Mike Miller - 2008 "World Goes Round"

Mike Miller (born 1953 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) is a Los Angeles-based guitarist known for playing various styles of music including jazz fusion, rock, pop and more, and has played with Chick Corea, Bette Midler, Yellowjackets, Gino Vannelli, Vital Information, Karizma (Jazz band), Chad Wackerman, Vinnie Colaiuta, Quincy Jones, Brand X, and Burton Cummings. He also performed in film scores for Mark Mothersbaugh and in the Frank Zappa alumni band Banned from Utopia.

Miller has released two albums under his own name and two other projects; with The Outsidemen, Band Overboard (1996), and with Bruce Arnold, Two Guys from South Dakota (2005).

Mike Miller is not just a guitarist's guitarist; his music should reach anyone interested in modern jazz. Like Alan Holdsworth, probably most jazz guitarists know who he is, but he might not be known to the general public. His sense of rhythm is as good as any guitarist out there, and I'm sure this affects his choice of people to join him in playing his compositions here. He is joined by three people who played in Frank Zappa's band, Chad Wackerman (drums), Albert Wing (sax), and Walt Fowler (trumpet). In addition, the stellar bassist, Jimmy Johnson, plays fretless electric. The album (or I guess we all say cd now), is mostly electric, but has some quieter tunes, including a very playful rendition of a George Gershwin tune. I don't like the word "fusion" because it conjures up some of the old electric jazz that now sounds very dated. This does not. There are no swing tunes on this cd, but the listener will have a fun time with all of the various styles, including a very complicated and fun Cuban mambo tune. I have heard Chad Wackerman live (with Alan Holdsworth and Jeff Berlin) and though he is a brilliant drummer, he can often bury others with very busy playing. In contrast here, he plays pretty simply, allowing the others to shine, and in particular Jimmy Johnson, on the 4th cut. Finally, there is only one downside: the way the recording was made, on a few cuts the horns sound thin or tinny to me. Maybe that was purposeful, but Albert Wing's tenor sound does not come across with the richness of the Brecker sound, and he plays in this style.

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Track listing:

01 Here's Another Number
02 Let Me Like You
03 Mambo Jambo
04 My Back Yard
05 Piano Prelude #2
06 Misfit
07 Three In Three
08 Loop "E"
09 Walkin' The Dog (Promenade)
10 World Goes Round (Part 1)
11 Three Good Guys
12 World Goes Round (Part 2)

Personnel:

Mike Miller - Guitar, Banjo, Cavaquinho, Percussion
Jimmy Johnson - Bass Guitar
Walt Fowler - Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Albert Wing - Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone
Chad Wackerman - Drums