Jazz Catch-Up Edition: Robert Stillman, Michael Blake, The Greg Foat Group & Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom
By Aaron Stein May 11, 2016 • 12:17 pm PDT
Robert Stillman: Rainbow
It’s been a while since I threw some jazz of any type at you, so let’s catch up with a few excellent releases from the first third of 2016. While I love jazz of most stripes, I’m usually drawn to artists that are doing something a little different than the same-old and Robert Stillman’s new release fits that description well. His new album, Rainbow, is a strongly personal one and the emotions come out in the music which uses the language of jazz but also folk and ambient, orchestral pop to create quite beautiful music. This is the type of record that you bring your own feelings to: it might turn your sadness to joy – or vice versa – or might deepen your present mood even further. So listen carefully!
Michael Blake: Fulfillment
Saxophonist Michael Blake is a veteran of the venerable downtown music scene, having come up with the Lounge Lizards. For his latest album, Fulfillment, he goes big, telling the tale of a historic tragedy 100 years old, when a ship full of immigrants from India were denied entry to Canada. Blake and his band somehow capture the anger, sadness and ethnic conflict surrounding the event while delivering an album that tells a story with some engaging music. Equally avant garde and lovely, each track has a different sound while sticking to the narrative of the album. Stick with this one, it gets better the further it goes.
The Greg Foat Group: Cityscapes & Landscapes
This one is sort of an archival release, which is a rarity around the RecommNeds, but this Record Store Day release from The Greg Foat Group of previously unreleased material from 2002 is too good not to share. The two sides of Cityscapes/Landscapes represent music written in Stockholm and the Isle of Wight, the locations carrying over into the mood and style of the music. At times sounding like something supremely groovy off the old 1970s era CTI label, much of the “city” material is incredibly funky. Paired with the more elegiac and beautiful landscape tunes, this is the whole package. Good shit.
Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom: Otis Was A Polar Bear
There’s no doubt about it, the great drummers always put together the best bands. Allison Miller is no exception, her Boom Tic Boom is a unique blend of top-notch players that deliver a unique blend of sounds on their newest album, Otis Was A Polar Bear out on Royal Potato Family. With violin (from Jenny Scheinman) and clarinet (Ben Goldberg) as well as coronet (Kirk Knuffke) added to the backbone of piano (Myra Melford) and bass (Todd Sickafoose) the music swings with klezmerish and playful melodies. The music was inspired by the birth of Miller’s daughter and oozes with rhythmic happiness.
