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“Spotswood Drive” a haunting, plucky example.
Truth be told, Miller’s exchanges with Melford
and Sickafoose drive everything, with something
beautiful, eloquent and inconclusive as “Waiting”
a delightful contrary yet typical example.
Tributes also play a role here, as the spirits of
Paul Motian, Eddie Marshall and Walter Salb—
all major influences on Miller’s musical life—
are invoked on different pieces. Miller also honors
Ornette Coleman with a spritely, beboppy
arrangement of “Six Nettes,” composed by Lisa
Parrott. Somehow, Miller manages to slot them
into this complex mosaic, which also gathers writing
by others, including Melford’s “The Kitchen,”
a kind of rowdy, expressionist tune that lets the
players flex their muscles in different, other outward-bound
ways. And the lilting waltz “Once,”
written by Jessica Lurie, includes singer Friedman
in an intimate, quasi-country setting with the
quartet.
—John Ephland
No Morphine, No Lilies: Pork Belly; Early Bird; Waiting; The Itch;
Speak Eddie; Six Nettes; Spotswood Drive; Once; The Kitchen; Sun
Comes Up On The Reservoir; Nuh-Uh, No Sir. (50:50)
Personnel: Myra Melford, piano; Jenny Scheinman, violin; Todd
Sickafoose, bass; Allison Miller, drums; Steve Bernstein (5, 11), Ara
Anderson (4), trumpet; Erik Friedlander (2), cello; Rachel Friedman
(8), vocals.
Ordering info: royalpotatofamily.com
Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom
No Morphine, No Lilies
Royal Potato Family 1308
HHHH1/2
Not a set of songs, per se, nary a typical number in
sight, its title might be giving something away. No
Morphine, No Lilies suggests literal things, both in
the negative. Stated positively, another title might
read Today’s Allison Miller Experience. Across 11
pieces, it’s a brew that’s strewn together not so
much by the drummer’s heft behind the set as
teased through a kind of thematic thread, one that
suggests a story more than a showcase for talent.
And yet, talent Miller surely brings to these
proceedings, her drumming, pen and drive only
(major) parts of the story. The usual suspects
remain noteworthy: pianist Myra Melford, Todd
Sickafoose on bass, with selective spots for special
guests trumpeters Steven Bernstein and Ara
Anderson along with cellist Erik Friedlander and
singer Rachel Friedman. The most notable other
voice here is violinist Jenny Scheinman.
Everything seems to break with convention.
This, no doubt, is a reflection of the fact that Miller
spends time playing with all manner of musician:
Her cred and her credo simmer around her various
musical desires and experiences, backing up
such notables as Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco
and Erin McKeown. As a result, we get to hear not
just some very fine, tasty and powerful drumming,
but spots where drums take a back seat, Miller
getting Melford out in front, playing melodic one
moment, more frenetic and free the next. Indeed,
one of the hallmarks to No Morphine, No Lilies is
the element of surprise, the story unfolding before
your ears in ways that break with those conventions,
hinting at subterranean psyches.
Scheinman sneaks up behind Melford here
and there, her spots positioned seemingly at random,
like when she takes her usual grace and
finesse, not to mention intensity, to feed the flames
during the dizzy closing to an otherwise swinging
rocker in “The Itch.” Her colors are significant
to the overall sound and mood of this band,
a welcome reminder of Boom Tic Boom’s self-titled
debut from 2010. Elements as diverse as
tango, country, not to mention pop and jazz, pay
visits through the sonic sheens to No Morphine,
No Lilies, Scheinman’s way with the bow and finger
a vital signature, the drop-dead rubato of