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Ron Miles

Denver trumpeter Ron Miles' resume includes time with Bill Frisell, Don Byron, the Ellington Orchestra, and Fred Hess’ Boulder Creative Music Ensemble. Besides being solicited all over the world for his unique sound, Ron is a staple of the Denver jazz scene and his recent releases as band leader show off his skills as a composer and arranger as well as a “phenomenally gifted trumpeter” (Bill Milkowski).

A resident of Denver since he was 11, he began playing the trumpet seriously in junior high school and studied music at the University of Denver (1981-1985) and the Manhattan School of Music (1986). Miles says that living in Denver has given him an appreciation for a broad array of musical styles that he might not have acquired elsewhere. “Country and Western music, Latin, jazz, and rock are all popular here, so you find yourself trying out a lot of ideas with other musicians and gaining a healthy respect for the music,” he explains.

Ron Miles was widely recognized as a musical director and arranger with the release of Ginger Baker’s Coward of the County (Atlantic 1999). His compositions anchor that record and highlight the varied influences from which Ron draws inspiration. Hailed as an inventive composer and gifted trumpeter on his solo releases, Ron cruised through the 1990s with a series of well-received releases on Gramavision (My Cruel Heart, Woman’s Day) and Capri (Witness, Ron Miles Trio).

In 2002 Ron slowed it down for a quiet, intimate recording with friend and master jazz guitarist Bill Frisell. Heaven again showcases Ron’s talent as an arranger, particularly on Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” (which Ron heard for the first time in the sessions!) According to Bill Frisell, “What is so exciting about Ron is that he really has his own voice. It seems like everything that is going on right now is either very conservative or it rejects everything. Ron has found a way to include everything and not reject things, and still be his own person.” Miles said of his playing with Bill, “I think we share a fondness for striking melody, patience and the importance of individual timbre.”

This new release is a Double album. Stone and Blossom feature new songs by Ron, as well as outstanding recordings from some of Denver’s finest musicians, including Madeleine Peyroux. Blossom also features a cover of I Woke Up In Love This Morning by the Partridge Family, and I’ll Be There by The Jackson Five.

Ron Miles, Bobby Broom, Nicole Glover, Catherine Sikora With Susan Alcorn And More

by Hobart Taylor
June 5, 2024

New music from trumpeter Ron Miles with Bill Frisell and Brian Blade, Old Main Chapel, Bobby Broom's new release, Jamalot, and saxophonist Nicole Glover's latest, Play. Playlist Yuko Ito “Voce e Eu" from Seduzir (Self Produced) 0:00 Ron Miles “Ruby Go Round" from Old Main Chapel (Blue Note) 4:38 Host Speaks 17:42 Cally Banham “ Libertango" from Tango to the Cor (Self Produced) 18:47 Mark Guiliana “Continuation" from The Sound of Listening (Edition) 21:46 Host Speaks 27:26 Yuko ...

Building a Jazz Library

Ron Miles: The Best Of The Denver Jazz Doyen

by Ian Patterson
March 8, 2023

Ron Miles left the planet all too soon, but the Denver cornetist and trumpeter has left a lasting mark, both in terms of the music he made and in the people whose lives he touched. This list, a guide to ten of Miles' most significant recordings as both leader and as a sideman, reflects his playing and writing strengths. For although Miles was widely recognized as an outstanding instrumentalist, his distinctive compositions, subtly sophisticated and deeply lyrical, are works of ...

Radio & Podcasts

Ron Miles and Other Trumpeters plus Others

by Jerome Wilson
April 8, 2022

This show features several trumpet players with an emphasis on the late Ron Miles. There are also other musicians heard on the program such as Mark Turner, Jason Moran and Gordon Grdina. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Record Label) 00:00 Thelonious Monk “Brilliant Corners" from The Best of Thelonious Monk (Riverside) 01:05 Mark Turner “The Edenist" from Lathe of Heaven ...

Radio & Podcasts

Ron Miles: Custodian of Beauty, Part 2

by Ludovico Granvassu
April 5, 2022

Celebrated for his distinctive voice on trumpet and cornet, elegant and timeless, Ron Miles was equally at ease with classical music, jazz tradition as well as with more out there experimentations. Here we feature a wide range of projects he lead, co-lead or guested on. Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 DJ Logic “Ron's House" The Anomaly (Ropeadope) 0:16 Host talks 5:16 Ron Miles “Mommy on Top" Woman's Day (Gramavision) 6:15 ...

Radio & Podcasts

Ron Miles: Custodian of Beauty, Part 1

by Ludovico Granvassu
April 2, 2022

Ron Miles was a jazz hypnotist who would lure his listeners into his music world, taking them to another dimension and gently dropping them back on earth at the end of his concerts, or albums, leaving them wondering... “what did just happen...? And how did I get here?" A few days back he passed away at 58, something that for most came as completely unexpected and very hard to make sense of. So this week we do the ...

Album Review

Kate McGarry + Keith Ganz Ensemble: What to Wear in the Dark

Read "What to Wear in the Dark" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
October 22, 2021

Being taken for granted is the greatest tribute and worst slight to any artist. Kate McGarry has made music that brilliantly colors outside the lines since her release, Show Me (Palmetto Records) in 2003 (there was a 1992 standards release, Easy To Love (Vital Records) that is out-of-print). Her career has provided five provocatively thoughtful and inventive recordings between that release and 2018's The Subject Tonight Is Love (Binxtown Records). Listeners have come to expect something a little different from ...

Album Review

Kate McGarry + Keith Ganz Ensemble: What to Wear in the Dark

Read "What to Wear in the Dark" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 19, 2021

Let us start with a nod to Steely Dan, the rock/jazz group headed up by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, a pair of tunesmiths who hit a career zenith in the early 1970s with albums like Can't Buy A Thrill (1972), Countdown To Ecstasy (1973), Pretzel Logic (1974) and Aja (1974), all on ABC Records. The group drew in top jazz artists to help craft their albums—saxophonists Wayne Shorter and Tom Scott, guitarists Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour, drummers Steve ...

Recording

Joshua Redman's New Album, "Still Dreaming"—Featuring Ron Miles, Scott Colley & Brian Blade—Out Now

Source: Nonesuch Publicity
June 10, 2018

Saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman is joined by drummer Brian Blade, bassist Scott Colley, and cornetist Ron Miles for Still Dreaming—an album inspired by his father Dewey Redman's 1976–1987 band, Old and New Dreams—released on Nonesuch Records on May 25, 2018. Along with the senior Redman, Old and New Dreams featured an all-star lineup of Ornette Coleman collaborators—cornetist Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell—who continued pushing musical boundaries as they had with Coleman even after their former ...
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Recording

Released Today: "Circuit Rider" Feat. Ron Miles, Bill Frisell And Brian Blade

Source: AMT Public Relations
October 14, 2014

Master Cornetist RON MILES Releases Circuit Rider, his Second Album featuring Bill Frisell and Brian Blade New York, NY —- Cornetist Ron Miles leads guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Brian Blade in Circuit Rider, the group’s second album. A logical evolution from the Trio’s debut album Quiver (2012), Circuit Rider epitomizes Miles’ signature lyricism, deceptively simple yet fiendishly difficult to play and spiritually aware compositions. The scope of the album spans American folk traditions and vibrant gospel hope infused with ...
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Recording

Hashem Assadullahi Returns from Thailand for Release of Debut Album Featuring Ron Miles

Source: All About Jazz
May 8, 2009

Hashem Assadullahi and his quintet, featuring Ron Miles, celebrate the release of their new CD, Strange Neighbor, a well rounded jazz release with an occasional sense of humor. Denver-based trumpeter Ron Miles, has also appeared with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Bill Frisell, Don Byron, Gravitas Quartet, and many others. The Quintet also features a critically acclaimed rhythm section including guitarist Justin Morell, bassist Josh Tower, and drummer Jason Palmer. The CD features ten original compositions, six of which are inspired ...
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Performance / Tour

Ron Miles & Bill Frisell Two's a (Quietly Harmonious) Crowd

Source: Michael Ricci
August 20, 2008

Some partnerships in jazz go beyond sensitivity or even shared intuition. At their best they can suggest something more mysterious, like weather patterns. When you encounter a bond of this sort between musicians operating at full capacity, the air changes slightly in the room.

The trumpeter Ron Miles and the guitarist Bill Frisell have one of these relationships, stretching back at least a dozen years. Each has appeared on the other's albums, and in 2002 they made a quietly sublime ...
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121

Recording

Some Wonderful Moment Featuring Ron Miles

Source: All About Jazz
March 10, 2007

ears&eyes Records Presents...

Just wanted to pass along that the Jason Steele Ensemble debut release, Some Wonderful Moment, is now available for pre-order. Just go to jasonsteelemusic.com to pre-order and you will receive a free mp3 of “Horn Interlude"--one of the tracks from the CD.

Musicians on Some Wonderful Moment... Ron Miles-Cornet Thad Franklin-Trumpet/Flugelhorn Tim Sullivan-Sax/Bass Clarinet Josh Sclar-Sax Keith Johnson-Fender Rhodes Matt Ulery-Bass Charles Rumback-Drums ...
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