If you’re new to Madre Vaca, YUKON is a great place to start.
Madre Vaca Records
Jarrett Carter – Guitar; Jonah Pierre – Piano and Keyboards; Thomas Milovac – Bass; Benjamin Shorstein – Drums
There’s a kind of freedom in the way Madre Vaca approaches jazz—it never feels boxed in. Calling it ‘music for your brain,’ the Jacksonville-based collective (and record label) keeps pushing the edges on YUKON, their sixth album and maybe their most focused one yet.
For this outing, Madre Vaca pares things down to a quartet, with guitarist Jarrett Carter and keyboardist Jonah Pierre taking the lead melodically. Bassist Thomas Milovac and drummer Benjamin Shorstein offer more than just support—they’re equal creative partners as the group moves through eight original tunes that wander across stylistic borders but stay connected by a shared vision.
The album kicks off with ‘Blue Bird,’ a Charlie Parker tribute that manages to honor bebop’s founding father without falling into mimicry. The quartet filters Parker’s energy through their own unique lens. Jarrett Carter’s guitar focuses on clean, single-note runs, while Thomas Milovac’s walking bass pairs tightly with Benjamin Shorstein’s drums, giving the tune plenty of push. Jonah Pierre’s piano comps subtly behind the soloists, then takes his turn with quick, percussive phrases, almost hinting at stride. It’s a smart opener: grounded in jazz history but already stepping beyond it.
‘Portraits of a Swan’ slows things down with a moody, slightly somber ballad that feels calm on the surface but hints at something more complicated underneath. Carter’s guitar has a quiet intensity that lets the emotion unfold. Pierre’s piano glides in and out, sometimes agreeing with the mood, sometimes questioning it, which keeps things interesting.
The title track, ‘Yukon’—a musical portrait of the Pennsylvania coal town—features urgent, double-time electric bass lines beneath Carter’s distinctive, fiery guitar. Pierre’s barroom-sounding piano sits precariously on top, while the bass churns like a noisy gas engine, driving the music forward with the stubborn momentum of a riverboat pushing through thick current.
‘Dormant’ unfolds mostly as a jazz waltz, with a graceful kind of momentum that shows how tightly this group plays without ever sounding rigid. Carter’s guitar lines are fluid and compact—little melodic phrases that glide along. Milovac’s bass walks and skips underneath, while Pierre’s piano solo rolls out in simple, elegant lines, almost floral in the way they open up. The track culminates in powerful drum breaks from Shorstein that feel both cathartic and precisely controlled.
‘They Say,’ a warm, contemplative piece dedicated to Wayne Shorter, captures some of the late saxophone legend’s harmonic depth and openness. Pierre switches to Rhodes, adding a slightly hazy texture. Shorstein plays with brushes, staying out of the way but still shaping the rhythm, and Milovac’s bass takes on a more melodic role that fits the mood of the piece.
‘Slab City’ leans hard into fusion, with the band plugging in and turning up. Shorstein’s drums hit louder than anywhere else on the record—closer to rock than jazz—and Pierre’s electric piano is all power and punch. Milovac’s electric bass has bite, and Carter’s guitar lines tear through with flashes of Mahavishnu-style fire. It’s a shift in tone, powered by their tight, sharp interplay.
Milovac’s composition ‘Titan’s Folly’ stands out as one of the album’s most evocative moments—a melancholy ballad that shows he’s more than just a great player. The acoustic piano sticks to simple, repeated phrases, adding a touch of dissonance that feels almost like modern classical music or something from a movie soundtrack. Carter’s guitar takes a different approach—his single-note runs and strumming have a Spanish flair, like something you’d hear from a flamenco player.
What’s most impressive about YUKON is how it fits into Madre Vaca’s bigger story. They started out as teenagers, and since their 2018 debut Nexus, they’ve been growing and pushing themselves — from ambitious projects like WINTERREISE, where they reworked Schubert’s song cycle with an octet, to the sprawling KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE with its 11-piece lineup. Each album feels like a step forward, stretching their creative limits in new ways.
If you’re new to Madre Vaca, YUKON is a great place to start. And if you’ve followed them through their bigger, more sprawling projects, it’s fun to hear how much they can say with a smaller group—tight, focused, and still full of great ideas.
