Drummer-composer Allison Miller remembers the record that made her want to be a jazz musician.
“I was probably 11 when I heard “Miles Smiles,” Miller says of the Miles Davis album featuring the trumpeter’s so-called Second Great Quintet and the tempestuous drumming of Tony Williams. “I didn’t have a clue about what they were doing, but I knew that I wanted to do that!”
Miller’s band, Boom Tic Boom, returns to Dazzle Jazz Oct. 11-12. The group’s latest recording, “No Morphine No Lilies” (Foxhaven/The Royal Potato Family) is a whirlwind percussive trip through Miller’s potent sonic imagination. Pianist Myra Melford, who has released a host of authoritative recordings of her own in recent years, is the ideal musical companion for Miller, as they run the gamut from ’60s Blue-Note style workouts to pensive ballads. There’s a touch of edginess to most of the playing on the album, but Miller keeps the proceedings melodic enough so that no one listening is going to feel alienated.
“I love improvisation as well as the groove,” Miller says. “A lot of (jazz) groups I hear aren’t necessarily catering to the audience. I ask myself, ‘What would I want to hear if I was sitting out there?’ “
Miller takes her cues for accessibility from the pop and rock musicians she has supported on the road in recent years, including singer-songwriters Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco and Brandi Carlile.
“When I was about 23, I started playing with Natalie Merchant, and working with her got me to minimize things; to take out the things that really aren’t that important to the music.”
For the Denver dates, Miller will bring Melford to the stage, as well as bassist Chris Lightcap, cornetist Kirk Knuffke, and trumpeter Ron Miles. This latest edition of the Boom Tic Boom group, presenting two brass players against a rhythm section, should produce shimmering music. For her, collaboration, as in listening to the contributions of her bandmates and responding in kind, is key to musical happiness.
“It’s my band, but it has a real collective energy to it,” she says. “It’s about each individual coming together and playing together. And we’re really good friends. There’s a true love there.”
Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom, Oct. 11, 7 and 9 p.m. and Oct. 12, 6 and 8 p.m., Dazzle Jazz, 930 Lincoln Ave. Call 303-839-5100.
More music: The Playground Chamber Jazz Project reconvenes at DU’s Newman Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday with local artists Marc Sabatella, Lynn Baker, Aakash Mittal and more in a free concert; The Mount Vernon Country Club has announced its fall lineup of live performances, including the Concert Jazz Orchestra on Oct. 7, vocalist Carmen Lundy Oct. 8 and pianist Jacky Terrasson Oct. 23; the smooth jazz “Sax Pack” (Jeff Kashiwa, Steve Cole and Jackiem Joyner) invades the Soiled Dove Underground on Oct. 4;The Neil Bridge Rhythm Express plays Nissi’s in Lafayette on Oct. 12.
Bret Saunders can be heard from 6 to 11 a.m. weekday mornings at KBCO 97.3 FM and . Contact bretsaunders@kbco.com.
