Mulgrew Miller Recommendations

[LWayne]

Mulgrew Miller will be coming to Pittsburgh at the end of February for a winter jazz festival. While I have enjoyed his playing live with the Buster Williams Quartet several years ago, I do not presently own any of his recordings. Looking for recommendations where to start & his key recordings.

Thanks.

Happy Fetivus!

LWayne

[gnhrtg]

I recommend Wingspan. Recorded in 1987, with Kenny Garrett, Steve Nelson, Charnett Moffett, and Tony Reedus (and percussionist Rudy Bird). Strong playing by all, but especially the soloists, throughout the album. Not easy to come by, I think, being a 32 Jazz release, but a good one (The Sequel on MaxJazz really pales in comparison)

Edited December 25, 2005 by gnhrtg

[Tom in RI]

Another Miller disc of interest, Hand to Hand. And, of course, he's all over late 80's Tony Williams dates (among others).

Edited December 25, 2005 by Tom in RI

[John Tapscott]

[Alexander]

Both volumes at Yoshi's are excellent. I also second "Wingspan." Great stuff!

[clifford_thornton]

I third the Yoshi's set. Was just listening to this stuff earlier tonight, and it's unequivocally great stuff. This, coming from somebody who spends most of his time in the "Ayler-esque."

[gdogus]

I'll fourth the Yoshi's sets - fantastic trio material, energetic and exciting. These would probably give you a good sense of what you'd hear live these days.

I'd also recommend two early trio albums, Keys to the City (1985) and Work (1986), both of which were originally released on the Landmark label, but later offered as a two-fer on 32 Jazz under the title Chapters 1 & 2: Keys to the City / Work.

But yeah, the Yoshi volumes are great, and what I'd go for first.

[felser]

I haven't heard the Yoshi's sets. In general, you won't go wrong with any of the Landmark dates (many reissued on 32jazz). Much of the Novus stuff sounded like a rehash to me. Of the Landmarks, one other that I really like is 'The Countdown', a quartet date with Joe Henderson. In addition to his work with Tony Williams in the late 80's, l liked his mid-80's work with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers (many recordings, the most easy to acquire are 'New York Scene' and 'Live At Kimballs', both on Concord).

[B. Goren.]

One more vote for both volumes at Yoshi's !!!

[sal]

His other MaxJazz release "The Sequel" is very nice as well. And of course, the two Yoshi's dates are very nice.

[Ron S]

It's threads like this that really screw up my CD budget. Now I've put the 2 Yoshi's discs in my ever-expanding cart at AllDirect.com.

[John Tapscott]

  Ron S said:

It's threads like this that really screw up my CD budget.

This whole Board has screwed up my entire budget!

Edited December 30, 2005 by John Tapscott

[felser]

  John Tapscott said:

This whole Board has screwed up my entire budget!

I don't have a budget. It would clash too much with my CD habit.