and reed combinations that shift throughout the album.

The large sound of Narratives, shaped by three horns and Spagnolo’s wash of guitar effects, jumps out from the opening “Flux Capacitor.” This is contrasted by the intimacy of These are the Words and its emphasis on the subtleties of small ensemble interplay. Lugerner’s music has often been described as cinematic, and both albums clearly reflect that adjective in different ways.

Tour Dates

May 11th – Septet @ Barbès (Brooklyn, NY)
June 30th – Septet @ Tea Lounge (Brooklyn, NY)
July 25th – Septet @ Yoshi’s (Oakland, CA)

West Coast Quartet Dates with Melford, Johnston & Wilson TBA

RELEASE DATE: March 22, 2011

www.stevenlugerner.com

For more information, contact Matt Merewitz / matt@fullyaltered.com or 347-384-2839

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Drummer Mike Reed Completes People, Places & Things Trilogy With “Stories & Negotiations” (482 Music) Feat. Jeb Bishop, Art Hoyle, Julian Priester, Ira Sullivan

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things Latest Recording, Stories and Negotiations,
featuring Art Hoyle, Julian Priester & Ira Sullivan

Stories & Negotiations is Third Installment
In A Trilogy of Recordings Devoted to the Remarkable Period of 1954-1960 Chicago Jazz,
And Its Relation to Chicago Jazz Today

Release Date: April 20, 2010
Catalog #482-1070


Recorded live in Chicago’s Millennium Park in Summer 2008, Stories and Negotiations is the latest vibrant installment in drummer/composer Mike Reed’s People, Places and Things project. Commissioned by The Jazz Institute of Chicago’s Made in Chicago series, it completes a trilogy of recordings devoted to a remarkable – but often overlooked – era in Chicago music: the years between 1954 and 1960, when the jam-session culture of the city’s hard bop scene began to seed the collective avant-garde of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and everything that followed.
Reed convened his working quartet, which features saxophonist Greg Ward, tenor saxophonist Tim Haldeman and bassist Jason Roebke, and invited frequent guest trombonist Jeb Bishop back to the bandstand. But for this album, he also solicited the horns of three jazz masters whose playing and personalities defined the late ‘50s in Chicago: trumpeter Art Hoyle, trombonist Julian Priester and saxophonist Ira Sullivan. The ensemble engages a set of vintage tunes – including Priester’s “Urnack,” John Jenkins’ “Song of a Star,” Clifford Jordan’s “Lost and Found,” Wilbur Campbell’s “Wilbur’s Tune,” and Sun Ra’s “El is a Sound of Joy” – in new arrangements, as well as original pieces composed by Reed and Ward and dedicated to each of their honored guests.
“Priester probably has the largest accomplishments as a sideman, he’s on a zillion records,” Reed says of the 74-year-old trombonist, who was (along with trumpet and flugelhorn player Hoyle) part of Sun Ra’s Chicago-based big bands of the mid-to-late 1950s, and has played with everyone from Duke Ellington to Sunn O))). Back in the day, now 78-year-old tenor saxophonist Sullivan “was maybe the biggest name, recording dates in 1956-57 as a leader, being asked to be in the Jazz Messengers, being asked to do things with Miles and turning it down. He’s incredibly important.” Hoyle, who is in his mid-70s, took an opposite track. “He was in the Sun Ra band, the Lionel Hampton band, but by the mid-‘60s he said, ‘I’m gonna stay in Chicago and be a studio musician, a working club musician.’ He was one of the musicians who broke the color barrier for the CBS Orchestra.”
Shaped by Reed’s powerfully organic concept for the band, the concert versions of older material are instantly distinct from their original iterations. “We were trying to really figure out how to bring some modern edges to this old music,” the drummer says. “Obviously, the idea of there being some kind of chordal instrument or harmony is out, so we’ve jumped from 1956 to 1966. There’s more of an Ornette-ish influence. Structure-wise, some of the music is rewritten. Not so much on the octet stuff, where we’re faithful to the material but definitely not in form. We’d move things around because we’d want the arrangements to work in a different way: maybe there’s a more dramatic build up, or we’d get away from the 32-bar form. We recreated forms, completely adding something that is not a piece of the tune at all.”
A man for all seasons, Reed is an important player in Chicago’s eclectic, genre-blurring music scene. He also leads the improvising quintet Loose Assembly and has recorded a series of experimental duets with several of other luminaries such as Nicole Mitchell and Jim Baker. As an organizer and promoter, his marquee gig is booking the annual Pitchfork Music Festival, the most open-eared indie-rock conclave in the United States.
With that kind of attitude, Stories and Negotiations could never be conceived as some predictable old tribute record. Reed composed the originals not with the idea of emulating hard bop, because he’s not that kind of a writer. Instead, he notes, there might be “a nebulous building into time, and some points where there’s not a meter that happens until someone wants to bring in the beginning of the tune. It was fresh for us, and a challenge for those guys to deal with something a little bit different.”
Even though the generations span a half-century of Chicago jazz, the chemistry is abundantly evident. As jazz writer Larry Kart observes in his liner notes, listeners can hear this displayed in endless facets. Among them, he cites “Hoyle’s story-telling taste for oblique  quotation (a sequin from the dress of ‘Satin Doll’ on his ‘Third Option’ solo, fragments from ‘Moody’s Mood for Love’ and ‘Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho’ on ‘Door #1,’ ‘Little Rootie Tootie’ on ‘Lost and Found’)…the orchestral contrast between Bishop’s earthy-burry tone and his forging-ever-onward lines and Priester’s otherworldly airiness of timbre and his pensive agility. Sullivan’s deep, warm swing probably goes without saying, but listen to the commitment he brings to his ensemble work on ‘Song of a Star’ (when he, Hoyle, and Priester sweep in beneath Bishop, Ward, and Haldeman) and ‘El is a Sound of Joy.’”
“The main connection that unifies the players is the sense of vitality in the music,” Reed says, pulling all the elements into a perspective that serves him well as the current Vice-Chair of the AACM. “The hard bop sound of the ‘50s time period was as cutting edge as anything that we’re working on today. Trying to reach that sense of edgy performance is what brings everyone together. Stylistic ideas and background may differ, but the common search for creativity is common.”
RELEASE DATE: April 20, 2010
LINKS:
For more information contact:
Matt Merewitz
215-629-6155
matt@fullyaltered.com
Mike Lintner
482 Music
MikeL@482music.com

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Adam Rudolph’s Moving Pictures Tours East Coast; Yeyi Duo Tours Midwest

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

Composer & Master Percussionist Adam Rudolph
Tours in March & April With Moving Pictures Quintet and Octet
(Boston, New Haven, Teaneck, Philadelphia, New York City)
NOTE NEW NYC VENUE, CITY WINERY

Yeyi Duet With Multi-Instrumentalist Ralph Jones Tours Midwest
(Champaign-Urbana, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, Oberlin)

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This March and April, master percussionist Adam Rudolph will tour the East Coast with a brand new edition of his Moving Pictures Quintet and Octet. Rudolph originally founded the group in the late 1980s as a vehicle for his explorations of what would later come to be known as “world music,” a field he has been exploring since his first recordings in the 1970s.

Rudolph recently received his second Chamber Music America “New Works” commissioning grant. On this tour, Moving Pictures will premier new compositions he wrote for the current lineup with the help of the CMA grant. The new lineup features veteran bassist Jerome Harris, the saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist Ralph Jones, the trombonist and percussion player Joseph Bowie (brother of the late Lester Bowie) and percussionist Matt Kilmer.  Members of the ensemble continuing in the current incarnation include cornetist/flugelhornist Graham Haynes, guitarist Kenny Wessel and the Moroccan-born oudist/percussionist Brahim Fribgane. Together the musical credits of theses artists span the entirety of contemporary instrumental music from Ornette Coleman to L. Shankar.

With a pair of new releases on his own Meta Records label, Rudolph celebrates two decades-long partnerships in which he’s found just that kind of alchemy. On Towards the Unknown, the string section from Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra is woven into a concerto for the percussionist and legendary saxophonist Yusef Lateef; Rudolph is then featured in a second concerto, composed for him by Lateef and featuring thirteen members of the S.E.M. Ensemble conducted by Czech composer Petr Kotik. And with Yeyi, Ralph Jones employs an arsenal of woodwind instruments to complement Rudolph’s percussion battery in a wide-ranging, deeply spiritual dialogue.

yeyi_cover

Rudolph and Jones’ partnership dates back more then thirty years to the 1974 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, where they performed on a bill that also included Sun Ra and James Brown. They were brought together by trumpeter Charles Moore, with whom they later cofounded the Eternal Wind Quartet.

Yeyi & Towards The Unknown CD Release Date: April 20, 2010

ADAM RUDOLPH UPCOMING PERFORMANCE DATES

Mondays:  March 8, 15, 22, 29, 2010
Go: Organic Orchestra (42 musicians)
Roulette Intermedium – 8:30 pm
20 Greene St
New York, NY 10013
(212) 219-8242
composed & conducted by Adam Rudolph
www.roulette.org

Friday March 26, 2010
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Moving Pictures Quintet with gnawa master Hassan Hakmoun
with Adam Rudolph, Ralph Jones, Graham Haynes, Kenny Wessel, Brahim Fribgane
7:30 pm – $20 general admission; $16 members, students, and seniors
100 Northern Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
(617) 478-3100
www.icaboston.org

Friday April 2, 2010
Firehouse 12, New Haven, CT
Moving Pictures Quintet with Adam Rudolph, Joseph Bowie, Graham Haynes, Kenny Wessel, Brahim Fribgane
8:30 pm – $18
10:00 pm – $12
45 Crown St
New Haven, CT 06510
(203) 785.0468
www.firehouse12.com

Saturday April 3, 2010
Puffin Foundation, Teaneck, NJ.
Moving Pictures Quintet with Adam Rudolph, Joseph Bowie, Graham Haynes, Kenny Wessel, Brahim Fribgane
8:00 pm – $10 suggested donation
20 East Oakdene Avenue
Teaneck, NJ 07666
(201) 836-8923
www.puffinfoundation.org

Friday April 9, 2010
The Painted Bride, Philadelphia, PA
Moving Pictures Octet with Adam Rudolph, Joseph Bowie, Graham Haynes, Ralph Jones, Matt Kilmer, Kenny Wessel, Jerome Harris, Brahim Fribgane
8:00 pm – General Admission – $ 25; Crush Card holder – $ 20; Member – $ 12.50
230 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106-1293
(215) 925-9914
www.paintedbride.org

Saturday April 10, 2010
CITY WINERY, New York, NY presented by World Music Institute
Moving Pictures Octet with Adam Rudolph, Joseph Bowie, Graham Haynes, Ralph Jones, Matt Kilmer, Kenny Wessel, Jerome Harris, Brahim Fribgane
7:00 pm – $20 General Admission; $15 for Students
155 Varick St
New York, NY 10013
(212) 608-0555
www.citywinery.com

Thursday April 22, 2010
University of Illinois-Champagne-Urbana
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
7:30 pm – FREE
500 Peabody Drive
Champaign, IL 61820-6986
(217) 333-1861
www.illinois.edu/calendar/

Friday April 23, 2010
The Velvet Lounge, Chicago, IL
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
67 East Cermak Road
Chicago, IL 60616-2122
(312) 791-9050
www.velvetlounge.net/calendar.html

Saturday April 24, 2010
Mexicains Sans Frontieres, Grand Rapids, MI presented by Blue Lake Public Radio
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
8:00 pm – $10
120 S Division Av #226
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
www.myspace.com/mexicainssansfrontieres

Sunday April 25, 2010
Kerrytown Concert House, Ann Arbor, MI
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
7:30 pm – $25 Assigned Rows 1-2; $15 Assigned Rows 3-5; $10 General Admission; $5 Student
415 North 4th Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1103
(734) 769-2999
www.kerrytownconcerthouse.com

Monday April 26, 2010
Oberlin College, Fairchild Chapel, Oberlin, OH
Yeyi – Adam Rudolph/Ralph Jones Duet
Concert Time TBA – FREE
39 W. College St.,
Oberlin, OH 44074
www.oberlin.edu

ADAM RUDOLPH BIO

Born in 1955, handrummer, percussionist, composer, multi instrumentalist and improviser Adam Rudolph has been hailed as “a pioneer in world music” by the New York Times. Currently he composes for his groups Moving Pictures, Hu: Vibrational, and Go: Organic Orchestra, a 15 – 50 piece ensemble for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting system. Over the past 25 years he has developed a unique syncretic approach to hand drumming in creative collaborations with outstanding artists of cross-cultural and improvised music, including Don Cherry, Jon Hassell, L. Shankar, Pharaoh Sanders, Fred Anderson, Hassan Hakmoun and Wadada Leo Smith among others.

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Allison Miller’s BOOM TIC BOOM Tours East Coast March 21-27, 2010

Friday, March 5th, 2010

ALLISON MILLER’S BOOM TIC BOOM
CD RELEASE TOUR (MARCH 21-27, 2010)

Allison Miller press photo by Smith Banfield
The example that Allison Miller sets on BOOM TIC BOOM (sic) is that of a powerhouse drummer with an unerring sense of swing and a moving melodicism; an inventive composer with a gift for memorable tunes that leave ample space for bright improvisations; and a bandleader who ably marries these pieces with the right collaborators to breathe life into them. Here, those collaborators are pianist/composer Myra Melford; longtime collaborator Todd Sickafoose on bass; and guest violinist Jenny Scheinman.

Raised in the Washington D.C. area, Miller began playing the drums at the age of ten and was featured in Down Beat magazine’s “Up and Coming” section in 1991. Five years later, after graduating from West Virginia University she moved to New York City to pursue what has became a fruitful career as a freelance drummer. Miller’s talents have landed her gigs in the mainstream music world, with artists like Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco, and most recently, folk singer Brandi Carlile; and her jazz skills have been embraced by everyone from saxophonist Marty Ehrlich to organ legend Dr. Lonnie Smith, with a wide range of leaders in between, including Erik Friedlander, Mark Helias, Steven Bernstein, Ray Drummond, Peter Bernstein, Sheila Jordan, George Garzone, Mike Stern, Rachel Z, Kevin Mahogany, Bruce Barth, Mark Soskin, andHarvie S.Sunday,

March 21st – Washington, DC
Bossa
8pm
2463 18th Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20009-2003
(202) 667-0088
www.bossaproject.com

Monday, March 22nd – Bryn Mawr, PA
Q&A at Bryn Mawr College
7pm-10pm
Goodhart Music Room (in Goodhart Hall).
101 N. Merion Ave
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

Tuesday, March 23rd – Pittsburgh, PA
Club Cafe
7pm doors;  7:30pm – Jeff Berman’s EARLY WARNING; 8:30 pm BOOM TIC BOOM ($8 in advance, $10 at door)
56 South 12th Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203
(412) 431-4950
www.clubcafelive.com

Wednesday, March 24th – Morgantown, WV
West Virginia University – College of Creative Arts – Creative Arts Center (CAC)
Large Rehearsal Room 200B
5pm-7pm
Morgantown, WV 26506-6111

Thursday, March 25th – New York, NY
Cornelia St. Cafe
2 shows: 8:30pm and 10pm ($10 – call for reservations)
29 Cornelia St
Manhattan, New York, NY 10014
(212) 989-9319
www.corneliastreetcafe.com

Friday, March 26th – Philadelphia, PA
Ars Nova presents Allison Miller’s BOOM TIC BOOM
Philadelphia Arts Alliance
8pm ($12)
251 S. 18th Street
www.arsnovaworkshop.org

Saturday, March 27th – Baltimore, MD
An Die Musik
2 shows: 8pm and 9:30pm ($20 – call for tickets)
409 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21201-4405
(410) 385-2638
www.andiemusiklive.com

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The Claudia Quintet Releases 5th Album, “Royal Toast” on Cuneiform Records May 18, 2010

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

Composer/Drummer John Hollenbeck Continues Prolific Recording Period
With Fifth Claudia Quintet Album, Royal Toast,
Due May 18, 2010 on Cuneiform Records

cover art for Royal Toast

cover art for Royal Toast

On their fifth CD, Royal Toast, The Claudia Quintet raise a glass in salute to their regal muse with a set of new music fit for a king – albeit one with more refined tastes and open mind than your average monarch.

If a round table seems a wholly appropriate setting for this egalitarian ensemble (with an extra place setting this time out), theirs is as much Algonquin as Camelot, renowned for their sophisticated wit as well as their sharply-honed musical jousting.

As composer/leader John Hollenbeck points out, the title might also sound a bit “silly” – but there’s something in its odd incongruity that exemplifies the band’s one-of-a-kind sound.

“I like toast,” Hollenbeck explains with characteristically laconic humor, “and I noticed that if you put ‘royal’ in front of something, it seems elevated.”

The Claudia Quintet has similarly been finding the majestic in the mundane (or vice versa) for more than a dozen years. Nowhere is that more evident than on Royal Toast, where Hollenbeck began by collecting song titles found in often unlikely sources, divorcing them from their original context, and devising music inspired by these evocative phrases.

Hollenbeck’s compositions somehow conjure raucous beauty from dizzying complexity, enticing the emotions with lilting melodies or irresistible grooves while engaging the cerebral side in a surreptitious workout. The music marries jazz, new music, post-rock – but no laundry list of influences is quite sufficient to describe their iconoclastic sound. Suffice it to say, you can feel secure bringing your hipster nephew and your math professor along to a gig, and everyone will go home happy.

Of course, no one could pull off such a a trompe l’oreille without a well-honed ensemble, and the Claudia Quintet has, through intensive collaboration since their 1997 debut, developed a language all their own. The music can best – perhaps only – be defined by the individuals who create it – Hollenbeck on drums, Drew Gress (Tim Berne, Ravi Coltrane, Fred Hersch) on bass, Matt Moran (Slavic Soul Party, Mat Maneri, Ellery Eskelin) on vibraphone, Ted Reichman (Anthony Braxton, Marc Ribot, Paul Simon) on accordion, and Chris Speed (Bloodcount, Yeah No, Human Feel) on clarinet and tenor sax.

As attuned as the Quintet have become to each other, they’re each remarkably attuned to themselves, as Hollenbeck discovered while recording the CD. Bridging several of the pieces on the album are short improvised interludes in which each member plays a short improvised duet with himself – unbeknownst to them until the tracks were in the can. While they sound as if each side of the mirror is reacting to the other, they were actually played separately and married after the fact.

“I didn’t know if it was going to work, so I didn’t tell anybody I was doing it,” Hollenbeck admits. “And I couldn’t believe it because each one just worked fabulously. It was totally unbelievable how they breathed in the same places – Drew even has a rest in the same spot. I think the result is better, actually, than if I had asked them to react to their solos. That might have been a little artificial.”

The quintet is here supplemented by pianist Gary Versace, a longtime collaborator of Hollenbeck’s (including the composer’s Large Ensemble and in the Refuge Trio along with vocalist Theo Bleckmann).

“Gary and I have very similar aesthetics,” Hollenbeck says, “so what he plays is exactly what I would I be doing if I could play piano really well. Gary has a very composerly approach, so he’s very sensitive to the music and tries to make his part sound composed even when it’s not.”

The addition of Versace means that half of the band is now essentially playing percussive instruments, giving Hollenbeck more opportunity than ever to follow his polyrhythmic muse – which emerges most fully on the gleefully intricate title track. But the album begins not with force but with lush intoxication. “Crane Merit” sets an unexpectedly atmospheric mood, enveloping the listener with an idyllic warmth.

Introduced by a Hollenbeck solo that gradually builds into funky propulsion, “Keramag” is the album’s toe-tappingest tune, densely wrought and utterly infectious. It and “Zurn” have the titles with the least concrete associations; the latter is a through-composed piece that generates considerable tension through an insistent drum/piano figure that is thoroughly dispelled by its ethereal finale.

“Sphinx”, on the other hand, brings very distinct associations to mind, which Hollenbeck followed through Egypt to African rhythmic influences. The word “Standard” crops up twice, and in each case the composer took this as a cue to use jazz as a leaping-off point, penning an abstracted ballad with “Ideal Standard” and a fractured anthem on “American Standard.”

The album closes with the elegiac “For Frederick Franck”, an homage to the Dutch-born painter, sculptor and author who died in 2006 at the age of 97. Hollenbeck’s personal connection to the artist comes via a sculpture park in upstate New York that Franck designed and where Hollenbeck proposed to his wife. But Franck’s expansive philosophy is also representative of Hollenbeck’s boundary-blurring approach to genre.

“The meaning of life is to see,” Franck espoused in his work, and the Claudia Quintet approach music with eyes wide open.

For more information please contact Matt Merewitz at Fully Altered Media (matt@fullyaltered.com or 347-527-2527).

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Drummer Allison Miller Releases 2nd Album, BOOM TIC BOOM March 23rd

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Drummer Allison Miller Releases Second Solo Leader CD, BOOM TIC BOOM, Performing Music Composed For and Inspired by Important Women in the Drummer/Composer’s Life

Release Date: March 23, 2010

Album Features: Myra Melford, Todd Sickafoose & Special Guest Jenny Scheinman

BOOM_cover

“Some of my closest friends are extremely smart and powerful women,” Allison Miller says. “I can’t stress enough the importance of this community. There’ve been several women who’ve really helped me out in my career. I hope that I do the same for other women in the musical community.

The example that Miller sets on BOOM TIC BOOM is that of a powerhouse drummer with an unerring sense of swing and a moving melodicism; an inventive composer with a gift for memorable tunes that leave ample space for bright improvisations; and a bandleader who ably marries these pieces with the right collaborators to breathe life into them. Here, those collaborators are pianist/composer Myra Melford; longtime collaborator Todd Sickafoose on bass; and guest violinist Jenny Scheinman on one piece.

Half of the album is comprised of original pieces penned by Miller during a one-month break from the road during the summer of 2008. The diversity of influences evident in the music belies the short time span in which it was written, but is reflective of the wealth of musical experience that makes up Miller’s résumé.

Raised in the Washington, D.C. area, Miller began playing the drums at the age of ten and was featured in Down Beat magazine’s “Up and Coming” section in 1991. Five years later, after graduating from West Virginia University, she moved to New York City to pursue what has became a fruitful career as a freelance drummer. Miller’s talents have landed her gigs in the mainstream music world, with artists like Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco, and most recently, folk singer Brandi Carlile; and her jazz skills have been embraced by everyone from saxophonist Marty Ehrlich to organ legend Dr. Lonnie Smith, with a wide range of leaders in between, including Erik Friedlander, Mark Helias, Steven Bernstein, Ray Drummond, Peter Bernstein, Sheila Jordan, George Garzone, Mike Stern, Rachel Z, Kevin Mahogany, Bruce Barth, Mark Soskin, and Harvie S.

She also leads or co-leads several bands, including EMMA, with singer/songwriter Erin McKeown; TILT, with pianist Taylor Eigsti and bassist Jon Evans; and Agrazing Maze, with trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, pianist Enrique Haneine, and bassist Carlo DeRosa. Miller has also been recognized by the Showtime network, which featured her music in the series The L Word, and by the US State Department when she was chosen to tour East Africa, Eurasia and Southeast Asia as a Jazz Ambassador. She will also be featured in a magazine article and web feature for Yamaha’s All Access 360 in January 2010.

For BOOM TIC BOOM, Miller assembled a trio that she knew would stretch the limits of the music she had written. “I come from a straight ahead jazz tradition,” she explains, “but I play so many different styles of music that I don’t want to stick strictly to that tradition. So, for BOOM TIC BOOM I wanted more of an avant-garde approach to my semi-traditional compositions.”

Key to this interpretation of her music is pianist Myra Melford, who Miller describes as bringing “electric light to my compositions. She plays with an incredible amount of spontaneous creativity and a lot of fire. There’s also a playfulness to the way she performs my music which I really love. Myra is always in the music and in the moment, but also completely individual and creative.”

The balance that Melford brings is evident immediately, as Miller opens the first track, “Cheyenne”, with a steamroller barrage that is met by Melford’s steely but delicate approach, a calm presence amidst the drummer’s effusive maelstrom. Later, on “Big Lovely”, inspired by Miller’s friend, singer-songwriter Toshi Reagon, Melford brings a knife-edged sharpness to the song’s down-and-dirty groove. Melford also contributes two compositions to the session. “Be Melting Snow” has a fractured urgency that evokes Miller’s most abstract and textured percussion, while “Night” provides the album with a hushed and atmospheric closer to contrast the disc’s otherwise exuberant mood.

To complete the trio, Miller chose bassist Todd Sickafoose, with whom she shares a long and rich musical history. The two first performed together under the leadership of saxophonist Jessica Lurie, forming a bond which has continued through each other’s projects and a busy two-and-a-half year stint touring the world with Ani DiFranco. “I think of Todd as my brother in music,” Miller says. “We just know each other musically inside and out. He’ll take the sheet of music, get the gist of what I’m trying to say, and then run with it, which frees me up to explore, too. I like to hire musicians for who they are and let them do their thing with my music. I don’t have any interest in controlling the situation.”

The trio is joined by violinist Jenny Scheinman on Miller’s “CFS (Candy Flavored Sidewalks),” which begins with extremely sparse free improvisation, which congeals into a brisk hoedown. “I’m not personally a fan of jazz violin, but Jenny is the antithesis of what I thought an instrumental improvisational violinist is,” Miller admits. “She’s so melodic and lyrical, and her improvising is very energetic and melodic. She almost plays like a singer.”

BOOM TIC BOOM also features two standards: “Intermission” from pianist Mary Lou Williams, who Miller refers to as “a huge idol,” and Hoagy Carmichael’s classic “Rockin’ Chair,” the date’s only tune by a male composer. “I love the Louis Armstrong version of that song,” Miller says. “There are certain songs that I hear and immediately want to experiment with different chord changes and feels. On “Rockin’ Chair,” I love that melody, but I always heard it in a more modern version, rhythmically and harmonically.”

The end result is a multi-faceted album replete with spontaneity and emotional expression. “Maybe I’m just growing as a musician and a bandleader, but things just seemed to happen really naturally in the studio with this album,” Miller concludes. “I don’t know why that was and I don’t want to think about it too much, but it felt really good.”

For more information, please contact Matt Merewitz at Fully Altered Media – matt@fullyaltered.com / 347-527-2527

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