Drummer brings together a rustic Americana sound with her inventive modern jazz harmonies on her ambitious 2023 LP . Commissioned by the Mid-Atlantic Arts Organization and Lake Placid Center for the Arts, the album is a 12-song cycle inspired by the many rivers and watersheds of the United States, as well as the organizations devoted to protecting those vital resources. Integral to the work is 's ensemble, beginning with pianist , with whom she worked closely during the composition phase. Equally key is violinist , a longtime associate who helped breathe yet more life into the folk-inflected songs at the core of 's vision. Rounding out 's group are on contra-alto and B-flat clarinets, trumpeter , and bassist . Initially conceived as a cross-disciplinary multimedia work, the album also features a cadre of tap dancers, including , , and . While the use of tap dancers in jazz is a long and storied tradition, the way incorporates them so seamlessly into her music is notable. Often, their rhythmic shuffle, stomp, and click -- while distinctly recognizable as tap dance -- quickly becomes an added percussion instrument in itself. There is a sprawling sense of movement to many of 's songs, as in the opening "Of Two Rivers," whose two sections represent the Susquehanna River with its North Branch in New York and West Branch in Pennsylvania. The song starts with a rising orchestral feel, with 's violin rubbing against the reedy sigh of 's clarinet as adds a gurgling trumpet aside, all of which evoke the image of a great riverboat pushing off from shore and making its way down a river. From there, it glides into wide-swinging, gospel-inflected blues as shouts brassy choruses over 's bowed, foghorn-like bass notes. Part two is more kinetic, as lays down glassy piano chords against a skittering chorus of tap-danced water droplets before swoops in with edgy trumpet lines like a heron diving for fish. Yet more evocative and cinematic songs follow, like "Hudson," where lays down a steady groove that sounds like a train cutting a dusky shadow over 's long gray violin lines. In contrast, "For the Fishes" is all percolating tap dance rhythms over which and leap and dance like a free jazz take on a 1930s cartoon soundtrack theme. There's also the crisp Latin chamber number "Wild Blue Indigo" and the Gulf Coast funk of "GO!." With and her band have crafted a heartfelt tonal map of the nation's waterways, one that pulls you deep within the swell of its musical tide. ~ Matt Collar