Posted on Mar 10, 2022
Ron Miles, cornetist who imbued modern jazz with heart and soul, dies at 58
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https://www.npr.org/2022/03/09/ [login to see] /ron-miles-cornetist-who-imbued-modern-jazz-with-heart-and-soul-dies-at-58
Ron Miles, a cornetist, composer, and bandleader who stood quietly within the first rank of jazz artists in this century, died on Tuesday at his home in Denver. He was 58.
The cause was complications from Polycythemia vera, a rare blood disorder, Hans Wendl, his longtime manager, tells NPR.
Miles had a warm and perfectly centered sound on cornet, with barely a trace of ferocity or flash. Through his playing, he could create the sensation of something both sturdy and precious — especially in the context of his own compositions, which combined a distinctly American harmonic palette with an openhearted emotional clarity uncommon in modern jazz.
"If you played a Ron Miles song right, in the best of moods you'd be crying," pianist Jason Moran tells NPR. "Because the songs were full. I equate it to the way John Coltrane made 'Lonnie's Lament.' He knew how to find the joy in a melody, and he knew where the heart was in it. Even just in the moment of playing them, it would just rush over you. A lot of music we play doesn't have that, it just doesn't."
Ron Miles, a cornetist, composer, and bandleader who stood quietly within the first rank of jazz artists in this century, died on Tuesday at his home in Denver. He was 58.
The cause was complications from Polycythemia vera, a rare blood disorder, Hans Wendl, his longtime manager, tells NPR.
Miles had a warm and perfectly centered sound on cornet, with barely a trace of ferocity or flash. Through his playing, he could create the sensation of something both sturdy and precious — especially in the context of his own compositions, which combined a distinctly American harmonic palette with an openhearted emotional clarity uncommon in modern jazz.
"If you played a Ron Miles song right, in the best of moods you'd be crying," pianist Jason Moran tells NPR. "Because the songs were full. I equate it to the way John Coltrane made 'Lonnie's Lament.' He knew how to find the joy in a melody, and he knew where the heart was in it. Even just in the moment of playing them, it would just rush over you. A lot of music we play doesn't have that, it just doesn't."
Ron Miles, cornetist who imbued modern jazz with heart and soul, dies at 58
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."That gentle yet self-assured musical temperament made Miles an ideal collaborator for guitarist Bill Frisell, in an association spanning nearly three decades, and drummer Brian Blade, in a range of combo settings. Miles led a trio with Frisell and Blade for several years, making a pair of exquisitely balanced albums. Miles and Blade also made up one-half of Still Dreaming, joining saxophonist Joshua Redman and bassist Scott Colley in a free-spirited tribute to the band Old and New Dreams, which featured Redman's father, Dewey Redman.
Miles can be heard on a handful of albums by Frisell, going as far back as Quartet in 1996; on two releases by pianist Myra Melford's avant-garde chamber group Snowy Egret, including the standout The Other Side Of Air; and on a succession of albums by tenor saxophonist Fred Hess, a colleague in Denver until his death in 2018. Among Miles' other longtime sideman affiliations was one with Chicago-turned-Denver bluesman Otis Taylor, with whom he began recording in the early 2000s.
On his own most recent releases — I Am a Man in 2017 and Rainbow Sign in 2020, each the subject of considerable acclaim — Miles marshaled a quintet with Frisell, Moran and Blade alongside bassist Thomas Morgan. In fall of 2021, they became the first group to play for an audience at the Village Vanguard after a pandemic closure of 18 months. The sound of the band in that room, under those circumstances, felt like a harbinger of restoration and renewal."...
..."That gentle yet self-assured musical temperament made Miles an ideal collaborator for guitarist Bill Frisell, in an association spanning nearly three decades, and drummer Brian Blade, in a range of combo settings. Miles led a trio with Frisell and Blade for several years, making a pair of exquisitely balanced albums. Miles and Blade also made up one-half of Still Dreaming, joining saxophonist Joshua Redman and bassist Scott Colley in a free-spirited tribute to the band Old and New Dreams, which featured Redman's father, Dewey Redman.
Miles can be heard on a handful of albums by Frisell, going as far back as Quartet in 1996; on two releases by pianist Myra Melford's avant-garde chamber group Snowy Egret, including the standout The Other Side Of Air; and on a succession of albums by tenor saxophonist Fred Hess, a colleague in Denver until his death in 2018. Among Miles' other longtime sideman affiliations was one with Chicago-turned-Denver bluesman Otis Taylor, with whom he began recording in the early 2000s.
On his own most recent releases — I Am a Man in 2017 and Rainbow Sign in 2020, each the subject of considerable acclaim — Miles marshaled a quintet with Frisell, Moran and Blade alongside bassist Thomas Morgan. In fall of 2021, they became the first group to play for an audience at the Village Vanguard after a pandemic closure of 18 months. The sound of the band in that room, under those circumstances, felt like a harbinger of restoration and renewal."...
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