This is an album to cherish from a musician who was not really cherished.
Blue Note
Ron Miles (cornet, trumpet); Bill Frisell (guitar); Brian Blade (drums)
Recorded in 2011. Issued 2024
Intriguing to know that Ron Miles and Bill Frisell, his long-time collaborator, both attended the same school in Denver, 20 years apart. Now here is an extraordinary album from 2011. Beyond their professional collaboration, Miles and Frisell were friends. Miles regarded Frisell not only as a peer but also as a significant influence and a source of inspiration.
The album captures a live performance that took place just before the sessions for Miles’s album, ‘Quiver’. It includes extended versions of five tracks that would later appear on ‘Quiver’, along with two additional pieces not included in the studio album. The two new tracks are ‘I Will Be Free’ and ‘New Medium’.
This album was recorded in the Old Main Chapel at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where Ron Miles taught for many years. There is more extended improvisations and interplay between the musicians. The musicians are each understated, minimalist and Zen-like, but together Ron Miles, Brian Blade and Bill Frisell’s similarities lie in their stylistic approaches, shared influences, and the emotional depth of their music. The volume of the music is restrained but there are moments when the music surges, power is felt.
This is jazz chamber music of supreme quality and almost calls for a new way of listening. The pleasure is not listening to one musician but to the interrelationship of the trio. Miles’ playing has a quality far removed from the usual declamatory brassiness of the trumpet.
On the meditative opening of ‘Mr. Kevin’ Miles’ playing sets the tone of the album with Miles sounding like an avant garde Chet Baker. After the opening notes from Miles, Frisell deploys imaginative and sensitive playing with carefully chosen notes. The jaunty middle section is punctuated by Brian Blade registering the different rhythms with ease
You hardly dare to breathe during ‘I Will Be Free’. This piece lets its hymn-like qualities unwind. The performance captures a sense of liberation, with each musician contributing to the latticework of sound. This track stands out for its emotional depth and improvisational freedom.
‘New Medium’ has complex intricate rhythms and questing melodies. Halfway through the track the duet between Frisell and Blade is quietly spectacular as the guitar notes are matched by the cymbal sounds. The synergy between Miles, Frisell, and Blade navigates intricate musical ideas while maintaining a cohesive sound.
Miles commenting on his musical path said: ‘‘In Denver, you can’t make a living as a musician unless you’re playing different kinds of music, ’There’s just not enough of anything to go around, so there’s an easy exchange of ideas and a lot of chances to play with musicians of different stripes.’ That might explain why, in addition to his teaching, Miles played with a varied roster of groups: Ginger Baker and Mercer Ellington. ‘I think there is a Colorado sound, and it’s one that champions melody, values diversity, and respects the different traditions of American music.’
Bill Frisell plays happily in different areas of music. However, an album like this plays to Frisell’s strengths. He gains little from being surrounded by banks of instruments. The sparseness here draws listeners in and there is a quality of intimacy. You sense that Miles learned from the older man.
Brian Bade has developed new drumming in his work with Wayne Shorter. His playing with Shorter has been described as ‘near telepathic musical symbiosis’. The same quality is heard throughout the album.
Ron Miles died in 2022. He was 58. He was slowly being accepted. His gig in New York in September 2021 at the Village Vanguard was the first gig at the club after the Covid closure. He was developing a new way of playing that was not spectacularly innovative but deeply felt. This is an album to cherish from a musician who was not really cherished.
