Following a few years of shifting perspectives, Be Still finds vibraphonist Baker in a contemplative mood alongside frequent collaborators: pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Gabriel Godoy and drummer Gavin Moolchan. Since uniting in 2019, the four have enjoyed a seamless unity, citing their varied Houston heritages as a binding agent. Fittingly, the album is a collection of vignettes, mainly speaking to the “now” of Baker’s life while touching on some of his formative “then” influences. In the bandleader’s words, he is “looking back, but moving forward.”
Baker is a strong, authentic voice in jazz vibraphone, building on the legacies of Stefon Harris, Warren Wolf and Joe Locke, while twisting the instrument’s idiosyncrasies to fit with his burgeoning musical personality. His debut album, This Is Me, This Is Us (produced by mentor Ulysses Owens Jr., and praised for the “faultless execution” by Jazz Journal) dropped on Outside in Music in September 2021, and wove themes of spirituality, trauma and political action into a cohesive, tightly-wrapped whole.
But the period following his debut release was far from cohesive for Baker. He had coincidentally moved back to Houston a few months prior to the Covid outbreak, and the pandemic elongated his stay. After returning for the first time in seven years, he found a sense of grounding and purpose in his hometown — something he attributes to being surrounded by family. All this change would shift his mindset on how to balance his life and career. “I think my perspective on a lot of things has changed as far as what’s important. A lot of the music on the album mirrors that,” he says. “I found a willingness to accept changes as they come and just embrace them.”
