Mike on sax New Orleans 1989

This uptempo "burner" was written as a concert opener for the US Army Jazz Ambassadors in the mid '90's. The recording features Pat Dillon (soprano saxophone) and Jim McFalls (trombone).

IT'S ALL RIGHT WITH ME (Cole Porter/arr. Eric Richards) BIG BAND

Improvisation Himalayan singing bowls and world class jazz improviser Karl Berger on vibes

Singing Bowls and One - Outside

Outside Open

Buy it here!
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/early-compositions-1973-1976

Ben Miller; alto saxophone, C-tenor saxophone, archtop guitar, bass, voice, maracas
Laurence Miller; Bb clarinet, drums
Mike List; tablas

MILLER TWINS "Looking Down At The Ground At This and That" from "Early Compositions 1973-1976"

was inspired by the powerful sounds of Dominican Salve and one specific 1978 field recording of a Rosario (song of supplication) that I heard in 2016. I’ve dedicated this one to Enerolisa Nuñez and her daughter Yeni Nuñez, two leaders from the community of Mata los Indios -located in Villa Mella Dominican Republic- that’ve kept these sounds and traditions alive for many generations. I consider them Heroes. They were kind enough to receive me in their home during one of my research trips and I’m eternally grateful to them for sharing the space with me.

Héroes

From our Demo recording at the Creative Music Studio in West Hurley NH (CMS 1977)
This tune/arrangement is by Mars Williams .

SPONGE (Take 1)-SAX3 (Studio CMS 1977)

Soliloquy For Bass Clarinet

Deliberation

BINGO: A Game of Chance ... is a musical fantasy that places five string bass players wearing tuxedos at a church bingo game in South Boston, complete with caller and rich background vocalizing of the women in attendance as they shuffle their Bingo chips. Thus the Middle-American setting becomes aurally surreal. Each of the players has as his part a bingo card with musical instructions. The rich sound producing qualities of the contrabass are heavily used. However, different players may have different instructions, e.g. one player may be required to battuto col lengo for his I-25, and another player pizzicato both sides of a fingered g string for his I-25. The piece is meant to be humorous as well as serious. There is no need for contemporary music to be ponderous. This piece uses the musical composition techniques of chance, as well as serialization, free improvisation, as well as statistical calculations. It is also a tongue-in-cheek glance at John Cage's I CHING, Xenakis' stochastic methods, and all those post-Schoenberg academic serialists, for all of those techniques are contained in this game of Bingo.

BINGO: A Game of Chance for Contrabass Quintet and Chorus of Elderly Women’s Voices

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lakeside moonbright

New Standards can mean any number of things and that’s why the title was chosen. One of the musical elements the title is intended to portray is the tradition of the jazz standard which, of course, has been a major part of my development as an improvising artist. Here we have “Take the A Train”, “The Peacocks” and “Speak Low”, clearly standards, but I wanted to put my own touch on these tunes. “Take the A Train” has been twisted both rhythmically and harmonically. In “Speak Low” the original four-bar phrases have been stretched into five-bar phrases and the harmonies have nothing (or very little) in common with Kurt Weil’s original harmonies. The form has also been reorganized in that we don’t hear the bridge until after the solo section; each soloist has his own solo form. “The Peacocks”, by Jimmy Rowells, wasn’t rearranged, just interpreted. “Picks and Pans”, by John Scofield, is a tune that we’ve been playing for ten years so, obviously, we like to play it. It should be considered a jazz standard!

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The Peacocks

Saxophonist,clarinets,flutes,shakuhachi,teeth...........teach,perform,record

SPONGE (Take 1)-SAX3 (Studio CMS 1977)

Don Davis

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