{"id":7210,"date":"2025-12-06T20:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/sml-how-you-been-review\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T20:55:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:55:00","slug":"sml-how-you-been-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/sml-how-you-been-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Jazz Upstarts SML Stay Heady On \u2018How You Been\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/1_000303070012_CharlieWeinmann_2.jpg\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1786\" alt=\"\"><figcaption>(photo: Charlie Weinemann).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At a March Seattle gig, SML generated three epic improvisations of subtle groove science (the second piece even evoked the funky swagger of Average White Band\u2019s \u201cSchoolboy Crush\u201d) and galvanic hypnosis. It was the best show this writer saw in 2025, and that it differed from the relative concision of the group\u2019s records just proves SML can thrive in various modes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 2024 debut <em>Small Medium Large<\/em> established SML as a fascinating new force in the jazz\/improv underground. With traces of Jon Hassell\u2019s uneasy, tranquil Fourth World music and ECM-style chamber jazz, the record vigorously hybridized elements into beguiling, novel shapes. <em>How You Been<\/em> (International Anthem) is a deceptively mundane title for an LP that ventures into shifty and rewarding sonic territory. You get the impression that these phenomenal players \u2013 bassist Anna Butterss, saxophonist Josh Johnson, guitarist Gregory Uhlmann, synthesist Jeremiah Chiu and drummer Booker Stardrum \u2013 don\u2019t take themselves very seriously, yet the music they create is among the headiest in the land.<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2024\/07\/sml-small-medium-large-review\/\">SML: The Sound of Citation<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1290\" height=\"1290\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/SML_Howyoubeen_Cover_3000px-1290x1290.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-649776\" style=\"width:604px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/SML_Howyoubeen_Cover_3000px-1290x1290.jpg 1290w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/SML_Howyoubeen_Cover_3000px-340x340.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/SML_Howyoubeen_Cover_3000px-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/SML_Howyoubeen_Cover_3000px-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/SML_Howyoubeen_Cover_3000px-498x498.jpg 498w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/12\/SML_Howyoubeen_Cover_3000px-1668x1668.jpg 1668w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\"><\/figure>\n<p>Things really take off with \u201cChicago Four,\u201d which jitters with the industriousness of \u201990s-era Mouse on Mars. Uhlmann\u2019s staccato guitar stabs through a peculiarly ambivalent synth melody that seemingly drifted in from a mid-\u201970s Chick Corea or Joe Zawinul LP, as Stardrum\u2019s off-kilter martial beats tussle with Butterss\u2019 probing bass line. \u201cDaves\u201d is kinetic post-jazz that moves with Cubist misdirection. By contrast,\u00a0 it sounds as if a weird club banger is struggling to emerge in \u201cStepping In\/The Loop,\u201d but the polyrhythmic percolations seem more at home in the concert halls of academia. Paradoxical tensions rule.<\/p>\n<p>The album peaks on \u201cTaking Out the Trash,\u201d the skewed, five-dimensional funk and bustling complexity of which recalls no less than Miles Davis\u2019 <em>On the Corner<\/em>. Uhlmann and Butterss\u2019 interplay is mesmerizing, while Stardrum\u2019s metallic percussion adds a layer of tantalizing texture and Johnson peels off a frenetic yet poised sax solo. Throughout, the musicians seem to be cooking in their own worlds, but their parts fortuitously interlock and tasty grooves frequently arise. There\u2019s so much going on in <em>How You Been<\/em>, and it\u2019s all interesting.<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(photo: Charlie Weinemann). At a March Seattle gig, SML generated three epic improvisations of subtle groove science (the second piece even evoked the funky swagger of Average White Band\u2019s \u201cSchoolboy&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4685,117,88,4686],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anna-butterss","category-new-music","category-reviews","category-sml"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}