Riding the ripples of their debut single “Escalator” (which
BBC’s Gilles Peterson called “a winner,” and Supreme Standards’ Tina
Edwards likened to “Radiohead on a Jazz trip”), Chicago collective Resavoir
return with their first full length effort. The self-titled album presents a
juicy suite of elegantly-orchestrated lo-fi jazz instrumentals germinated from
home recording experiments by the group’s producer/arranger Will Miller.
Applying a compositional approach attributable to his experience producing
hip-hop beats as much as
his studies at Oberlin Conservatory, Miller built melodic sketches on
foundations of samples & loops before bringing pieces to the group for
collective development. After integrating recordings of the full band into his
home-produced impressions (not unlike IARC predecessors Jeff Parker and Makaya
McCraven), he overdubbed another dozen friends into the mix (including Brandee
Younger, Sen Morimoto, Carter Lang, Knox Fortune and Macie Stewart) before
finalizing the arrangements. In Miller’s modest editing room, Resavoir
grew from experiment into epic opus recalling the lush, psychedelic soul jazz
orchestrations of David Axelrod & Charles Stepney… but in the
sampled-laden style of Yesterday’s New Quintet, Broadcast, or Thundercat,
with a lyrical affinity for minimalism & texturalism, like
trumpeter/composers Jon Hassell & Justin Walter.
…about Resavoir…
Resavoir is a diverse collective of instrumentalists – most of whom are
Chicago born & raised, some of whom have been playing together since high
school, all of whom represent exciting new directions in Chicago’s fertile
contemporary jazz & creative music scenes. The core lineup features Will
Miller on trumpet/synths, Irvin Pierce on saxophone, Akenya Seymour on
keys/vocals, Lane Beckstrom on bass, Peter Manheim on drums and Jeremy
Cunningham on drums. All highly active players, the band’s compiled resume
includes
collaborations with Noname, Chance the Rapper, Makaya McCraven, Jeff Parker,
Saba, Nick Mazzarella, Mavis Staples and many more.
The group is led by the composing, producing & arranging work of Will Miller, a trumpeter by trade who, thus far, is most known as a member of the band Whitney, or for his brass cameos on tracks by Mac Miller, Lil Wayne, Eryn Allen Kane, Twin Peaks, A$AP Rocky and Xavier Omar.