Tigersmilk are a trio that, in effect, belong to sort of a second wave of modern Chicago avant-garde jazz. Most well-known is the group's leader, Rob Mazurek, cornet player in various Chicago outfits, though not a household name compared to some of his Windy City compatriots. Bassist Jason Roebke and percussionist Dylan van der Schyff round out the group. Their debut album is forty-seven minutes of scanty, disjointed music that refuses to go in any one direction, but is far from iconoclastic in its scattered scope. Mazurek, mixed a bit too high at times, fires short spurts of sound over the odd combination of van der Schyff's more active percussion and Roebke's slower, more measured bass. At times, Mazurek lays his cornet down to inject the album with electronics that sway the balance of power away from avant-jazz, more towards the spectrum of post-rock. His electronic work is cosmetically sound, but never takes on a soul of its own. There's little on the album that's very forceful, and Tigersmilk come off sounding dry and unremarkable, for the most part. Mazurek proves to be capable of both melodic playing and more abstract sound-making, but never seems to really take the reigns as it seems he should, and Roebke and van der Schyff often play what appear to be only supportive roles in the music. It's not that Tigersmilk are unquestionably bad, just that they're not unquestionably good, and there's little on their unremarkable debut album that's much more than lukewarm. It seems as though Tigersmilk are striving for something more than they reach, and that their intentions could someday result in better music. But, you know what they say about good intentions, don't you?
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