By Bill Milkowski | Published September 2021
While drummer Mike Clark may have made his bones supplying the elastic, polyrhythmic Bay Area funk beats and sophisticated time displacement to Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking music during the early ’70s, his thing since moving to New York in the early ’80s has been more about swinging in a post-bop vein. Mike Drop finds him doing just that alongside a stellar Bay Area crew of saxophonist Michael Zilber, outstanding pianist Matt Clark and veteran bassist Peter Barshay.
They open the program in aggressive fashion on Zilber’s uptempo swinger “Barshay Fly,” with its subtle allusion to Wayne Shorter’s “Palladium.” Drummer Clark is strictly tipping on the ride cymbal here while cutting up the beat on snare and toms in unpredictable ways. Shorter’s profound influence on Zilber is also represented on the quartet’s faithful rendition of Wayne’s serene ballad “Miyako.” Zilber also tips his hat to another sax master, Sonny Rollins, on the irrepressibly swinging “Sonny Monk (If I Were A).”
The Beatles’ “Blackbird” is reimagined as a hip, medium-tempo swinger, allowing Clark to go into full Elvin Jones mode on the kit, while Zilber runs through six different keys on a clever reharmonizing of “Norwegian Wood.”
Clark opens “Passion Dance” with a deft drum solo before settling into some funky time displacement for an Actual Proof-ization of the McCoy Tyner classic. And the solid program closes with a burning romp through the standard “Falling In Love With Love.”
Mike Drop: Barshay Fly; Sonny Monk (If I Were A); Passion Dance; You Know I Care; Blackbird; Norwegian Wood; Miyako; Monk’s Dream; Falling In Love With Love. (53:38)
Personnel: Mike Clark, drums; Michael Zilber, tenor and soprano saxophones; Matt Clark, piano; Peter Barshay, bass.
Ordering Info: sunnysiderecords.com
