When he was just 15, pianist Mulgrew Miller consciously chose the code he would live by: "Easy does it." Perhaps even then he knew he needed to pace himself for the long, illustrious career ahead of him. Today, at age 46, he is one of the most acclaimed-and recorded-jazz pianists of his generation. He's toured the world with the Ellington Orchestra, Betty Carter and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers; performed with hundreds of outstanding musicians; started his own group, Wingspan, 15 years ago; and taught numerous workshops to usher in the next generation of musicians. By all counts, he is considered a master in his field-respected by his peers and embraced by jazz audiences worldwide-yet Mulgrew still believes he has more to learn. Before making his MAXJAZZ debut The Sequel, he took a seven-year break from recording as a leader (although he played on more than 200 recordings during this period). "I needed to take time to reflect on how I wanted to grow in music and to find my place in the music world," he says.

It's a world he entered early and easily: Picking out melodies on the piano by ear at 6, taking lessons at 8 and going on gigs with his older brother by 10. As a teen, he soaked up every kind of music available in his small Southern hometown-blues, country and western, gospel, R & B, classical-but not until he heard his first jazz record by Oscar Peterson did he find a focus for his passion. "I was blown away," he recalls. "It was a life changing event. I knew right then that I would be a jazz pianist."

So in a world where some of the brightest talents burn out early, and some of the most gifted musicians get lost in the highs and lows of the jazz life, Mulgrew chose the "easy does it" approach, focusing on careful attention to craft, impeccable choices in the musicians to surround himself with, and a balanced life that included a stable home and vegetarian lifestyle. In charting his path, he found mentors like James Williams and Donald Brown at Memphis State University who taught him to listen to the greats, saxophonist Bill Easley who got him his first professional gig, and Ray Charles sideman Rudolph Johnson who introduced him to Eastern spirituality.

These influences, combined with the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. and the lessons of the civil rights movement integral to his Greenwood, Mississippi, childhood, shaped him as both a person and an artist. Of course "easy does it" is more about "living life in a calm way," as Mulgrew explains, than taking it easy on his career. For its entirety, he worked steadily as a musician, including three years with Woody Shaw's Quintet, three with the Mercer Ellington Orchestra and 6 1/2 with the Tony Williams Quintet. He recorded with Johnny Griffin, Branford Marsalis and Terence Blanchard. He composed nonstop-about everything from the metaphysical to the mundane-"but all of it taken from my life experiences and my experience of music," he says. The Sequel, recorded with Wingspan members Steve Nelson, Steve Wilson, Duane Eubanks, Richie Goods and Karriem Riggins, features eight of Mulgrew's compositions and reflects a subtle evolution in his approach. "I'm moving into a greater awareness of the importance of melody and I'm sharpening my compositional process. This recording came from a feeling I had about jazz becoming too complex. I wanted to make a record with music that was less cluttered, music that clarified the swing beat." He cites Miles Davis' Kind of Blue as inspiration, but the recording is pure Mulgrew-bold, accomplished and vibrant.

These liner notes were reprinted with permission from MAXJAZZ. They appear in Mulgrew Miller's release The Sequel.