projects

PERFORMANCE

BUG is a five piece jazz group featuring Peter Epstein, saxophone; my brother Jeff Miley, guitar; Roger Shew, bass; Brian Hamada, drums. I handle all the piano work and write a good chunk of the music. This band started on a lark as a one-off performance back in 2004 for Peter’s appearance at the Central Coast Jazz Festival in San Luis Obispo, California. Even now, with band members living in five different cities in three different states, we still manage to get together and play each year and will be heading out for our third "world" tour in November, 2007. Last fall we also had the good fortune of recording nine new tunes at the Cuesta College Studio with our good friend, engineer George Stone, and have just released results of that session as our debut CD, MURMUR.

I’m honored and humbled to be able to play in the same room as these guys, all fantastic musicians and teachers in their own right. AND I get to play in a great band with my brother, Jeff, who is one
of the most dedicated, talented and creative musicians I know.

Nagging Mother

Nagging Mother is the official faculty chamber jazz group at Virginia Tech. Our music rides that very fine line between free jazz and Thomas Dolby, and we tend to play original compositions with the occasional Ornette or Monk tune thrown in for good measure. The core of the group is a trio comprised of ME (piano/synth) and my colleagues John Adler (trumpet) and Alan Weinstein (electric cello). We’ve been featuring a talented student drummer here at VT named Nathan Alexander for our concerts and will get a chance to perform with drummer/percussionist extraordinaire Andy Heglund this fall. I’ll see if I can get a decent recording up here soon. In the meantime, you’ll have to use your imagination.

COMPOSITION

I’ve been fortunate as a composer of jazz and ‘art’ music to maintain a fairly busy writing schedule since emerging from the cocoon of graduate school, with several large scale commissions each year interspersed with a few smaller ones. Recent commissioned works have included:

AFTER THE WATER, THE CLOUDS, for wind ensemble, premiered at Carnegie Hall in NYC by the James Logan Wind Symphony under the direction of Ramiro Barrera

LAST LIGHT, for wind ensemble, premiered in Iowa City, IA, by the City High School Wind Ensemble under the direction of Myron McReynolds.
THE DUDE ABIDES, for large jazz ensemble, premiered in Fresno, CA, by the IAJE/CBDA California All State Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Patrick Williams

LOOSE FITTING GENES and REMINDS ME OF..., premiered in 2007 and 2006 at the Next Generation Jazz Festival (part of the Monterey Jazz Festival) in Monterey, CA.

I’m currently working on a new piece called THE RIVER for the Folsom High School Jazz Band, commissioned by their director, Curtis Gaesser, plus a new big band arrangement of one of Jonathan Kreisberg’s tunes for his appearance here at VT in February. In addition I’m finishing up a set of short pieces for trumpet and piano for John Adler and a Trombone fantasy for Jay Crone. If you’re interested in commissioning me for anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the email or address listed on the CONTACT page—I’m always looking for opportunities to write new music.

More info about my compositions, including score samples and soundfiles, can be found on the SOUNDS & SCORES page.

listen to the track BRINE, from bug’s debut CD MURMUR (2007)