(Eb) the Music of Ron Miller

8/13/2019 (Eb) the Music of Ron Miller

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Tqble of ContentsB i o s . . . . Forewordby]erryCoker . . ' . ' 1 'T h e l i e b . . 1 0Los t l l l us i on . . . I 4N i t e D a n c e r . . . . . . . 1 8I ' TR u t h . . . . . . . . . . I bSeventh Sign 8T e x t . . . . . . . . 41 q t l o o d D q n c e . . . . - . L z '

Copyright 1986Studio224,158OO .W.48th Avenue,Miami,Florida 3014hnennatlnnal opyrightSecured Made n U.S.A. All RightsReserved


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lF , ' : ,WHO IS RON MILLER?

I realize this is q strcnge wqy to begin q oreword, but the question is anahrral one to be qsked. In this doy when rock stcrs, movie stcrs, andpoliticiqns ccn be promoted overnight by employing qll the usuqlgimmicks common to the ield o public relctions, we frequently orgetto qsk ourselves the now amousperson s q stqr by meri1,o, ,i*plv "whimsiccl, pcssing cd whose qme wos engineered or the purpose ofego and monetcry gain. Ron Miller is certainly not cr star in thatcontext. He is one o thoserqre, creqtive people who went rom being cstudent directly into university tecching, instecd o attempting crproessionqlcqreer in between the two phcses. This is q grrectway toqchieve premature buriql, qrtistically. The hundreds of tqlented youngplcyers to come out o the University o Miqmi, such qs Mark Egan,Dqr.myGottlieb, John McNeil, Pqt Metheny, Steve Morse, qnd StanSomole, cre very cwore of Ron Miller qnd become misty-eyed andreverent at the mere mention o his nqme. Visiting clinicians; IikeDavid Liebman, qlso become extremely conscious of Ron's music.Studentsand cculty qt the JameyAebersold Summer lazz Clinics inthe U.S., New Zeqlcnd, Austrclic, Germqny, Denmcrk, crndEnglcndqre exposed to RonMiller's music, h-rough ours ruly,qnd the reqctionis crlwcrys the same... \Mho s RonMiller" cnd "Could I have c copy ohis tunes?"I[Ihqt mqkes his musie so specicl, so grrect?This is a tough question toanswer,because music s lqrgely non-verbcl,and frequently thosewhoattempt to explain its workings ore flowery qnd opinionqted. But heregoes Firsto cII, grect music is not crected out o q vqcuurn,but relectsthe best of all music that hcs preceded it. Now there qre ar too mony'mee-tooers' out there who simply pcrcrphrcsesuccessultunes qndcompositions. Ron, too, is c hend-ollower, but he hqs heqrd moremusic thanmostcomposers,has absorbedthe finer quqlities o whqt hehas hecrd, qnd clwcys qdds his own touches o thosealready-existingstylistictrqits.He is very consciouso every ntenrcl and note choice heuses in his melodies cs well qs every melodic rhythm that isqppropriqte and eels spontcneous,which grve his music a sensitive,romcntic quclity thct is so rcrre.Ron's hqrmonies cre the inest o onymusicicn I've heqrd. Eqch chord sequence is inspiring to hecr,interesting voice-lecdings qbound, cnd many o the chord-types qndtheir


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and inspirction rom the tcpe, even without the melodies qndimprovisation he meqsrue orgcnizqtions o his pieces qre alsoimcginative and well-chosen.Those who hqve reod my COMPLETEMETHOD FOR IMPROVISATION will recqll thqt I refened to RonMiIIer's music qs being the prototype o contemporcry tunes.I listedthe mqny ingredients that typiy the contemporcry tune style qt its best.Then ater eqch given excmple o ttrnes by some o my avoritecomposers i.e. Vcyne Shorter,Chick Corec, Woody Shaw,JoeFcrrrell,etc., qnd o course Ron Miller), I listed the ingrredientsused by ecch.Although Ron wcrs he leqst known o the group, his use o the trqitsound in contemporcry tunes far oubrumbered the traits used by others.In itsel, this does not mqke his tunes better, but it does support thenotion thqt his tunes qre the prototype, the model.I oten speak o composersas hqving q 'bctting qvercrgfe',it respectto how often they come up with c reclly choice tune, and I crmimpressedwith qnyonewho 'bqts' better than .500.Someo my favoritecomposers hqve a 'batting cvercge' that is not much better thqn that.With all sincerity I hear qn 'cvercge' of close to 1.000 n the music oRon Miller. Ron clso is a very flexible writer, stylisticqlly, though thetunes n this album are close to the same style,being mostly fcntcsy-Iike. But he qlso writes in q neo-Horqce Silver bog sometimes,othertimes more like c Vcyne Shorter tune, or the Thelonius Monk orChqrles Mingus styles,others n a usion or rock bog, qnd still othersthqt defy verbal description because no one hqs ever written anythingremotely like them.Finclly, i you will permit me to be "Iowery",Iindqll of Ron'smusic to be especially beautiul and each tune provokescrconsistent,undeniable mood.The rhythm section or this plcy-clong is superb, cnd mostqppropriqteor the music o Ron Miller (Don Coffman on bcss, Steve Bcgby ondnrms,qnd Ronon picno). Theyplcy together,crso onemind, and theyIisten to eqch other, resulting in lexible cnd ever-chcnging dyncmics,coordinqted qccents,vcriety, drive, sensitivity,qnd tempos that don'tfluctuate (cll very rore among plcy-clongs), creqting q spontcneousplcying environment for the user.It is qn honor and c plecsure to introduce you to the music o RonMiller.I know thot you will be honsported by its becuty, os is everyone whoheqrs it. May you be lited to new heights o personql expressionbyboth the quclity o the tunes and the quclity o the rhythm section.Jerry Coker

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CHORDSAIID SCATESUSEDIN THIS PLAY.ALONGo hcrrmonic oundction o this grroupo eompoitions is derived rom threesccler sources: the diatonic mcrjor sccle, thc cscend.ing melodic minor, andharmonic minor sccrles.Other scales used or improvisction include: the cugrmentedsecle, the dominant dininished the be-bop mixolydicrn cnd the minor pentctonicscqles.It is from these source scqlos that the vqrious modes (octave hqnspositionso the pcrent's cdjccent notes) crrederived. Because o the acoustical relationship(dictonicirm) o c given modc to itg pcrent soluce scclg qny mode dictoniccllyrelctcd to thc pqrcnt ccale ccn be uscd in lieu o the rnode indicqted by the chordsymbol.With this in rlin{ the irnprovisor should leenn thc p


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GROUP A, chords from the dictonic modes (pcrentmcior scale)Other scalesused or improvisationn this group:c. be-bopmixolydian,C, D, E, F,A, Bb,Bq,C plcyed romStho:.: the pcrent (up)b. minorpentotonic, ,Eb, F,G, Bb,C, plcyedrom he 2ndothe pcrent,cnd from the 3rd or 6th cs cr secondchoicet. Cl3sus4 (1, 4,b7,9, 13)a. Mixolydicn rom tonie o chord-C,D, E, F, G, A, Bb, Cb. pcrrentscale ound o P5 below - F, G, A, Bb,C, D, Ef , Fc. Be-bopMixolydi(m,from chord tonic - C, D, E, F, G, A, Bb,Bh, Cd. minor pentctonic, rom P5 qbove - G, Bb, C, D, F, Ge. you can treat he suschordos cr i/V with i-V pctternsbqsedon crminorchord q P5 above2. Ctnin 13,C-13(I,b 3,h6)c. Dorian mode rom chord tonic - C, D, Eb,F, G, Ah Bb,eb. pcrent s M2 below- Bb,C, D, Eb,F,G, A, Bbc. be-bop mixolydian s rom the 4th degrree Doriand. minor pentctonic rom chord tonice. alteredpentctonic rom tonic- C,Eb, F, G, Ah, C. you ecn treatthischordcrsyou would ony ii chord n the bop vernacular3.C-l I (l,b3,h , t r) b7)Having no 6th degree, this chord hqs no speciic modqlity. However, it ccnbe treoted qs though it were Doricn qs above.

: . i r4.C-gb6t,b3,b ,h )q. Aeoliqn romthe chord onic - C, D, Eb, I G, Ab, Bb,Cb. pcrrent cale s q minor3rd cbove - Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb,C, D, Ebc. be-bop mixolydian romb7 of the chord' d. minorpentctonic rom h4 o chord :e. Aeoliqn s oten reqtedqs cruL/i(F-g) with Dorian cpplicctions oupper stnrcttueo chord. e5.C tb?l-nb glc (I,b2,\4,h ,b )a. Phrygran rom chord tonic - C, Db Eb,F, G, Ab, Bb, Cb. pcrentscole ocatedq M3 below- Ab, Bb,C, Db,Eb,F, G, Abc. the useo "colors"cnd effects s recommendedwith Phrygian, .e. trills,tremolos,etc.6. CA7#4, C^#4 (l , l 3, #4,17)o. Lydion rom chord onic - C, D, E, F#, G, A, Bh,Cb. porentscale a P4below - G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, Gc. minor pentctonic rom h3 o chord ot \7 o chordd. It's best to qvoid tonicand ISU qt cadences.7.C^8 t, 3,h )This is the chord o the pcrent lonicn mode; it is used in possing chordsections in this lpoup o compositions. Sequentiql motivic development issuggested or those crecs.

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GROI'PB,CHORDSDERTIIED ROM MELODTCMrNOR ASCENDTNG)AI{D ITSMODESAdditional scales used for improvisction within this grroup:I. cugrmented cale 1,3, , 3, I, 3...etc. his scqle s constructed \from the 2nd degrreeo the porent melodic minor scale.2. dominantdiminished scqle I,2, I, 2, I,2, I, z...etc. hisscalehas somenoteswhich conlict with the chord spellings but canbe used with Dorian 17 qnd Lydicn Augmented as will beshown below.l. Cmin4 C-a(I,b 3,h6,17)melodicminor C, D, Eb,F, G, Al, Bh,Cq. Doriqn \7 from the chord tonic, it is olso the pcrent scale

b. cugmented scqle rom the 2nd degrreec. cqutious use o dominqnt diminished rom the 172. CA +5, CAf(l, 3,+5, \ l lc. LydicnAugmentedrom hechord onic C, D, E, F#, G#, A, Bh,Cb. pcrent scqle c min. 3rd belowc. qugmented scqle rom h7d. dominqnt diminished from h33. Cfh I (1,b 3,b 5,b 7, hg) t"tt diminished nqtural 9o.AeolicmLS."t tonic C, Dl ,Eb,F,Gb, Ab,Bb,b. pcrrent or:nd q m3rd obovec. augmented scole rom f4 oboved. also known qs Locriqn 124.Db+ C, Bb-^/C I,b2,f 4,h )q.Phrygranq6romhechordonic e,Db,Eb,E,G,Af, Bb,Cb. pcrent scale ound a M2nd belowc. augmented sccle rom chord tonicNOE: An cugmented hiod is or:nd rom the b3rd o the pcrent scole,(C, D, Eb,F,G, A, Bq, C) - one should ind this useful.GROUP C, CHORDS DERI1TEDFROM HARMONIC MINOR AND ITSMODESThere is only one chord used rom this pcrent scole; t is the 6th mode, Lydion#2.ca f,' stc, coa r,#2,#4,qn". Lidi"n #Zfrom tonic C, D#,8,8#, G, A, Bh,Cb. pcrent scale ound q M3 qbove E, E#, G, A, B , C , D#, Ec. beqted asq oA , or cs Ab7+9/C, domincntdiminishedsccle rom heh7of the chord ccrnbe used.

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CONCLUSIONThe improvisor of modql music does not hqve pre-lecrned hqrmonic voice-lecding or "licks" qccumulcted through prcctice and perormcrnceupon which heor she ccn rely. With ii-V-I music, in q sense,one has only to learn one tune qndapply thct knowledge to all ii-V-I tunes. Improvising over modcl chord chcngeswith their seemingly crbitrcry root movements reguires one to leqrn eachcomposition qs


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ETEVENTH SIGiNE brffi) By FIC)N MILLEFI

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(Eb) the Music of Ron Miller

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Transcript of (Eb) the Music of Ron Miller