Allison Miller has been the drummer-leader of ensemble Boom Tic Boom for the past decade or so, and she’s also worked with a wide spectrum of jazz artists from Myra Melford to B-3 Hammond legend Lonnie Smith and most recently recorded for Blue Note with the acclaimed all-female ensemble Artemis.

The inspiration behind this new album is the five East Coast US rivers and, as Miller states, “efforts by conservationists to protect these sacred waterways from the ever present stresses of the modern world.” The accent on the positive in Miller’s statement seeps into the recording, which has an attractive, upbeat vibe about it. The use of the word ‘sacred’ resonates with the folky ritualistic tone of the opening ‘Of Two Rivers’ suite and its juxtaposition with Miller’s post-bop influences; a folk-dance beat introduces ‘Part I’ and the novel sound of a tap-dancer opens 'Part II' featuring the excellent Ben Goldberg’s deeply resonant bass/baritone clarinet and trumpeter Jason Palmer tooting over an old-school gospel-blues-y instrumental shout. ‘For the Fish’ has an early-jazz flavour in which the tap-dancing intro doesn’t feel at all out of place and Water’ sounds as translucent as its title. The internationally-acclaimed violinist Jenny Scheinman leads the soothingly pastoral ‘Riparian Love’ and ‘Hudson’ alongside Goldberg’s elegant, folky musings. There’s plenty of contrast though: the angular rock-riffing on ‘Fierce’, Scheinman’s strident violin solo on ‘GO!’ and Goldberg’s Brötzmann-ish wall of bass clarinet sound that evokes the title on ‘Shipyards’.

Enjoyable and colourful, and for a recording with a wide spectrum of influences, Miller’s close-knit ensemble show a lot of character.