Allison Miller & Carmen Staaf

From a distance

Jazz duo Allison Miller & Carmen Staaf used pandemic distancing as an opportunity to heighten the intimacy in their music. The result is Nearness, an electrifying full-length album of original compositions with a few standards. Drummer and composer Miller’s pop-like original “Dan Dan” opens the record, followed by pianist Staaf’s wistful and moving “Blue Thrush.” The duo also tackle Hoagy Carmichael’s “Nearness of You” and Thelonious Monk’s “Ask Me Now” with creative flourish, before finishing with “Chant,” a delicate musical meditation or protest—you decide.

Saturday 2/11. $23-25, 7:30pm. First Presbyterian Church, 500 Park St. cvillejazz.org

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