Synth + Stomp: The Electronic Tap-Jazz Music of Melinda Sullivan & Larry Goldings … and Other Colorfield Delights

Words don’t need to introduce a lovely piece of recorded music. Sometimes, as below, the best curtain-raiser is the thing itself.

That’s American choreographer, dancer, actress and educator Melinda Sullivan, among the preeminent tap dance soloists in the world, recording at Lucy’s Meat Market in Highland Park. In the inset of the clip is killer jazz keyboardist Larry Goldings, best known for his work with artists including John Scofield, Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden. Next week the two release Big Foot, a keyboard-synth-feet album released by Colorfield, the Meat Market-connected label that’s been putting out a sublimely rich bunch of recordings over the past few years.

Featuring contributions from artists including great percussionist Steve Gadd, sax player Sam Gendel and string player Daphne Chen, the mostly instrumental record features eleven solid songs with the gentle rhythmic drive of Sullivan’s soft-shoed, sock-shuffled feet. Big Foot arrives two years after Goldings released his solo album Earthshine on Colorfield.

You can see the session in action in a video that captures Sullivan and Gadd nailing the foundation of “Do You Like” in one take.

As conveyed in release notes, Goldings is responsible for snagging Gadd, who “was a tap dancer as a kid,” per Goldings. “[W]hen I showed him a video of Melinda dancing, he wanted in,” Goldings continued. “During a brief visit to Los Angeles, we coaxed him into the studio and he and Melinda improvised duets, with Melinda in socks, and Steve playing brushes on a cardboard box. Steve and Melinda have much in common: they play ideas, and no notes are wasted; their time and feel are exquisite; and they’re extremely sensitive listeners.” Goldings said that weeks after the recording session they revisited the recording. “I created a harmonic structure around it, adding piano, synthesizers, and the beautiful singing of Anna Goldings, my daughter.”

“Steve saw the drummer in me and I saw the tap dancer in him. 10/10 joy for me that day,” Sullivan recalled in release notes, describing an afternoon in the studio with the drummer. “[We] met that same day, thanks to Larry, and introduced ourselves through playing together. It was magical. What you hear on ‘Do You Like,’ as well as two other tracks on the album, ‘Twins’ and ‘Dyad,’ are single-takes. There was very little talking, just us listening and responding.”

Here’s another cool excerpt from the session. It features Goldings adding a track of MiniMoog to the song “Quantize Me.”

If you like the tones and musical approach, Colorfield, owned by engineer Pete Min, who seems to have successfully made it his mission to draw players into the Colorfield realm, has now released more than a dozen full-length albums since 2021, most of them instrumental works by forward-thinking jazz-adjacent artists. In 2022, the label released bassist Anna Butterss’s perfect Activities, and last year it put out an unimpeachable trio of solo albums by guitarist Brad Allen Williams (Brittany Howard, Jose James), Daniel Rotem (Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Josh Johnson, Mon LaFerte), and Rich Hinman (Sarah Watkins, Lucius, Maren Morris), as well as Distance to the Moon, a beautiful sax-and-synth record by Nora Stanley and Benny Bock.

Earlier this year, Colorfield released Small Day, by the guitarist, producer, and composer Gregory Uhlmann; and at the beginning of summer, the label put out the wonderfully rhythmic solo album by percussionist Amy Aileen Wood, who is best known for her work with Fiona Apple on Fetch the Bolt Cutters. (Apple makes an appearance on the album.)

To get a sense of the Lucy’s vibe, Colorfield has in recent months released a few videos of improv sessions. Here’s an exquisite one featuring guitarist Uhlmann and star synth player Jeremiah Chiu (who designed the first issue of our magazine on listening) recorded at Lucy’s Meat Market by Min.