LOREN STILLMAN QIJARTET

Cosmos(SoulNote)
Reviewedby JohnSgkerka

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In jazz circlesthe termswhiz kid

andyounglion are bandiedabout
all too frivolously. Often they
describemusicianswho'vebeen
strugglingat their craft for several
yeirs, and are finally gettinga
chanceto stepout from paying
their "dues".Someof theselions
arc a bit long in the tooth when
they finally receivetheir coming
out party. So whena teenagerstepsinto thejazz spotlightthere
are sureto be a few raisedeyebrowsand manya ruffled feather.
At sixteen,Loren Stillmanis destinedto drop countlessjaws.
His excellentalto work on Cosmossuredoesn'tsoundlike the
work of a kid, but Stillmanis onebig anomaly.He hasthe deft
touchto tackleMiles Davis("Solar"),a fluid spirit evoking
ChartieParker("lnner Urge") anda mystifuingimprovisational
flare someold timersstill searchfor ("Cosmos").This sure
doesn'tsoundmuchlike a fluke, but a legitimateentry into the
jazz world,anda muchneededshotof very new blood.This kid
is almostscary.

(C) 1998- JohnSekerka

We stronglyrecommendthat you checkout the

debutreleaseof the I 5 year'old' Loren
Stilhnan. Readwhat JoeLovanohasto say
aboutthis young musician:

"He's wltat we call a natural.At the incredible

ffiiffi ageof 15we hearhirn on his debutrecordingfor
ScitilNoteRecordswith someof New York'smostcreative|azz
musicianstoday:Bob Meyer on Drutnts,ScottLee on Bassand
RussLossingon Piano,who aretwo and threetimesLoren'sage
and very experienced internationalJazzfigures.Yet T,orenleads
this seslionon Alto, while recordingsomeof his original
compositionsas well. As you canhearyourself,he_didp't just pick
up the horn yestet'day.Even at this ripe youngagelte'sbeetr
dbvelopinghis techniqueand sottnclfor sometitue."
-Joe Lovano-