Allison Miller Passes On Morphine, Lilies

Miller has been passionate about music almost as long as she’s been on this earth.  The daughter of an electrical engineer/programmer and a choir director, she started taking drum lessons from Walter Salb when she was only 11 years old.  But even by that young age she knew that the drum was the instrument for her.

Miller’s new album with her band Boom Tic Boom arrives April 16 on The Royal Potato Family record label and features Miller performing with Myra Melford on piano, violinist Jenny Scheinman and Todd Sickafoose on bass.  Guest artists on No Morphine, No Lilies include Steven Bernstein and Ara Anderson on trumpets and cellist Erik Friedlander.  Singer Rachel Friedman appears on the track, “Once.”

While talking with Pollstar, Miller talked about her music, how she hears rhythm in even the most common sounds and why drums were her first “want” but not necessarily her first instrument.

She also explained why she was inspired to call her new album No Morphine, No Lilies, saying the phrase was uttered by her girlfriend while in a “drug-induced, painkiller post-procedure state.”

You have a new album coming out with Boom Tic Boom. Is this your second album with the band?

It’s my second album with Boom Tic Boom.  Probably my fifth album with a version of my band or a collaboration.

Some artists have remarked that recording their second album was more stressful than the recording their first album.  Would you agree with that assessment?

Yes [laughs].  The timing in which I recorded the album was a stressful time. … The content and the material behind the music were intense.  That was more stressful.

I decided to fly to California to record the record.  Which was great.  The studio [at] Fantasy Records was beautiful but it was a pretty stressful time period to fly out and record.  Plus, I did feel the pressure of my first record doing well and having to do better.  Also, just the feeling of recording a record that was different from my first record.  The material was different.  It should be different. I feel that artists should change and evolve and music should follow that as well.  You know, there’s a certain pressure that comes from knowing you’re recording music that’s really different than the first record.

Did being away from home make it easier to focus on making the album?

I think it does help you focus because you don’t have the day-to-day things going on that kind of distract you from creativity.  But in this situation I felt I was already very tired from dealing with some of the inspirations for the record.  My girlfriend was sick and I was taking care of her – then all of a sudden having to fly out to California to record.  It was a little stressful getting there.

I was able to focus because I was away from home but I also felt stressed making sure all of the logistics went right, getting comfortable just being in Oakland and Berkeley for three or four days to do that.

I heard that the title of the album – No Morphine, No Lilies – was something your girlfriend uttered while sleeping.  With her being sick, did you feel that the words reflected her health, or was it just one of those nonsensical things we all mutter while dozing?

It was post-procedure and she was in that kind of drug-induced, painkiller post-procedure state and it was one of the things she murmured when she was half-asleep/half drugged.  It really stuck with me.  First of all, it’s poetic.  Second of all … she was basically just stating a few things that she is allergic to – morphine and lilies.  But in that moment I was extremely worried about her and her health and, for me, in that moment of a real desperate situation, I took that as, “Wow.  OK.  No morphine, no drugs, don’t hide the pain.”  And lilies – she’s allergic to them.  Lilies signify death.  To me it was like her saying, “I’m allergic to death.  I do not want to go.”

I know that’s kind of dramatic. If you’re in a situation where you feel completely powerless and hopeless, it’s easy to go into some radical thinking.  That’s where I was at that time.

Were drums your first instrument?

No. Drums were my first want.  I wanted to play the drums from the time I can remember. My mother says one of the first things that came out of my mouth was the fact that I wanted to play the drums.  She was like, “You can play the drums but you need to learn to play the piano first.”  She taught me piano.  I took piano lessons. She was a choir director so I was in the choir.  We were pretty heavychurch goers when I was little.  I was in choir, played piano and finally she let me play drums. Kind of like letting the bird out of the cage.

You weren’t even a teenager at this time, yet you knew what you wanted.  Most of us at that age were probably more worried about what’s on TV, birthday presents or just getting through the school day than thinking about a lifelong pursuit.

I don’t think I realized how fortunate I was to know that at such a young age until I got a bit older and realized I was really lucky that I knew a passion at such a young age and I had parents that were open to it. I’m eternally grateful for that.

Was your father involved in music?

My father is a recording engineer. Never his absolute fulltime job, he’s also an electrical engineer and a programmer.  He’s been involved in the computer world from the late 1960s on, so he’s a real computer guy.  But we’ve always had a studio in our basement.  That was very convenient.

Did your father’s work give you opportunities to meet a lot of musicians while growing up?

Yeah, I did. All the local D.C. jazz musicians would come to my dad’s studio to record.  I met a lot of people and heard a lot of really great swing music because of his recording studio.  I also met a lot of people through my first teacher.  I met guys like Keter Betts who is no longer with us and who played bass with Charlie Parker.  I really got a wonderful knowledge and history of swing music from these musicians who came over.

For music fans who only see a drummer as someone who just keeps the beat, what separates the average drummer from the truly spectacular musician?

I think a quick difference between the average and spectacular drummer is the sound that the drummer pulls out of the instrument.  You could take one drum and you could take Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Paul Motian, Max Roach, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey … each of them would hit that drum and it would sound exactly like each of those drummers and not like the others. I think that’s really something that distinguishes an average drummer from a master musician.  I also think these drummers don’t just play a song; they bring a song to another level.  They expand the song with creative ideas that are unique to that person and with a sense of rhythm that kind of lifts everything up to a cosmically orgasmic level.

When I hear Roy Haynes play I feel like I’m immediately skating on ice over a pond going about 60 miles per hour.  That’s the feeling I get … it’s other worldly.

As a drummer, do you hear rhythm in almost everything, such as the sounds of the street or the random sounds you might encounter during the day?  Does a drummer try to put that into some kind of pattern?

Definitely.  I think living in the city is great for drummers.  I’m constantly recording sounds that I hear.  I have sounds of BART in Berkeley.  When I go to San Francisco I love the sounds those trains make when they leave the station.  That’s the particular sound that I always know I’m on the BART.

I remember one time, it was late in the night and I got up to go to the bathroom. There was some weird drip happening with my toilet and I thought it was amazing.  So, in a sleep-confused state I recorded the dripping of the water in my toilet. 

I remember when I was little, my mom had, I’ll never forget, one of those Oldsmobile Cutlass Sierras from the 1980s and it had a very particular sound when you turned the turn signal on.  This was before I started playing drums.  I would sit there and obsess over hearing the downbeat on one pitch of the click and then I would try to switch it over and change the downbeat to the other pitch of the click.  I think I was always listening to rhythm.

As listeners, we hear music in so many different ways and settings, everything from orchestras to simple commercial jingles.  Considering all those ways – motion picture soundtracks, TV shows, and so on, do you hear a lot of subpar drumming?

These days I hear a lot of synthetic drumming.  There are too many drum machines and sequencers, loops and classic drum tracks that have been manipulated and don’t sound like the original tracks at all.  I understand the purpose and I have done that in my own music … I understand the concepts behind that, but I think it takes away from the heart and soul, the blood, sweat and tears of music performed by live musicians. 

Now I hear music that’s too perfect, rhythmically.  Everything has to be recorded to a click track now.  I’m not talking jazz.  Even two weeks ago I did a record for a singer and she wanted everything to the metronome and to click.  I understand the reasoning behind it but I think it takes away from the soul of the music.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the beat moving around a little.  If you listen to, rest his soul, Levon Helm from The Band, he never played to a click and it’s the most grooving music you’ll ever hear in your life.

For me it’s almost like too perfect now and when something’s too perfect, for me, it makes it not as good.  I like mistakes.

What is your creation process like?  You compose on piano.  At those times are you already hearing rhythms and what the drums will sound like?

Usually, if I’m working on a melody I don’t hear the rhythm, the drum part, yet.  If a song starts from … a bass line group, sometimes I’ll have an inspiration, but I also play a little bass.  Sometimes I’ll get an inspiration and come up with a bass line. Then it’s pretty immediately that I hear the drum and rhythm.

But with melody, I really try to keep an open mind when I start.  I don’t want to put a tune in a melody into a box right away. I want to be open enough to hear a melody and then maybe it’s going to end up being a ballad or it might end up being a fast swing tune, or a rock tune.  I always try not to put any labels on a melody right away. … I’ve taken a few composition lessons from different friends and that’s one thing they’ve all said. “When you start writing and found notes and start coming up with a melody, keep as open a mind as possible about what the intention of the tune is going to be.”

It can take any kind of turn.  A tune might end up being something completely different than what you thought it would be.

A perfect example is one of the songs off of my record that’s dedicated to Walter [Salb] – “Spotswood Drive.”  I wrote that melody thinking it would be like an Ornette Coleman-ish bebop piece. And it totally turned out to be this ballad that built into this beautiful sonic landscape.

What can you tell fans about No Morphine, No Lilies that they may not expect?

I would tell them that I would hope they would take the time to listen to the whole album.  I believe in a concept album and making a project that’s a cohesive whole that’s not meant to be listened to randomly on an iPod shuffle, although I know I’m holding onto a lost cause. It really tells a story and the music makes sense to me if you listen to it from beginning to end.  It tells a story of my time last year that I was going through.  I would tell my fans that this is not a typical drummer’s record.  Its purpose is more me, chemistry and the collaboration with the band and focuses on my composition, more than me taking a million drum solos.

If you could go back in time and jam with any musician from the past, who would it be?

John Coltrane.  I love how he would transform time and space in his solos.  If I could go back in time and be part of that and be able to play with him at the Village Vanguard, that would be enough for me to move on to another place.

The other person I would love to have worked with would be Sarah Vaughan, early Sarah Vaughan.  She was brilliant.

As a musician who began at a very young age, what advice would you give to a child or the parents of a child that wants to follow in your footsteps?

For the parents … I would say let that child explore the instrument full-on first before [taking] private lessons where they have to conform and work on specific things.  I think that enables a child to discover [his/her] voice before they learn any technique.

I think that’s important for kids. If you have a passion, just go for it.  There’s nothing out there that needs to stop kids from going for their passion.

Upcoming engagements for Allison Miller include Santa Cruz, Calif., Sacramento,Mill Valley, Calif., Seattle, Marlboro, N.Y., and North Bethesda, Md.

Here’s the current schedule:

April 14 – Sacramento Calif., JB’s Lounge
April 18 – Mill Valley, Calif., Throckmorton Theatre
April 19 – Seattle, Wash., Ballard Jazz Festival (as part of Ballard Jazz Walk)
April 20 – Seattle, Wash., The Royal Room
April 27 – Wheeling, W.Va., West Virginia Pasic (Solo)
May 2 – Marlboro, N.Y., The Falcon
May 3 – No. Bethesda, Md., Mansion At Strathmore
May 4 – Shepherdstown, W.Va., Shepherdstown Opera House
May 5 – Northampton, Mass., Pioneer Valley Jazz Share Series
May 8 – New York, N.Y., Checkout Live At 92Y Tribeca (with Sexmob)
May 18 – Baltimore, Md., An Die Musik
June 8 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Pittsburgh JazzLive Int’l Festival
June 16 – Brooklyn, N.Y., Red Hook Jazz Festival
July 7 – Arcata, Calif., Arcata Playhouse
July 9 – Oakland, Calif., Yoshi’s
July 10 – Los Angeles, Calif., Blue Whale
July 11 – San Diego, Calif., Athenaeum
July 12 – Stanford, Calif., Stanford Jazz Festival
Sept. 28 – Denver, Colo., Dazzle
Sept. 29 – Denver, Colo., Dazzle

For more information, please visit AllisonMiller.com.