The most poignant music is often inspired by watershed events in an artist’s life, and few occasions are more transformative than the arrival of one’s first child. For Allison Miller, the extraordinary drummer, composer and leader of her band Boom Tic Boom, that life-affirming experience provided the seed that led to the creation of her new full-length studio album, Otis Was a Polar Bear (The Royal Potato Family: April 8, 2016). The album, with violinist Jenny Scheinman, cornet player Kirk Knuffke, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, upright bassist Todd Sickafoose, pianist Myra Melford, and Miller on drums and mallet percussion, is Miller’s latest collection of 10 original compositions following her 2013 critically acclaimed No Morphine, No Lilies, which Downbeat Magazine said “reveals her exemplary chops and stylistic breadth.” The birth of Miller’s (and partner Rachel’s) daughter Josie found the NYC-based drummer reordering her priorities and the very way in which she approached her art.

Allison Miller is, in the words of the London Guardian, “a drummer of fierce clarity and bold imagination.” The New Yorker goes further: “her craftiness as a percussionist is met by her ingenuity as a composer and group conceptualist.” Based in New York City, Allison has served as the rhythmic force behind such mainstream artists as Ani DiFranco, Natalie Merchant, Toshi Reagon, and Brandi Carlile, and played with jazz greats from master organist Dr. Lonnie Smith to avant-garde trailblazer Marty Ehrlich. Downbeat has named her a Rising Star Drummer and a Top 20 Jazz Drummer, and the U.S. State Department has made her a Jazz Ambassador three times. As a writer on jazz, she has been published in the Huffington Post, Modern Drummer, JazzTimes, DRUM, Tom Tom, and Drummer UK. If you like innovative, exciting, thought-provoking jazz, see this dynamic drummer and her dazzling band at the Freight!

visit the Allison Miller website