Jazz Articles about Joel Miller

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Joel Miller: Unstoppable

by Jack Bowers
November 11, 2019

Montreal-based saxophonist / composer Joel Miller brings an impressive resume to bear on Unstoppable, a large-ensemble recording aptly described in an accompanying press release as “a 21st-Century chamber symphony." In a career spanning more than two decades, Miller has earned a number of high honors including a Grand Prix Award at the Montreal Jazz Festival for his debut album Find a Way (Ithmus, 1996), an East Coast Music Award for Dream Cassette (FamGroup, 2016) with vocalist Sienna Dahlen, and a ...

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Joel Miller, Markus Howell, Curtis Taylor and More

by Bob Osborne
October 17, 2019

This week we focus on the new albums by Joel Miller, Markus Howell and Curtis Taylor, three new releases from Leo Records and a selection of new and recent recordings from across the wide world of jazz... Playlist Joel Miller “Song Story 1 : Gyre" from Unstoppable (Joel Miller) 00:00 Markus Howell “Get Right" from Get Right! (Posi-tone) 04:51 Curtis Taylor “Bolivia" from Snapshot (Curtis Taylor Music) 10:29 Blazing Flame “Back into the High Tide We Go" from ...

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Joel Miller: Unstoppable

by Dan McClenaghan
September 29, 2019

Joel Miller makes an excellent case for continuing education. Twenty years after winning the career-boosting Gran Prix of the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1997, and releasing his debut album, Find A Way (Isthmus/Page Music) in the same year, the Montreal-based saxophonist returned to his alma mater, McGill University, to complete his studies for a Master's in Jazz Composition. The result of his return to school is Unstoppable, music from a twenty-first century chamber ensemble—an orchestra-recording without strings that earns Miller ...

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Joel Miller: Tantramar

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 7, 2008

Dal sassofonista canadese Joel Miller ci arriva una proposta che sta a cavallo fra certo mainstream con le radici negli anni `60 quando Miles lavorava sul suo quintetto storico, e la world contemporanea. Il suo sestetto lavora insieme da tempo e l'ultima sua incisione risale al 2004, Mandala, un fattore che ha permesso di mettere a punto con molta dovizia di particolari questo progetto, in cui composizioni ed arrangiamenti danno un preciso quadro di riferimento ad interventi solistici estesi e ...

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Joel Miller: Tantramar

by Mark Corroto
September 8, 2008

Listening to Tantramar by saxophonist Joel Miller keeps reminding me of the lyrics to “Life is Grand" by the rock band Camper Van Beethoven: “And life is grand, And I will say this at the risk of falling from favor, With those of you who have appointed yourselves, To expect us to say something darker."

You see, Miller and company play such bright, life-affirming music, there is little room to say (or think) something darker.

Perhaps ...

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Joel Miller: Mandala

by John Kelman
January 10, 2005

Psychology icon Carl Jung believed that the Buddhist Mandala--a circle enclosing a square with a deity on each side--was representative of the “nuclear atom" of the human psyche, the unknown essence of the soul. Ever-pervasive in dreams, children's drawings and more, he felt this simple representation depicted humanity's way of forming a harmonious relationship with the self, a means of reconciling with the tenebrous core of the soul to encourage healing. For Canadian saxophonist Joel Miller the ...

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Joel Miller: Mandala

by Michael P. Gladstone
December 15, 2004

Canadian saxophonist Joel Miller experienced an epiphany in 2002 that affected his musical direction. The title of this album dates back to Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, and has been used in a number of ways including, in this case, achieving wholeness and forming a harmonious relationship with one's self. Coincident to this important change, Miller ventured from Montreal to New York, where he heard Kurt Rosenwinkel and convinced the guitarist to join him in Montreal for some club ...