Wittgenstein’s Nephews with Alex Novitz: Bitter Sweet Island [ASC PFDL007]
Vladimir Miller – piano
Alex Novitz – voice, electronics
Inspired by Austrian author Thomas Bernhard, Bitter Sweet Island was recorded in Moscow in April 2004. Alex Novitz and Vladimir Miller perform spontaneous compositions using various vocal techniques, and keyboard sounds that reflect or juxtapose the energy created by the voice. The vocal sounds range from overtone singing, as practised by vocalists in Tuva, Mongolia, and Siberia, to a brilliant shining contralto as expressed on the track Requiem. The lyrics that can be heard on this album conjure up a feeling of a vocabulary suddenly appearing out of nowhere to celebrate the birth of newly discovered land and language.
Download/Streaming Release
Solo Piano Album: Themes of Memory [ASC PFDL006]
Vladimir Miller – piano
“Memory is a strange phenomenon, often digressing or meandering according to our reflected notion of or image of that triggered thought. Our memory or the accounts of our people’s memories can have particular outcomes. Memories in general are personal accounts that can be expressed in diary form and visual cues, or there are simply those that remain unconsciously lingering in our minds and in the minds of others. It is this in particular that intrigued me: the idea of trying to recreate hidden memories and expressing them in sound and composition.
All the other titles are in one way or another connected to memory. ‘What did you say’, for example, is suggestive of the horrifying consequences of memory loss whilst ‘Kurakin’s diary’ is a reflection of the discovery of the diary of my maternal grandfather, Constantin Kurakin, who lived as a child in Tsarist Russia and escaped the turmoil and conflicts after the revolutions in 1917.”
Download/Streaming Release
Modest Trio with Steve Plews and Dan Styffe: Mussorgsky Project The Double [ASC CD183]
Vladimir Miller – piano
Joe Williamson – double bass
Arkady Gotesman – drums
Steve Plews – piano
Dan Styffe – double bass
Recorded at the same time as Pictures at an Exhibition – see below – Mussorgsky Portrait and The Double finds veteran pianist Vladimir Miller joined by close friend, pianist and producer Steve Plews. Here the two present a mercurial portrait of Mussorgsky and a collection of improvisations and compositions inspired by the novella The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky. There are echoes of Cecil Taylor, influences of Don Pullen, Jaki Byard, Bill Evans – both pianists are lovers of contemporary Jazz piano, referring to their heroes but always retaining their own style.
Available at https://www.ascrecords.com/mussorgsky_portrait.html
Kruglov/Miller Kompania: No Going Back [ASC CD171]
Vladimir Miller piano, compositions, arrangements
‘Krugly Band’ Orchestra:
Alexey Kruglov alto sax, bassethorn, prepared alto sax, declamation, arrangements
Masha Kruglova voice
Olga Sorokina soprano sax, flute
Anton Kotikov tenor sax, alto flute, duduk, prepared tenor sax
George Gorbov baritone sax, clarinet
Rost Kochetov trumpet
Max Durov trumpet, flugelhorn
Anton Zakharov trumpet
Fedor Senchukov trombone
Maksim Piganov trombone
Andrey Savelichev trombone
Slava Keizerov trombone
Stas Cheremushkin tuba
Denis Shushkov double bass
Peter Ivshin drums, glockenspiel, percussion
“progressive, multicoloured, 70-minute phantasmagoria… scored and improvised jazz which demonstrates extraordinary breadth of style and a decidedly fervent attitude in its performance” (AP Reviews)
Available to download / stream: see https://ascrecords.com/no_going_back.html
The Modest Trio: Pictures at an Exhibition [ASC CD177]
Vladimir Miller – Piano
Joe Williamson – Double bass
Arkady Gotesman – Drums
This album features Vladimir’s arrangements of Mussorgsky‘s 10-part suite.
Available to buy at https://www.ascrecords.com/pictures_exhibition.html
Miller/Hyder: Counting on Angels [SLAMCD 251]
Vladimir Miller – Piano
Ken Hyder – Drums
This album represents an accumulated experience derived from a decade of musical activity in Russia where drummer Ken Hyder and pianist Vladimir Miller played in main cities and out of the way towns. They have played with a plethora of Russian contemporary musicians including Valentina Ponomareva, Vladimir Tarasov, Sainkho Namtchylak – and the late Vladimir Rezitsky with whom they recorded as the trio, Northern Lights.
Recorded at Oor Wullie Studio, London, 2002.
Available at http://www.slamproductions.net/menus/main.asp?PN=detail&QItemID=166
Vladimir Miller/Ken Hyder: Cold Warm [ASC PFDL010]
Vladimir Miller – Piano
Ken Hyder – Drums
Ken Hyder and Vladimir Miller have been playing together for over 20 years, beginning in the last century in Russia. In that time the world has changed, to say the least, both in the political sphere and the social. People have moved away from thinking about others, and global economics has dictated so many new and contrasting agendas. The problem is how to know what’s going on… how to keep true to yourself and uncontaminated by change and dangerous madness. This album reflects these changes and thoughts of staying on the path. Cold Warm is about all these things – life itself, the joy of life, politics, spirit and thinking. Sometimes individual ideas may dominate a piece, other times several concepts knit together.
Download/Streaming Release
Miller/Plews: What Haven’t You Had? [SLAM CD260]
Vladimir Miller – Piano
Steve Plews – Piano
Some of the music in this series of duets and solo performances by the pianists Vladimir Miller and Steve Plews, is scored but much of it is improvised; the artists acknowledge influences of Bartok, Rachmaninov, Keith Tippett, Jaki Byard amongst others.
Available at http://www.slamproductions.net/menus/main.asp?PN=detail&QItemID=185
DSMIV: State of the Art [ASC PFDL003]
Steve Plews – Keyboards, Guitar, Voice
Vladimir Miller – Keyboards, Voice
Steve Miller – Programming, Voice
Download/Streaming Release
DSMIV: OM [ASC PFDL004]
Steve Plews – Keyboards, Guitar
Vladimir Miller – Keyboards
Paul Moss – Saxes, Harmonica, Woodwinds
Download/Streaming Release
Miller/Pilivabicius/Tarasov: Frontiers [LEO LAB CD 016]
Vladimir Miller – Piano
Vladimir Tarasov – Drums
Vitas Pilibavicius – Trombone
Recorded at the Theatre Vaidilos, Vilnius, 15 February 1995
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