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As you can hear from our audio excerpt, Miller Time gives pianist Mulgrew Miller plenty of opportunities for solo fills. After the rhythm section intro, the opening melody triplets further emphasize the groove atmosphere, and there's lots of space for the pianist to answer and weave in and out of the melody. Again, this one's all about the groove!
Jim Rotondi wrote this song in honor of Mulgrew Miller, the pianist on this session. The two first recorded together at a live session at Small's jazz club in NYC in 1996. This was their last recording session together.
Like another of Jim's compositions, Biru Kirusai (which is an Americanization of the Japanese phrase for "Can I have a beer, please?"), the title also has a bit of a pun referring to beer—"Miller Time" is also a slogan for the American beer made by the Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee.
A major straight-ahead trumpeter and flugelhornist worldwide for twenty years, Jim Rotondi has charmed the jazz world with his warm tone, versatility and soulful improvisation. Born and raised in Montana—an unlikely place for a jazz musician—Jim was inspired by his musical family to take up the piano at age eight. At twelve, he switched to the trumpet. There was very little musical community to speak of in his hometown of Butte, but like many trumpeters, early exposure to a Clifford Brown vinyl set captured Jim's imagination and kindled within him a lifelong passion for jazz. Read more...
