Listen to Science Fair by Allison Miller & Carmen Staaf
Allison Miller & Carmen Staaf
Science Fair
Album · Jazz · 2018
Science Fair presents two formidable, New York-based jazz musicians, drummer Allison Miller and pianist Carmen Staaf, as simpatico co-leaders, alongside first-tier bassist Matt Penman, in an all-original program with deep complexity. “What?!” opens with the assertive sound of a quintet, featuring trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and tenor saxophonist Dayna Stephens in spitfire form; only Miller’s multilayered epic “Weightless” boasts this full lineup as well. Two Staaf originals (“Symmetry,” “Nobody’s Human”) are quartet with Stephens, and five remaining pieces are trio with Penman, the rock of the entire session. Moving between these varied combinations, Miller and Staaf highlight their effortless interplay and modern-minded compositional voices—as contemplative as the closing ballad “Skyway,” as trenchantly swinging as “Ready Steady.”

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