JAZZTIMES.COM 11demos, Calvaire was enthusiastically on
board, and the two began experimenting
with different grooves and creating drum
patches so Calvaire could move effort-
lessly from an acoustic to an electronic
kit within the same song.
Finding the right electric guitarist
was also crucial for Collin. Although
he treasures the intimate dynamics
of a trio, he wanted to take a more
expansive approach to instrumenta-
tion, including a guitar player versatile
enough to soar or go guttural in ways a
pianist can’t. “It was a challenge because
he had to have an understanding of
many genres and be fluid with grooves
and colors, but play with an ethereal
nature,” Collin says. “He had to be able
to play some pretty technical parts of
the through-composed music but also
improvise, especially when we go out
on the road.” So when Collin heard the
genre-sweeping pyrotechnics on the
Preverbal album by Matthew Stevens—a
former classmate at Berklee—he knew
he’d found the right musician.What separates Tiny Lights... from
Collin’s previous work is the liquidity of
its textures and rhythms. His compo-
sitions continue to lean toward ostina-
to-centered anthems and tone poems,
but the electric instruments create more
splash and maneuverability. Collin
is proud of the fact that, save for two
pensive ballads enhanced by orchestral
arrangements (performed by the Prague
Philharmonic), the only overdubs are an
occasional double-tracking of Stevens’
parts to fatten the mix. Otherwise, pro-
ducer Loucas is like a fourth band mem-
ber, helping to alter and re-mic Calvaire’s
drum kit differently on each song.
The final phase of Tiny Lights... was
coming up with a compelling video
narrative and release schedule for the 10
songs that make up the project. Over a
three-day period, Collin devised a fic-
tional tale centered upon his belief that
“everybody has a beautiful, unique blue-
print that, if embraced and nurtured,
can give way to a very radiant, strong
form of self-expression.”The videos were unfurled in three
stages that coincided with the release of
the music in thirds, with each release
three weeks apart. Collin believes the
stark chronology and episodic segmen-
tation allows the audience to better track
the video narrative and take time to ab-
sorb the nuances of his most ambitious
project yet. “I like releasing the music in
small batches,” he says, although by now
the consumer has the choice of taking in
the entire work all at once.
Either way, Collin believes that Tiny
Lights... finally reflects the whole spec-
trum of genres that inform his artistry,
and looks forward to the audience hear-
ing, as he puts it, “trio music that sounds
much bigger than a trio.” At the same
time, he knows that “it doesn’t matter
what the ingredients are when you pres-
ent a dish to the audience. Do they like it
or not, and do you like it or not? Are you
enjoying listening to the sound you have
created? With this project, I can answer
yes to those questions in a way that is
new and particular.” BRITT ROBSONA Young Mallet
Master’s Journey
Vibraphonist SASHA BERLINER is carving out
her own groove#Ì
t 21, Sasha Berliner is already
an accomplished vibraphonist,
composer, bandleader, and
performer. In 2018 she won the first
LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award
competition to be held in North Amer-
ica, beating out 230 other artists. The
prize included a tour of seven major
jazz festivals in North America and
Canada, and one of her stops in June
was at SFJAZZ, where she’d once been
a member of the San Francisco-based
nonprofit’s High School All-Stars Or-
chestra. SFJAZZ founder Randall Kline
introduced Berliner with heartfelt
pride and praise.
Berliner says she applied for the
LetterOne award on a whim and was
thrilled when she won. “It’s been
amazing,” she said by telephone from
San Francisco, a few hours before the
SFJAZZ gig. “I played a couple of fes-
tivals before, but this is a whole other
level, and it certainly was an incentive
to up my professionalism, work on
some new original music, and start
working on my album.” That album,
Azalea, is her second full-lengthSasha Berliner keeps the
vibes positiveJOH
N^ R
OG
ERS
x Video: Sasha Berliner performs “Between the World and Me”