“The album was a lot of hard work, that’s for sure,” he admitted. “I have been doing an album each year since 2015, and this one was put together at the end of last year. I started doing a lot of writing over the holiday period, and I made a conscious effort that I wanted to direct the band into the defined space in between that rock and jazz kind of mind. I wanted to add more vocal tunes in the repertoire. The audience responds better to vocals than they do to instrumentals. I have a wonderful female singer, Ziarra Washington and I wanted to give her the chance to shine. I also wanted to attract a younger audience, and I believe that for the most part, all of those goals have been achieved. I feel this new album is our best album to date.”
Miller shared that they are going to Europe in two weeks to play festivals, one in Norway and one in Serbia. “We just finished playing a festival in Michigan this past weekend,” he said.
At the end of August, he noted that they have a show at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, New Jersey, and two days after that, they will be playing the Shoreline Jazz Festival in Michigan.
He recalled that the original Woodstock was an incredible experience back in the day, and in particular, he was drawn to Joe Cocker’s “With A Little Help From My Friends.” “Woodstock was amazing as you probably have heard,” he said.
Digital transformation of the music business
On the impact of technology on the music business, Miller said, “It’s good and it’s bad. The good part is that anybody can get their music out there. Anybody can put their music up on iTunes, Amazon or Spotify. That’s the good news. You don’t have record labels preventing you. Now, though, music is much more competitive. There are so many bands and so many artists, and now the question is ‘how do you get heard?’ It is a lot more challenging in that regard.”
On his use of technology in his music routine, he said, “I can’t say that I am highly technical in what I do, but for me, it’s about melody and groove, and the overall feel of the music. Now, the only thing that counts in terms of your audience is streaming. There are no more CD sales, and it’s all about Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube music. Technology is a great way to get your music out there if you are fortunate enough to get picked.”
Trippin‘ is available on iTunes.
To learn more about Project Grand Slam, check out their official website, and their Facebook page.
