 Ron Miles From Tuesday, August 12th through Thursday, August 14th the Ron Miles Quartet will play the Jazz Standard in New York. The collaboration between Ron Miles and Bill Frisell is now in its second decade. It began in 1996 with the Bill Frisell Quartet CD (Nonesuch Records) and continued with Ron’s albums Woman’s Day (Gramavision, 1997) and the duo session Heaven (Sterling Circle, 2002). In its new recording and in performances over the past year, the Ron Miles Quartet has focused on exploratory interpretations of Ron’s own tunes (“Sunday Best,” “Since Forever”) and classic compositions by Ornette Coleman (“Happy House”), Duke Ellington (“Black Beauty”), and John Coltrane (“Mr. Sims”). This top notch quartet features Ron Miles on trumpet, Bill Frisell on electric and acoustic guitar, Reginald Veal on bass, and Matt Wilson on drums. A Denver, Colorado native, trumpeter Ron Miles studied at the University of Denver, eventually graduating from the Manhattan School of Music in 1986. In 1991, he received his post-graduate degree from the University of Colorado and became an Assistant Professor of Music at the Denver's Metropolitan State College. Miles has played with Bill Frisell in a number of recording and live situations including his celebrated quartet of the mid-nineties, his trio (with Jenny Scheinman) that performs in Frisell's collaborative multi-media piece with artist Jim Woodring, Mysterio Sympatico, his septet and with the group that interpreted Frisell's arrangements of songs by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach - appearing on such recordings as Blues Dream, Quartet and The Sweetest Punch.
 Bill Frisell © Michael Wilson Ron has recorded as a leader for Gramavision with two releases, Woman's Day and My Cruel Heart. More recently he recorded a CD, entitled Heaven, a duo recording for Sterling Circle Records on which Bill is his guest. Another recording is Laughing Barrell with his quartet featuring Brandon Ross, Anthony Cox and Rudy Royston. His most recent release Stone/Blossom, released in October 2006, is a double disc album. Ron also plays with clarinetist Don Byron and has worked in recent years with drummer Ginger Baker and guitarist Charlie Hunter.Born in Baltimore, Bill Frisell played clarinet throughout his childhood in Denver, Colorado. His interest in guitar began with his exposure to pop music on the radio. Soon, the Chicago Blues became a passion through the work of Otis Rush, B.B. King, Paul Butterfield and Buddy Guy. In high school, he played in bands covering pop and soul classics, James Brown and other dance material. Later, Bill studied music at the University of Northern Colorado before attending Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied with John Damian, Herb Pomeroy and Michael Gibbs. In 1978, Frisell moved for a year to Belgium where he concentrated on writing music. In this period, he toured with Michael Gibbs and first recorded with German bassist Eberhard Weber. Bill moved to the New York City area in 1979 and stayed until 1989. He now lives in Seattle.  Matt WIlson © Andera Canter "When I was 16, I was listening to a lot of surfing music, a lot of English rock. Then I saw Wes Montgomery and somehow that kind of turned me around. Later, Jim Hall made a big impression on me and I took some lessons with him. I suppose I play the kind of harmonic things Jim would play but with a sound that comes from Jimi Hendrix", Frisell told Wire. Bill also lists Paul Motian, Thelonious Monk, Aaron Copland, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis and his teacher, Dale Bruning, as musical influences. The top-shelf rhythm section of Reginald Veal and Matt Wilson rounds out the lineup for this Jazz Standard engagement. Jazz Standard is located at 116 East 27th Street in New York. For more information visit www.jazzstandard.net or call 212-576-2232. |