lloyd miller

A Lifetime In Oriental Jazz

Arriving on a disc that's been stuffed to breaking point, this album gives a complete career overview of the works of Dr Lloyd Miller, an ethno-musicologist and jazz maestro whose recordings are quite unlike anything else you might have heard from the '60s. On the opening piece 'Gol-E Gandom' the combination of the santur (an instrument of Persian ancestry) with a more traditional jazz ensemble is immediately striking and disorientating, yet the meshing of the two cultures is seamless and fluid. After a few moments of solo santur the last thing you expect is a heavy, swinging rhythm section weighing in with modal piano keyings. The Middle-Eastern themes persist into the Turkish-influenced 'Gozel Guzler', while 'Indo-European Improvisations' finds Miller using the sarod to alternate between traditional Indian scales and a usage that's predominantly more in-keeping with Western jazz sensibilities. There's much to be discovered here, and Miller clearly reveals himself as something of a master across a range of instrumental disciplines. Fans of jazz's more exploratory, Eastern-facing practitioners of the era - from Alice Coltrane to Salah Ragab - will no doubt find plenty of appreciation for Miller's work. Highly recommended.