Jazz goes down well at the LS&B

"Mike Miller plays what could be described as cool jazz guitar............"

It was seasonal weather, you could say. Snow, a bitterly cold wind that nipped at your eyes and ears and solid ice on the roads making a skating rink of the highways, but there were still a good number of people in the centre of Newbury on that day.

A good few made their way to the Lock Stock and Barrel pub by the river, where Mike Miller and his trio were playing what proved to be a long and varied set. Mike plays what could be described as cool jazz guitar - not loud, that's for sure but his acoustic lines are enhanced slightly by amplification, but only enough to rise above the clink of glasses and occassional swell of conversation that any pub generates on a Sunday afternoon.

He will play a rubato introduction alone and then expand to a slow burn, as his bass player and drummer join forces with him. Roy Dalpra plays plump, juicy bass lines on a five-stringed instrument, unusual on a double bass and even more so on his current instrument, a slim electric model that produces a sound very close to an acoustic bass violin.
Nick Monnas fills in a number of rhythmic counterlines but always supplies a solid straight ahead beat. Together, these three play with the ease and familiarity that working in the same band for some time allows.

Mike's singing single lines take in mainly standards and jazz staples such as Work Song and Georgia the latter qualifying in both categories. He will improvise gently but insistently on familiar material and make personal statements on each selection which, on occasion, as he told me later, encourages people in the audience to approach him and ask about his particular brand of music.

Some have said to him that they don't like jazz, but they like what he plays, which does rather suggest that if the music had a higher profile and exposure, like adequate radio and television coverage, it would be enjoyed by far more people. Ah well, it's a nice, if somewhat unrealistic thought.

I won't hold my breath but if you want to check out the music Mike's trio has a monthly gig at the LS&B and you can catch them this Sunday, from 2.30pm onwards.

DEREK ANSELL





Related Links
http://www.myspace.com/mikemillerjazzguitarist
http://www.nationalgigguide.com/artistProfile.asp?bid=11926