Ratatet - Heroes, Saints and Clowns (2018)

"This music is informed by what I see in the news, the violence, the police, the politics," Hall explains. So it opens with a "Demographic Shift," introduced through a marching procession led by the One Planet Drum Corps before the prominence of Vado's vibes in its stutter-step yet bouncy jazz melody sounds like Ruth Underwood flipping through different melodies in GrandMothers of Invention songbook. "A Short Poem for a Shattered Age" casts acoustic piano and shimmering cymbals in a lovely, warm sound that seems to genuinely welcome the cello, saxophone, and other instruments, in a reverent song that may well be a prayer. It's short, not small.

"At the same time, we have to keep our chins up," Hall continues. "I'm also looking at personal heroes, people who help me stay positive."

"Agnes Martin" synthesizes jazz, classical, and chamber music into a tonal homage to the abstract painter whose work Hall first experienced at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "She has these subtle veils of color that pop out as you look at the canvas. Her paintings are all patterns and geometry, so the tune has this recurring part to reflect that," the drummer explains. With "Lane and Joanna," Hall honors two more personal muses with jazz that shimmers like instrumental pop: It's clear and clean and crisp but not sterile, and the music's pleasant surface quickly reveals more complicated structures; for example, as simultaneous layers of rhythm build and then fall out to make room for Sankovich's breathless and beautiful piano solo.