Bio

Saxophonist-composer-bandleader Joel Miller continues to push boundaries of creativity and genre with his 2019 album, UNSTOPPABLE. Launched as the opening concert of L’OFF Festival de Jazz de Montreal, the album showcases an orchestra of Montreal’s finest musicians. Dan McClenaghan in All About Jazz wrote, “Miller... seems to be telling us intricate and riveting stories... bringing Walt Disney's 1940 animated film Fantasia to mind.” Miller has built an award-winning career developing an individual voice that incorporates the folk and pop music of his youth with more recent explorations into Afro-Latin and contemporary classical music. He remains a perennial figure in radio charts and Best Of lists. In 1997, on the heels of his début record, Find A Way (1997, Isthmus/Page Music), Miller was awarded the Grand Prix of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. His bands include musicians of international acclaim, including band-leader Christine Jensen, drummers Matt Wilson & Brian Blade; and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel (Mandala, Effendi 2005) and pianist Geoffrey Keezer (Swim, Origin Records, 2012). Swim won a Juno for Best Contemporary Jazz Album and was named Jazz Album of the Year by La Presse and The Ottawa Citizen. His project, Dream Cassette, won an East Coast Music Award in 2016.

Residency Project

My aim is for students to explore and inquire into the rich and varied connections between main-stream pop music and creative « art » music. Thus the goal of my the Creative Music Workshop will be for students to develop listening and creative skills in appreciating and analyzing music in order to pursue their own music creations and music playing.

Teaching Experience

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