Label: Star Jelly, 2026

Personnel - Elijah Shiffer: alto saxophone; Christian Cail: guitar; Max Kutner: electric bass; Colin Hinton: drums; Maya Luz: vocals (#9,10).

Recorded live at three different New York venues (Brooklyn, Queens, and Rochester), Callithumpian marks the second release by vibrant saxophonist and composer Elijah Shiffer with his punk-infused jazz ensemble Robber Crabs. Delivered with earnestness and charged with passion, the album features a completely renewed lineup, with guitarist Christian Cail, bassist Max Kutner, and drummer Colin Hinton excelling across 11 tracks that highlight their expansive and adventurous musical stance.

The hyperactivity of Shiffer’s “Mustang Mascot”—with its barrage of accents, acerbic guitar chords, and locomotive-paced drumming—serves as an ideal vehicle for the quartet’s irreverence and empowering sound. Cail’s frantic, often disorienting solo evokes Brandon Seabrook’s psychedelic tantrums, while Shiffer navigates a hard-swinging framework delineated with a post-rock edge. Toward the end, its marching thematic parade gives way to unaccompanied drum exploration. By contrast, “The Socialite” feels comparatively more conventional, shifting between tempo and intensity while toggling from elegant trad jazz to abrasive punk rock.

“Swindler’s Dream” arrives at full throttle, its melody tinged with Eastern inflections and driven by spirited saxophone–guitar interplay, while the title track “Callithumpian” resembles a cabaret for the future, propelled by an animated strut, unexpected staccato figures, and a confident embrace of dissonant deconstruction.

Penned by Mexican composer Conlon Nancarrow, “Player Piano Study 3a” emerges as an irresistible hybrid of bluesy rock ’n’ roll, punk, and avant-garde jazz. The seemingly smoother textures of “Tentacle Mind, Part 1” soon thicken and intensify, culminating in tense multiphonics and an insistent rhythmic heat that favors turbulence over stability. As in other cases, the performance enhances rather than overshadows the composition.

Cail’s “Zero Pleasure Tolerance” bursts forth with a mix of motifs over a blistering, motorik-like pulse, while guest vocalist Maya Luz contributes two of her own pieces—the rhapsodic “Manicures and Mood Swings” and the pop-leaning ballad “My Thrill”. Though contrasting in mood, both integrate effectively within the album’s broader tonal palette.

Constantly on the edge, Robber Crabs’ music allows for freedom and discipline alike. Callithumpian transpires loud energy, playfulness, and character via hooky themes, blistering improvisation, and tight-knit interaction. All in all, fun material.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Mustang Mascot ► 04 - Callithumpian ► 07 - Tentacle Mind, Part 1

Label: Star Jelly, 2023

Personnel - Elijah Shiffer: alto saxophone; Kevin Sun: tenor saxophone; Dmitry Ishenko: bass; Colin Hinton: drums.

In his third full-length album, City of Birds Vol.1, New York-based alto saxophonist and composer Elijah Shiffer shares the frontline with tenorist Kevin Sun, backed by the sturdy rhythm section of bassist Dmitry Ishenko and drummer Colin Hinton. Drawing inspiration from birds spotted in New York, Shiffer composed all ten infectious pieces, anchoring them in tradition but also imbuing them with sophistication in the arrangements and athleticism in the improvisations to make them shift to the contemporary side.

“Flap Flap Glide” kicks off the album with straightahead swing and amusing dynamism, showcasing nervy saxophone unisons and a stirring tenor saxophone solo. Also with a hard-swinging vein, “Walking, Running, Open Wing” channels the epic fantasy of John Coltrane and Dexter Gordon, while “Phalarope Jilt” explores hard-bop flair, evoking Charlie Parker with rhythmic nuance.

Grooving all the way down while driven by a 12-beat cycle bass figure, “A Dove in the Morning” thrives with interesting saxophone dialogues. This fascinating interplay continues on “Skydance Over 6th Ave.”, where multiphonics and well-sequenced flurries of notes are expressed with tonal balance. This piece, inspired by the aerial trajectories of the American Woodcock, brings short staccato lines into its introductory part, and includes an agile bass solo that anticipates an effortless, graciously mutating dance.

The soulful “Pigeonology” stands out, offering complex bopish articulation, a riff-heavy feast for the reedsmen, and invigorating rhythm shifts that smear the substratum with a touch of funk rock. An untamed saxophone solo expressed with fury and intelligence doesn’t remove space for Hinton’s percussive inflection by the end. The album closes out with the bouncing “Arctic Jig”, featuring solos by all four musicians.

The creativity, joyous lyricism, and musicianship throughout this album makes it stand ahead and shoulders above most efforts in the same line of action. Shiffer, soaring high with his skills, has chosen excellent company to traverse the sky lanes of jazz like a magnificent bird.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Flap Flap Glide ► 03- Pigeonology ► 05 - Skydance Over 6th Ave.