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“I am a big fan of vocal Jazz artists such as Bobby Troup, Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg, Blossom Dearie and Mose Allison who can write hip, slick and cool Jazz melodies and create clever lyrics to sing them with.
The members of this club usually play a little piano or, at least, know their way around one, but their real instrument is their voice which they use to embellish and enhance lyrics much the same way a Jazz instrumentalist does.
Many of them achieve the ultimate in Jazz expression - an almost instantly recognizable sound. A few notes and/or a few bars and you know it's them.
Words register in the mind differently than sounds and a clever wordsmith can leave me with lyrics that I can memorize and repeat a little more easily than an instrumental solo by Bird, Diz or Bud [although it is easier with those that play fewer notes such as Bix and Miles, or Prez and Ben Webster, for example].
These are Jazz singers per se as distinct from song stylists such as Billie, Ella, Sassy although categorization can be a dangerous thing so I think I’ll stop here because no one ever used their voice to scat sing better than Ella or Sassy. I mean when they get it going, you can hear the chord progressions as they actually improvise on the changes - talk about Jazz singing!”
- The Editorial Staff at JazzProfiles.
In an earlier posting about Mark Christian Miller’s Crazy Moon, I commented as noted in the lead-in quotation as to how and why I considered Mark Christian Miller’s vocal interpretations to be part of a select group that sings to me, and not at me, in an way meant to convey the meaning contained in the lyrics of a song.
With Crazy Moon, Mark’s music started out with an offhand, elegant excellence and he has simply kept it up in Music in the Air, which is due to be released on May 23, 2022.
For one who’s delivery is so understated, Mark creates an unusually potent cocktail of atmosphere and musicality.
Though a minimalist who uses a relatively small sonic canvas, Mark’s work is never perfunctory; however he interprets the lyrics of a song, he never loses the ability to create vivid portraits for the listener.
There is no faux sentimentality or unnecessary embellishment in his work.
While thinking about what I was going to write in a posting after experiencing Music in the Air, I was reminded of this quotation by Jazz guitarist Anthony Wilson which encapsulates my feelings and thoughts about Mark’s latest recording:
“As the music played, I remained pleasurably aware of the grain of emotion, heart, musical honesty and beauty woven throughout this album. And all along the way, the little, subtle things continued to accumulate, creating a harmonious, luminous whole.”
Mark Christian Miller is a master of “the little subtle things” from the songs he chooses to how he chooses to sing them to the musicians he chooses to accompany him.
In this regard, he is well served by Jameison Trotter on piano, who also serves as the principal arranger for the date, with the strong pulse by Mike Gurrola on bass and the sensitive drumming of Kevin Winard rounding out the rhythm section. Bassist and educator Chuck Israels often refers to wanting to hear “wedding bells” between the bassist and the drummer and that is certainly the case here as Mike and Kevin “lock in” to form a strong and “tight” rhythm section.
“Horns” are supplied by Danny Janklow on alto sax and Larry Koonse on guitar and they alternate to provide solo relief and/or a unison complement in each arrangement; Mark also phrases in unison as part of some artfully constructed shout choruses throughout the album.
With the number of club, concerts and studio recording venues, Los Angeles is home to a bevy of fine musicians and Mark has selected wisely by asking Jameison, Danny, Larry, Mike and Kevin to join him on this recording.
Listening to Music in the Air, I was also reminded of this reference by Dave Frishberg as contained in Randy L. Smith’s recently published Talking Jazz: Profiles, Interviews and Musings from Tacoma to Kansai:
Do you feel you're the best person to sing your own songs?
“Often, yeah. I'm not saying that in some kind of a cocky way, but I don't like to hear singers attempt to bring humor to my songs. I'd prefer to just let the song work, but a lot of singers enjoy performing when they're singing — that's part of the deal — I think that a lot of my songs work best when given my deadpan delivery. Like, you know, Blossom Dearie sings my songs — I like the way she does it, because she's kind of deadpan about it, and she's showing you the song rather than herself singing it.”
“Deadpan” is not a word that’s in common usage today, but in the context of the above quotation, Dave is giving Blossom high praise for singing his songs without exaggeration and overexpression so as not to obscure what the lyrics are meant to say.
It’s not an easy thing to do: patience, maturity and insight are required to sing a song in this manner and Mark accomplishes this “… showing you the song rather than himself singing it” throughout Music in the Air.
Mark’s latest is scheduled for release on May 23, 2022 and you can secure your copy by going here.
James Gavin, one of the leading authorities on singers and the song, wrote the following insert notes for the recording in which he offers more details about Mark and the music and I thought I would share them with you “as is.”
“When Mark Christian Miller sings he's talking to you, with the warmth, clarity, and intimacy of a fine conversationalist. Underneath it all is a gentle jazz pulse that makes his singing float on air. He has an effortless rapport with musicians, for he knows how to listen.
Born in Storm Lake, Iowa but a longtime resident of Los Angeles, Mark is a familiar and admired voice on the West Coast jazz circuit. Back in the '90s, when he was learning his craft, two of the city's veteran pianists, Page Cavanaugh and Joyce Collins, embraced him. Years later he's still surrounded by some of L.A.'s most gifted players. On this album, Mark's third, pianist and arranger Jamieson Trotter brings every song a fresh point of view; his charts are full of rhythmic and melodic surprise, but like Mark he knows the impact that space can have.
In his hands, the rangy "Lullaby of the Leaves" sounds easy; he nails its wide intervals and makes them swing. Mark and Jamieson created the "vocalese" passage. They crank up the playful menace of "Too Darn Hot," from Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate; Kevin Winard's airy, graceful drumming has power in reserve. The mysteriousness of "I Wished on the Moon" is propelled by Mike Gurrola's tiptoeing bass; Mark enhances it with a recitation drawn from the 1956 poem by Pablo Neruda, "Ode to a Beautiful Nude."
The jazz standards on this album show Mark's ability to glide over hip changes and shifts in time. "If You Never Fall in Love with Me'' is based on "Del Sasser," an instrumental by Cannonball Adderley's bassist, Sam Jones. Alto saxophonist Danny Janklow contributes a breezy solo; on Duke Ellington's "Prelude to a Kiss" he changes the mood to midnight-blue. "If You Could See Me Now," the Tadd Dameron torch song, spotlights guitarist Larry Koonse with a silky, elegant solo. Mark discovered "Music in the Air" on Jon Hendricks's 1959 album A Good Git-Together; Hendricks wrote the words, set to "Wildwood," a composition by the bebop saxophonist and composer Gigi Gryce. Mark saunters through it with the happy-go-lucky grace that the lyric demands.
He turns to introspective '90s pop with Warren Zevon's "Mutineer," in which a rough voyage at sea becomes a metaphor for a man's troubled foray into love. Jamieson Trotter's piano chords suggest a storm brewing, while Mark, with his trademark understatement and believability, takes us inside that ship as it navigates the dark.
While completing the music program at Los Angeles City College and singing in an Honors Concert, Mark Christian Miller came to the attention of Los Angeles Jazz Society founder Teri Merril-Aarons who began hooking him in top venues with the best accompanists in town. His frequent collaborator was pianist Gildo Mahones (Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Lorez Alexandria, Lou Rawls.) After meeting the legendary Page Cavanagh at a jam session, Miller began booking, recording, and performing with Cavanaugh. Miller shared the bill in a series of performances with Anita O'Day. Scott Yanow in Music Connection Magazine called him "A superior vocalist, one of LA's finest."
In recent years Miller has also worked as a music booker and promoter and programmed the popular summer music series at Descanso Gardens for 12 years. He has worked in this capacity with the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, The Dubai International Jazz Festival, Blues Alley in Washington, DC, Jazz Alley in Seattle, the City of West Hollywood and the prestigious LA Made series at the Grand Central Library in Los Angeles where he worked with Hubert Laws. He was Associate Producer of four LA Vida Music Festivals at the Ford Amphitheater in Hollywood and has booked hundreds of evenings of music in luxury hotels and upscale restaurants and nightclubs.
In addition to his career behind the scenes, Miller continues to perform regularly in Southern California and Seattle and made his New York debut at Midday Jazz Manhattan at St. Peter's church. Miller studied piano at Los Angeles City College, and privately with Jane Getz and Joyce Collins. He continues to evolve as a pianist, informing his vocals with a solid fundamental knowledge of chord function and theory, and performs occasionally at the keyboard.
Jazz History Online named his critically acclaimed 2015 release Crazy Moon one of the year's 15 best albums and the record spent four months on the national charts.
Crazy Moon:
"Miller's voice — cheerful, positive — is one of the warmest and most welcoming voices in jazz."
- Bruce Lindsay, All About Jazz
"Your singing is joyful, swinging, and a pleasure to hear."
- Michael Feinstein
"Mark's voice is clear, tuneful and mature, while his interpretations of lyrics are insightful."
- Bruce Crowther, Jazz Mostly
"(Miller's) tone is well balanced and warm... A solid outing by a solid vocalist."
- C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
"...as sharp as a sharkskin suit..."
- George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
