Joel Miller
Tantramar
Artist Share
By George W. Harris

Here's a guy that you've probably never heard of, but, judging by this
disc, you're need to start getting into.
Saxist/vocalist/electronician/composer Joel Miller hails from Canada,
and has put out a few releases before, but this one just exudes
creativity and cleverness, without the usual added baggage of cacophony
and dissonance. His band is an eclectic combination of two reeds
(including Bruno Lamarche), brass (Bill Mahar), electric/acoustic
guitar (Kenny Bibace), bass (Fraser Hollins) and drums/percussion (Thom
Gostage), with some guest vocals and banjo cameos by Amelia McMahon and
Colin Burnett, respectively. The music itself has a heart in the center
of bop, even using Miles Davis' "Four" as a sax chorus during the
electronically effective "Anonymity." However, there are also allusions
to folksy Fairport Convention, jazz/rocky Chicago, and Crusader funk,
particularly on the snappy backbeat of "Big Tiny." Other songs, like
"Syriana" with a sweet stew of Lamarche's flute and Mahar's trumpet,
have a lilting calypso feel. Bibace's acoustic guitar is presenton the
pastoral "Cickadee's Other Song" which includes madrigal like vocal
refrains. Miller and Lamarche together form a front line that can be
either Ellingtonian in richness, or spacious and intimate,as they join
with some sensitive tabla work on the elegiac "Demasduit." Lots of
great ideas, hewn together with an astute and artistic mind. Look for
this one.