Organ sounds

In my last post I talked about my organ...... no not that organ, my new Hammond "M". After messing around with it for a few days I decided to hook it up to my computer and record some scratch tracks. Take a listen:

• The Organ Grinder
• jazz drums, walking bass, organ, trumpet
  
• OrganTone
• solo organ (old movie style)
  
• Organic
• Fender Rhodes, organ, trumpet, funky cheese beat
  

Check out the shifting Leslie effect....

I'm back

It's been quite awhile since my last post. I've been enjoying the summer, spending time with family, yardwork, and of course.... my day job. I haven't focused too much time on music lately but that is going to change. I've been gigging throughout the summer with Todd and we've been working on some new tunes, but I haven't been doing any hard-core practicing or recording.

It's always something about the Fall season that puts me into a new mode. Perhaps it's the association with going back to school (which I haven't had to worry about for years) that puts me into a new creative sense of mind. Of course, the weather change always is conducive to more inside activity like camping out in the music studio. Who wants to be in the basement when it's nice and sunny outside during the summer.

I just finished a road trip with my family over Laber Day weekend this week and I formulated a couple of new projects in my head. I recently got reacquainted with an old friend who I used to play music with. Josh is a drummer. He and I played in junior high and high school jazz band back in the day. We met again at a BBQ of a mutual friend and got to talking about music. He's in the mood to start playing out again after taking some time off (similar to my situation). He's into jazz and has a good rock background as well. A few rehearsals with Todd and we're now a trio.

I have a jazz project in mind to work on with Josh. I've had this notion to do an Ornette Coleman tribute album. I love his tunes and like the harmonic freedom that a piano-less trio brings. However, I play piano... ? I have an idea to record both trumpet and piano tracks over a groove that Josh would lay down. I'll put bass on top of this later. I want to get into a spontaneous thing with recording so I just purchased a USB pre-amp that will let me record 2 tracks at once. I can mike the drums and mike me and then we'll see what happens. I'd also like to get a trio thing going with Josh so we can play out live... which requires a 'real' bass player.


The other project is to record a groove-oriented album of my favorite songs featuring me on my new Hammond M organ. I just got this thing off of craigslist and it's real cool. I hook it up to my Leslie emulator and I'm grooving like Jimmy Smith (not quite). Anyway, I thought it'd be cool to work up some unconventional arrangements of favorite tunes by some of my favorite artists.... more to come on this.

Anyway, I'm excited about the work I've got coming up. I'm also delving into drop-2 voicings, some more McCoy Tyner left-hand work, and some chops development on trumpet (so I can play for more than just a half-hour). Maybe I'll pick up my strat along the way. As always, more to come......

"Vocation" is here

In my last post I mentioned that my CD would soon be released. It is now on CDBaby and ready to receive your order! Please let me know if you have any questions or want more info on this new release.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/charliemiller

How to describe this music? I'll let you be the judge. I will say that the compositional style employed was heavily influenced by Karlheinz Stockhausen and other 20th century composers who promoted sonic organization through aleatory and serialist means (Glass, Schoenberg, Stravinsky's late period, etc.). Although this describes my compositional methods, I am primarily focused on displaying my jazz and rock influences (Miles, Herbbie, Monk, Coltrane, Coleman, Hendrix). Regardless of what you might hear within this work and what you might think parts of it "sound like", I hope that above all this work holds something unique in that it is my own expression of my favorite idioms.

One note on the album art. This is a sketch by my father, Terry J. Miller. He drew this after having brain tumor surgery in 1977. It represents (for me) the struggle that he went through during that time as well as the difficulty he has had with his physical and mental condition since. My dad has had quite a difficult time this past year with the passing of my mother, Linda E. Miller. This album is dedicated to both of my parents. They both showed me what it is to embrace one's vocation in life. The bad along with the good are both a part of it. Our vocation is what God calls us all to be and it is up to each of us to recognize this, embrace it, and give yourself over to it. This album is a musical interpretation of my own vocation. I hope you enjoy listening to it.

My new release

Tonight I'm finalizing the production of my new (and first) album release. It is entitled "vocation" and includes some of the samples from my site. This album is a collection of recently recorded compositions (within the past 6 months). It is a solo effort in that I play all of the instruments: piano, electric piano, synth, trumpet, and guitars. I also included some sampled drum and bass effects to hold it all together. Next time however, I would like to record with some other live musicians.

"Vocation" is an appropriate title for this effort because this is how I view my musical direction right now. Music is not my profession, nor is it just a hobby or even a passion. It is my vocation. It is something I feel I was called to do and I have just recently fully embraced it as a way to express my experiences, emotions, thoughts, and hope for the future.
I decided to put together this album as a way to mark a point in time in my development. I hope that it can become a way for others to get to know me and what I am about musically. This music is heavily jazz influenced, but it is not jazz. It's not rock, funk, avant-garde or electronica either. I seem to come up with more descriptions of what it isn't than what it is (or should be). Whatever you want to call it, "vocation" is where my head is at right now. Creative, eclectic, contemporary, instrumental music for the year Two Thousand and Eight. I hope you enjoy it.

The pressed CD's should be shipped to me within a week or so. Soon after that I hope to have it on CDbaby, iTunes, Rhapsody, and others. Stay tuned for the release announcement.

A Tale of 2 gigs

So if you've read my bio you'll know that it's been quite awhile since I've played in public. 15 years. My last gig was on December 31, 1993. There is quite a contrast between that experience and my most recent one with Todd Helvig. The gig on New Year's '93 was a dance band thing at an Elks lodge in Salida, CO. I was one of the trumpet players in a one-time pickup band of 15 or so college guys. The organizer of the affair was the dad of one of the musicians. I came into it through a mutual friend after I just returned from New York City (a little burned out and in need of some fast cash).

On the morning of the 31st, we all crammed into this guy's dad's mobile home. It took about 8 hours to drive there (driving from Denver to Salida shouldn't take that long). When we got there the musicians had to load all of the stage equipment (risers, sound equip, music stands, etc.) and it took about 2 hours to setup. All the while the "dad" was barking orders at us on what to do and what not to do. After this we were treated to a modest meal in one of the town's diners (each receiving a 5 dollar stipend).

The gig started around 7 and we played until about 2 o'clock. "Dad" made it clear that there was to be no alcohol consumption (which was promptly ignored). The entire brass section got smashed on some contraband LQ that was smuggled onto the bandstand. At the end of the night we were given our keys to the hotel that was booked for us (4 guys per room). We were told that we would be paid once we got back to Denver (to make sure that we stayed to help unload all of the stuff upon our return).

I protested this directive with a friend of mine who also was in the trumpet section (and is now an internationally acclaimed opera singer). We threatened a mutiny and demanded our nightly wage. After much heated deliberation, "dad" decided to give in and give us our earnings... $20 each. My friend and I and a few others skipped the hotel room and hitched a ride back to Denver that very night. It was during this experience that I finally resolved that I didn't want to be involved in this kind of crap for the rest of my life. Music wasn't any fun anymore once it became a means of survival (and a poor one at that).

I think it's interesting to contrast this story to the gig that I just had with Todd the other night at the Gorilla Room. Todd is an amazing singer, songwriter, guitar player, and overall good guy. I've enjoyed the 4 rehearsals I've had with him and look forward to many more. With Todd I get to be part of the performance of his previous material (which is amazing) and am excited about creating new material with him real soon.

Todd and I are looking to round out the band with a few other musicians with good ears and instincts. This is going to go beyond what people might have in their conventional ideas about what acoustic rock/folk and jazz should be. We're not creating any new genre here (i.e. Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, Sting, etc.) but we're looking to put together a unique sound that blends in well with what people want to hear when they spend their evenings with us.

I can't wait to see (and hear) what happens next.