An Alto Saxophonist Steps Modestly to the Fore

By Nate Chinen, New York Times, Sept 29, 2009

The alto saxophonist Loren Stillman communicates great intensity but not a lot of drama. He’s an intuitive, self-regulating improviser, averse to any flourish that calls attention to itself. What you hear in his playing is the real-time synthesis of information, chiefly melodic and harmonic, and the rigorous subtlety of his response. At 29, he pairs uncannily mature instincts with the open-minded spark of youth. 

Well into his roughly 80-minute set at Le Poisson Rouge on Monday night, he ventured a lullaby called “Puffy” in a free-flowing tempo. It was one of half a dozen songs from his rewarding new album, “Winter Fruits” (Pirouet), due on Friday. And in one sense it was his first unambiguous solo turn, after plenty of full-court team exertion. 

Mr. Stillman was appearing with Bad Touch, a group that also includes Gary Versace on organ, Nate Radley on guitar and Ted Poor on drums. Last year this band self-released its substantive debut, “Like a Magic Kiss,” pushing for recognition as a leaderless collective. That the same personnel appears on “Winter Fruits,” playing a lot of the same music, could be seen as progress — the new album, recorded and mixed with a larger budget, has a warmly balanced sound — but it also highlights the practical hurdle facing any jazz ensemble without a designated frontman, even one as unassuming as Mr. Stillman. 

Whatever the background issues, Bad Touch achieved a staggering level of cohesion here. Its efforts often involved the elasticization of tempo, and an on-the-spot counterpoint fashioned from moving parts: several melodies began in unison before breaking off into strands. That strategy extended to many of the solos, which effectively became two- or three-part inventions. (Mr. Versace, a wickedly dynamic player, kept blurring distinctions between background and foreground.)

Mr. Stillman was responsible for much of the music, including several songs — “Man of Mystery,” “Skin” and “Like a Magic Kiss” — that appear on both recent albums. He has a momentum-based approach to composition, layering lines rather than imposing chords. 

But two of the set’s most directly propulsive tunes were by Mr. Poor: “Winter Fruits” and “Wade,” both featuring a haltingly syncopated melody and a variant of funk rhythm. At those moments the surging output of the group recalled that of Underground, a jazz-rock band with the same instrumental lineup, led by the tenor saxophonist Chris Potter.

There was always ample reason to focus on Mr. Stillman’s playing in the set. He brought weight and depth to his sound, unfurling complicated phrases that were somehow devoid of clichés. Still, everything he played was in the context of the band, which held to a constant ideal: focused flexibility, with a striking absence of hierarchy.

Four Members Who Play in Multifarious Styles

By Ben Ratliff, The New York Times, October 22, 2008

Bad Touch is a young group facing the usual embarrassment of riches. It’s looking at 60 or so years of style and temperament in American jazz: soft, loud, fast, slow, in tempo, out of tempo, free, composed, cluttered, sparse, swinging and non-. And it has chosen all of them.

It’s a quartet with alto saxophone (Loren Stillman), guitar (Nate Radley), organ (Gary Versace) and drums (Ted Poor), and it’s a collective, which means that everyone writes music and nobody’s the leader. And for having been around less than a year — though previously it was Mr. Stillman’s organ quartet, playing his music — it had an almost astonishingly practiced flexibility on Tuesday night at the Jazz Standard.

In its hydra-headedness and its compositions that keep changing shape and character along the way, the band recalls many things — among them Henry Threadgill’s music of the ’80s and early ’90s; some of John Zorn’s more polished jump-cut music, leaping between styles, from the same period; and some of the contrapuntal free music Lennie Tristano made with Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh in the late ’40s. Basically it’s a band steeped in different vocabularies, down to each member: Mr. Poor, for example, moving from tightly controlled free-rhythm splashes to sudden backbeat blowouts. 

The group played complicated and sometimes prickly compositions, full of big interval jumps and stylized tone clashes — all from “Like a Magic Kiss,” the band’s first album, self-released and available via badtouchmusic.com. But two of its members kept the music just warm enough.

Mr. Versace was one, because the sound of the Hammond organ was innately imposing and cheering, no matter what kind of ruckus he stuffed between chords. Mr. Stillman was the other, playing with a tone and an attack full of contradictory surprises: limpid but generous, soft but cutting.

CD’s: “Blind Date” (Pirouet)

by Nate Chinen, The New York Times, New CD’s, November 26, 2007

Loren Stillman, an exceptionally gifted young alto saxophonist, has not been shy about his music. “Blind Date,” on the German label Pirouet, is his seventh release in four years. Most of his previous efforts have conveyed the casual integrity of progress reports, not a bad thing for a jazz musician in his 20s. But Mr. Stillman has delved deeper here, creating a thematically unified yet multidimensional work. 

He receives invaluable support from the pianist Gary Versace, the bassist Drew Gress and the drummer Joey Baron, a buoyant and broad-minded rhythm section. Throughout the album they expertly follow the contours of Mr. Stillman’s compositions, applying more or less pressure as the situation demands. 

Mr. Stillman writes music that’s intricate but unforced and devoid of pretension. A few of his melodies attest to the influence of Paul Motian, with whom he has apprenticed; his harmonic logic can evoke Wayne Shorter, whose example he has absorbed. 

There’s also a hint of Tim Berne’s stuttering rhythmic cadence, in a tune called “Don’t Be Too Nice.” To Mr. Stillman’s credit, none of these invocations goes far enough to suggest a pastiche.

Just as important, he has a distinctive sound on his instrument — full but dry, with only the slightest intimation of vibrato — and he shows restraint and consideration in his solos. When a song opens up rhythmically, as happens often here, he sets an agenda without closing off alternative options. He’s a watchful sort of improviser, rigorous about everything, including the unknown. 

Loren Stillman: How Sweet It Is 

by Budd Kopman, All About Jazz, March 8, 2005

Occasionally a totally new CD finds its way to the player, and from the music's very first notes, just totally entrances both mind and body. These magical times are rare, but this is really what jazz is about. Furthermore, a CD that manages to make this kind of impression almost always remains able to over time, even years later. How Sweet It Is is one such effort. It is one of those rare releases that draws one in willingly without demanding anything, yet is so seductive and powerful that time seemingly stops for its duration.

From the opening cymbal work that leads to the deep theme in "Between the Devil and God" played in unison by piano and sax, this music announces that it is anything but "typical." Stillman has that special gift of melody, whereby even a theme that is rolled out slowly seems to have an innate logic which makes it almost instantaneously memorable. In Russ Lossing, Stillman has found a player who matches his feel for that winding line that leads but does not get lost. He many times trails Stillman during a line, sounding like an echo, which is very eerie, even if it is planned (which is unclear).

Scott Lee is an extremely melodic bassist, playing lithe and leaping lines which, although they are in the background, complement both the soloists and Hirshfield's circular and insistent drumming. Together, the rhythm section is propulsive, but in a deceptive way. The music is heavy and deep, ponderous and insinuating, yet manages at the same time to be lilting and flowing.

Of all the tracks, "Meat" and "Meat Snake" stand out the most. Stillman gets a very light and airy alto tone that allows the gorgeous melody of "Meat" to roll out. There are so many ways to hear this, but the mixture of beauty and depth in a ballad is seductive, and it is very easy to hear the inevitable melodic logic mentioned above as well as Stillman's improvisational talents. "Meat" itself would mark Stillman as someone to watch, but then, three tracks later, "Meat Snake" comes along. An ominous bass motive repeats under unearthly chords from Lossing. The mystery and danger continue to build as Lossing's chords get thicker and Hershfield's drumming intensifies as it interplays with Lee's bass, while we wait for Stillman's entrance, which doesn't come until halfway through the nine-minute track. When he does come in, he brings the now familiar theme to a fever pitch. Joe Lovano said that Stillman's "future is so bright it's almost blinding." How true, and this short essay does not do How Sweet It Is justice.

Loren Stillman: Trio Alto Volume One

PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 2007 – BY DAVID R. ADLER, JAZZ TIMES MAGAZINE

Loren Stillman is one of New York’s best alto saxophonists and has gained the distinction well before reaching age 30. He’s made vital contributions to Andy Milne’s DAPP Theory, Eivind Opsvik’s Overseas project, and the trio Jackalope (with John Abercrombie and Bob Meyer). His five quartet releases have made clear that his priority is original composition. But with Trio Alto Volume One, recorded around the same time as The Brothers’ Breakfast, we hear Stillman coming to grips with the standard repertoire. The track list includes “All the Things You Are,” “What Is This Thing Called Love” and “Body and Soul,” but also some less common choices. Flanked by bassist Steve LaSpina and drummer Jeff Hirshfield, Stillman refreshes even the most overplayed of tunes. He does include one original, however-a gritty minor-key line called “The State of the World.”

In the same chorus, Stillman can evoke the lyrical alto of Lee Konitz and the multiphonic attack of the post-Coltrane tenors. You’ll never hear a stock lick, even over the most lick-friendly progressions. LaSpina brings a broad sound and mellifluous solo chops to the table; Hirshfield, who has appeared on every Stillman release except the first, is very much in his element. The trio nods to Charlie Parker with the seldom-played “Red Cross,” and to Bill Evans with “Turn Out the Stars” and “Time Remembered.” It’s a timely comment on a good swath of the tradition, and the title suggests that Stillman’s not done.

Comfort With the Elders

Ted Panken, Downbeat Magazine 2008

"I went to Lee Konitz's house to hang out and play duets, and he said, 'Whenever I hear about you, it's always Lee Konitz on steroids,"' alto saxophonist Loren Stillman recalled. That compar­ ison originally came from guitarist John Abercrombie, his band­ mate in the collective trio Jackalope, in the liner notes for Saltier Than Ever (Challenge), recorded when Stillman was 21."We talked about that," said Stillman, now 26, and already having nine albums as a leader. Konitz contributed an encomium to the first, Cosmos (Soul Note), a quartet recital from 1997. But Stillman said Konitz "really didn' t like" 2006's Trio Alto Volu,ne One (SteepleChase), a one-take navigation of the songbook 011 which Stillman postulates the original intention of the iconic lines, retains their melodic essence as he plays them backward, forward and upside-down, and commands the pulse with elastic authority. The fmal product actually does belong in a conversation with sim­ ilarly configured consensus classics by Konitz, and such conse­ quential longtime Stillman mentors as Joe Lovano and David Liebman.

"Lee liked my original stuff, but he thought the trio was too out," Stillman said. "Maybe he thought I was trying to emulate Wayne Shorter-or maybe the Plugge d Nickel sessions-too much. But I wasn't coming from that approach. I just wanted to play standards in a new way."

Eight Stillman originals comprise the new Blind Date (Pirouet), titled for the "one small rehearsal" that afforded his first-time-together quartet- pianist Gary Versace, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Joey Baron-to familiarize themselves with the complexities attendant to executing the odd time signatures and complex structural devices that Stillman deploys.

"Everyone handled the music as best as they could," Stillman said. "It wasn't completely a mystifying endeavor. Today's music is challenging-musicians are required to play in any time signa­ ture, any key, plus play standards. The test is to be confronted with these challenges and step up to the plate, to interpret odd­ metered, 12-tone music with the same quality and originality as a standard. I love playing all different styles of music, I continuous­ ly practice them and I try to be as good as possible at whatever I'm called to do."

The calls began while S tillman was a student-first from Abercrombie and Andy Milne, then Charlie Haden, Carla Bley and Michele Rosewoman, and more recently Tyshawn Sorey, Alexis Cuadrado and Paul Motian. Familiar with 20th-centwy classical music from his parents' record collection, he initially studied classical saxo­ phone and played "jazz on the side." Although he committed to jazz at 15, he retains the predispositions of his formative years.

"My development skyrocketed because I was forced to play with guys who were great, completely throwing me around the court," Stillman said. "I didn't learn patterns, and I' ve never thought about music technically. It's always been organic, an oral process, a response to something, an outlet for emotional frustration. It still is. These regi­ mented classical teachers taught me to approach each note of the saxo­ phone as if you're producing overtones rather than the fingered note, to turn the instrument into something vocal rather than a piece of metal that you stick in your mouth."

Most of Stillman's own recent endeavors involve Versace , who played organ on The Brothers' Breakfast (SteepleChase, 2006) and piano on It Coitld Be Anything (Fresh Sound/New Talent, 2005). The pair join guitarist Nate Radley and drummer Ted Poor in Bad Touch, a collaborative group that Stillman describes as his main focus.

"There's a modern classical element in the way we weave lines, the push-and-pull with the time," Stillman said. "We spontaneously arrange, and perhaps it sounds more orchestral than jazz, but we use all our com­ bined knowledge and experiences-groove-based music, free jazz, stan­ dards, fo1ms-to make these movements and shifts. It's structured, but there's complete freedom within the structure to pick one tool, then another, then another and keep deciding where you want to go."

Stillman experienced similar on-the-precipice imperatives during a week with Motian at the Village Vanguard last July . " He's the master of making something much larger happen from a small amount of information," said Stillman, who will rejoir1 Motian at the Vanguard in May. "He didn't know my playing before he hired me. He said, 'All these good people think you're good, so you're good.' I respected him for taking that chance. It was hard to gauge what he want­ ed and didn't want. I was petrified, but that was OK. You had to figure it out yourself, and feel comfortable with the uncomfortable and the unknown."