#robertstillman

Robert Stillman - Rainbow (Orindal)

Two weeks into 2016 saw the release of what I am guessing will be one of my favorite albums of the year, Rainbow by Robert Stillman. The American born, England based musician wrote the mainly instrumental album primarily on saxophone but keyboards and drums fill out the mix. Layered reed parts create effervescent melodic lines that betray the circumstances at the core of this album. Stillman is doing his version of a bedroom studio version of classic 60s-70s spiritual jazz greats like Pharoah Sanders or John Coltrane. The melody from “As He Walked Into the Field” is later revealed to be from a tune he was singing to his daughter heard on “Field With Pops,” much as Coltrane’s did on A Love Supreme with wordless narration of “Psalm.” 

The record is marked by the life-changing events of the death of Stillman’s first daughter and the birth of his second. There is an undercurrent of sorrow to this music but you are never bogged down with it, instead there is a strong celebratory feel to it. Like the Thich Nhat Hanh quotation that serves the album art “to suffer is not enough. We must be in touch with the wonders of life” one gets the impression that creating this music helped Stillman process the tragedy his family suffered. Rainbow is a beautiful and rich album, though marked by loss never stays there.