The 2024 album by Jacksonville, Florida-based Madre Vaca entitled Knights Of The Round Table was an ambitious album depicting, in various instrumental and vocal music forms, the lore of King Arthur. The music composed by Madre Vaca drummer Benjamin Shorstein was sprawling and ambitious and featured a vast cast of musicians. Fast forward a year later, the release of Yukon takes the Madre Vaca sound in a new direction.

With the music composed by group members Thomas Milovac (bass), Jarrett Carter (guitar) and Jonah Pierre (keyboards), the sound of Yukon is no less entertaining than its predecessor. With Benjamin Shorstein producing and adding his finesse on drums, the sound of Yukon is somewhat scaled back yet it combines a wide range of jazz-rock, fusion and other instrumental forms. One thing remains is the diverse sounds of Madre Vaca.

The CD cover art looks like a map or sorts that will no doubt allude to the variety of different directions the music goes in. A couple tracks are dedicated to jazz giants Charlie Parker and Wayne Shorter, although the sound of Yukon is very much of its time and the quartet sound doesn’t allow for much extraneous sound to penetrate.

Case in point is a track here written by guitarist Jarrett Carter. The way Carter’s electric guitar intertwines with keyboardist Johah Pierre on “Portraits Of A Swan” makes for a breathtaking listening experience that combines Euro-style fusion with lo-fi jazz minimalism.

That track segues perfectly into the title track “Yukon”, written by bass player Thomas Milovac. Once again the guitars and piano perfects the precision of the overall sound. That gothic edge on Yukon comes into focus on the track “Titan’s Folly”, which sonically depicts the Titan submarine disaster of 2023.

After spinning Yukon it sounds as if the younger musicians of today have subliminally assimilated the musical terrain once inhabited by the original jazz-rock pioneers of Europe and America. The jazz-fusion meets chamber music style on Yukon is quite impressive sounding and there’s hardly a note out of place.

Fans who thrilled to Knights Of The Round Table will find much new and exciting musical inspiration with the sounds of Madre Vaca’s latest masterpiece, Yukon.

 

RMR speaks with Madre Vaca

RMR: How would you compare the sound of Yukon with the 2024 Madre Vaca album Knights Of The Round Table in both recording style and in compositional style? There were many musicians on Knights but Yukon sort of compresses the sound, is that an accurate assessment?

Madre Vaca (Benjamin Shorstein): Yes, I would agree with that. With Knights, the larger instrumentation provided a broad range of tonal colors. Contrast that with Yukon, which has just the core rhythm section. Limiting the instrumentation on Yukon allowed for more interplay and more room to explore with improvisation, which let the personalities of the musicians come out more. 

The compositional styles of the two albums were quite different. Knights was designed as a unified suite, with themes and imagery meant to evoke the land and time of King Arthur and his knights. Yukon was designed to be a collection of simple tunes, with the idea that the simpler the framework, the more expressive you can be within it.

 

RMR: The sound style on Yukon combines instrumental fusion with a more gothic European style of jazz composition. What kind of sound did you aim for on Yukon and how would you describe the album’s variety and mix of sound?

Madre Vaca (Benjamin Shorstein): In 2022 we had just finished recording two albums, Knights Of The Round Table and the forthcoming Tunnel To The Moon, that were heavily arranged, had a relatively large ensemble, and required a classical level attention to detail with aspects like tempo changes and dynamics.

After that, I asked Jarrett, Jonah, and Thomas to partake in a project that was more pared down - an album of tunes with just the quartet. I wanted it to be simple, but the guys brought in tunes that were more interesting and complex than I expected! There was no prearranged theme or balance. The tunes worked surprisingly well together, and I think there is something hard to define that links us together and made the different tunes complement each other.

We are of like minds. Funnily enough, I brought in two tunes of my own, but I cut them before the recording because I felt the album was complete with what the other guys composed. So as a producer, I cut myself out as a composer.

We had only one rehearsal, which was also the sound check. So, part of the immediacy of the recording is us finding the sound on the fly. In the studio, the balance of sound came together on its own, by listening to what each musician was saying, both on the paper and off. As a quartet, the musical chemistry can be more potent than with a larger group. So the aim was to be unrestrained and open to possibilities. That only happens through listening. 

 

RMR: Also on Knights Of The Round Table, you composed the music yet on Yukon you serve as the album drummer / producer with the music composed by the other band members. That seems like a big sonic shift.

Madre Vaca (Benjamin Shorstein): It’s a pretty big sonic shift, and we love sonic shifts. We view ourselves as a composers’ collective, so each album is an opportunity for a completely different approach. At its core, Madre Vaca has always been about the interplay between the musicians, the joy of improvisation, and taking risks. So, in some ways, the approach was the same, which is to discover what the music has to offer and have fun while doing it.

 

RMR: What other kinds of influences does Madre Vaca bring to the table as a collective entity? I very much enjoyed your Knights album from a year or two ago but Yukon is very different. Does it show off some of the diverse influences and contrasting compositional styles of the various members? How would you compare the diverse compositional styles of the band members?

Madre Vaca (Benjamin Shorstein): Thank you - we’re glad you enjoyed Knights! Yukon definitely shows off the diversity of our writing styles and influences. It’s a great question, and also hard to answer. Partly because each of the band members can write so creatively in a variety of different styles which makes it hard to pinpoint them. I would say Jonah has a singular ear for writing melodies as well as compositions that have a strong groove element. This leads to great hard swinging tunes, Latin styles, and funk. He’s influenced by Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Bill Evans.

Jarrett’s style tends to be more lyrical and have a longer form; his music tends to flow over longer phrases and often have an element of the mesmerizing. Jarrett is influenced by Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall and Pat Martino, but his writing also reminds me of the long arc and phrasing of Pat Metheny’s compositions.

Thomas scares me with how deep his writing and playing can go. His compositional style is incredibly varied but is always thoughtful and fully committed to the sonic world he creates. His writing ranges from the cinematic verging on classical, to wild and intense constructions for improvisation. I’m always struck by the emotional depth of his compositional ideas. Thomas is influenced by guys like Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman as well as Mozart, John Coltrane, and Nirvana.

It’s probably hardest for me to analyze myself but I’m heavily influenced by where classical and jazz intersect. The constructs and harmonies of classical music can add a powerful and emotional backdrop for jazz performers to improvise with. Franz Schubert, J.S. Bach and Chick Corea have had a big influence on me.

 

RMR: You say in the CD booklet that the lead off track “Blue Bird” was influenced by Charlie Parker. What influence does Parker and that era of jazz have on the Madre Vaca band as a collective outfit?

Madre Vaca (Benjamin Shorstein): Charlie Parker revolutionized the modern jazz vocabulary, so everything we play has his musical DNA in it, whether we know it or not. But deeper than that, Parker was pushing boundaries and exploring sonic possibilities every moment he could. That really resonates with us as improvisers and composers.

 

RMR: Tell us about the title track “Yukon”. The track is quite melodic with a good jaunty tempo. First I thought it was about the Canadian province but then I saw it was inspired by a coal mining village also called Yukon, in Pennsylvania., it has a pretty interesting legacy as a remote, rural place. Now it has a jazz tune and an album named after it!

Madre Vaca (Thomas Milovac): Yes, Yukon is in Pennsylvania in Westmoreland County. Tucked in the rolling hills of Appalachia. My great grandfather came there in the 1910’s and worked as a coal miner. His son, my grandfather, who was also named Thomas Milovac lived in Yukon and had a Croatian Tamburitza group called the Adriatic Serenaders which became relatively popular in the Pittsburgh area during the 1940’s and 1950’s. They regularly played at the Croatian Fraternal Union Club in Yukon which is now defunct.

“Yukon” the composition was inspired by my last visit there in 2020. Many remnants of the coal mining operations still exist there abandoned in the woods. The song was inspired by the motions of these massive machines and the repetitive nature of the life of a coal miner. Another element is Balkan folk music, like my grandfather played, which often has a “lilting” feel to it due to its use of odd time signatures. “Yukon” was composed in a quick 5/8 time which tries to tap into that feeling.

 

RMR: “Dormant” has a breezy smooth style. What was the band’s mindset on “Dormant” and how does the title reflect the style of the track?

Madre Vaca (Benjamin Shorstein): Jarrett hadn’t written anything for a while, so he made himself sit down and try to come up with something quickly to see what would come out without overthinking it. So “Dormant” came out, which represents dormant creativity. The band’s mindset was to allow for lateral flow rather than a vertical groove – the tune is mostly in 3 time, but when you alternate between dividing the time between 3 and 2, there’s a sense of ebb and flow.

 

RMR: “They Say” is another kind of Euro-tinged fusion track, with a solid tempo and some great playing all around. What else can you add about “They Say”?

Madre Vaca (Jonah Pierre): “They say,” in my mind, always had a film noir, conspiratorial detective vibe. This ties in with Wayne Shorter because he often described his music as an evocative and cinematic experience. Formally, it draws inspiration from a number of his 1960’s Blue Note era tunes which employ a modal(ish) A section contrasted with a more harmonically complex B section.

 

RMR: That European style of minimal gothic and chamber-prog is exhumed on the track seven “Titan’s Folly”. The track was inspired by mythology and the June 2023 Titan submarine disaster. Is that accurate? The guitar work on that track is astounding and the sound is quite harrowing. You can almost feel the submarine disaster. Wow what a historic twist of fate!

Madre Vaca (Thomas Milovac): “Titan’s Folly” was composed shortly after the submersible fiasco and all the details that came out about it. It partly started as a compositional exercise to see if I could fully encapsulate a dramatic story into a musical setting. You can hear the distinct sections which corresponds with the actions of that day. The submersible descending into the dark unknown, the implosion, the mystery of their fates, the realization of what happened, and the vast indifference of nature.

The chamber element comes from the baroque-esque chorale which appears in the middle and at the end of the piece. The nylon string guitar really brings that feeling of loneliness that could only exist at the bottom of the ocean. Jarrett played a truly beautiful and well-crafted solo for the composition.

 

RMR: What other record release plans do the members and the record label have and what plans do you have for the rest of the year as far as composing, recording and playing live concerts and will other artists be releasing music on Madre Vaca’s record label?

Madre Vaca (Benjamin Shorstein): Madre Vaca has two upcoming releases: a psychedelic rock opera called Tunnel To The Moon and an album of vignettes titled A World That Bears A Question which is inspired by Haruki Murakami’s novel 1Q84. The record label has two upcoming releases by other artists; an album led by free jazz pianist Steve Cohn, who has played with Eddie Henderson and Reggie Workman, and a traditional country album by award winning vocalist and fiddle player Abigail Agnew.

In November, Madre Vaca is going to record a jazz arrangement of movements from J.S. Bach’s cello suites, and Jarrett Carter is recording a trio album with Thomas Milovac and myself. We’re also in the beginning phase of an ambitious twelve movement piece based on the myth of Hercules and his twelve labors, and it will be written by twelve different composers! Needless to say, we’re having the time of our lives!