Ron Miles

A highly regarded trumpeter, composer, and educator, Ron Miles was a progressive artist with a warm, rounded signature tone and a bent toward harmonically nuanced, genre-bending jazz. As a soloist, Miles preferred emotionally wrought, yet economical phrases rather than flurries of intensely played notes. Based in Colorado where he eventually headed the jazz studies program at Metropolitan State University of Denver, he garnered critical attention for his early albums, including 1996′s My Cruel Heart and 1997′s Woman's Day. The latter album featured guitarist Bill Frisell, a close collaborator with whom he worked regularly throughout his career. There were also projects with luminaries like Fred Hess, Brian Blade, Ginger Baker, Myra Melford, and others. Beginning with 2006′s Stone/Blossom, he embraced an artful compositional style informed as much by jazz as folk and Americana. He continued to release boundary-pushing albums like 2012′s Quiver, combining modal music and hip-hop rhythms with the polyphony of early New Orleans jazz. A deep spirituality and passion for Civil Rights also drove his work, as on 2017′s I Am a Man and 2020′s poetic Rainbow Sign. Prior to his tragically early death in 2022, Miles had garnered global acclaim.
Born in 1964 in Indianapolis, Indiana, Miles moved to Denver with his family at age 11. Around the same time, he started playing trumpet, taking classical and jazz lessons throughout high school. Also during his formative years, he played in school band ensembles as well as a local all-city combo. After high school, he earned his undergraduate degree from Denver University, where he first met saxophonist Fred Hess, often traveling to Boulder to play with him. Toward the end of his undergraduate studies, the trumpeter won a classical competition at the International Brass Clinic that was held at Indiana University in Bloomington. The accolade helped earn Miles a scholarship to attend New York’s Manhattan School of Music, where he eventually earned his master’s degree. In 1987, he made his recorded debut with Distance for Safety, followed two years later by Witness.
Around this time, Miles also toured as a member of the Mercer Ellington Orchestra, and traveled to Italy in the summer of 1992 with the musical Sophisticated Ladies. In addition, he recorded with Hess and played frequently with guitarist Bill Frisell. In 1996, he released his third studio album, My Cruel Heart, which found him exploring his increasingly distinctive brand of modern creative jazz with rock influences using a handful of guitarists including Todd Ayers, Farrell Lowe, Arnie Swenson, and Eddie Turner. That same year, he appeared on the Bill Frisell album Quartet, and returned in 1997 with the grunge- and post-rock-influenced Woman's Day, which found him working again with Frisell and his rhythm section, and featured bassist Artie Moore and drummer Rudy Royston.
In the late ’90s, Miles joined the faculty of Denver’s Metropolitan State College, where he taught for decades. He then rounded out the ’90s by collaborating with drummer Ginger Baker for the Cream member’s jazz-leaning album Coward of the County. Several intimate solo efforts followed, including 2000′s Ron Miles Trio, 2002′s Heaven, and 2003′s Laughing Barrel. There were also additional well-regarded sessions with Frisell and Hess, as well as Colin Stranahan, DJ Logic, Jenny Scheinman, Otis Taylor, and more. In 2007, he appeared on the Frisell project Floratone, and followed a year later with his own trio album, 3ology with Ron Miles.
Along with his continued work as an educator, Miles remained a highly prolific artist, issuing dates such as 2012′s Quiver with Frisell and drummer Brian Blade. That year, he also appeared on Hess’ big-band date Speak and reunited with Floratone for a second outing. He returned to his solo work for 2014′s Circuit Rider with Frisell and Blade. From there, he joined pianist Myra Melford for 2015′s Snowy Egret, appeared on Ben Goldberg’s Orphic Machine that same year, and contributed to drummer Matt Wilson’s 2017 Carl Sandburg homage Honey and Salt.
In 2017, Miles also delivered his own I Am a Man, with pianist Jason Moran, Frisell, Blade, and bassist Thomas Morgan. The album proved Miles’ global breakthrough — after 20 years as a respected soloist and bandleader. Its title reflected the 50th anniversary of the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike that started after two workers were killed by a malfunctioning garbage truck. The rank and file poured into the streets 11 days later, carrying signs that read “I Am a Man” and connected their stand — embraced by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — to the nation’s Civil Rights struggle. The record peaked at 25 on the jazz album charts and registered in the Top Five at streaming; its tour garnered acclaim everywhere the band took it.
In 2018, Miles collaborated with Joshua Redman on Still Dreaming, the saxophonist’s homage to his father Dewey Redman’s work as a member of Ornette Coleman’s Old and New Dreams band. Following further work with pianist Melford, he made his Blue Note debut with Rainbow Sign, leading the same quintet as on the previous outing. It featured nine originals including the Ethio-pop-flavored single “Queen of the South.” He wrote the majority of the set in 2018 while caring for his dying father. The title was inspired by the Carter Family song “God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign.” The recording’s compositions reflected his recent experience as a loving familial caregiver, James Baldwin’s enduring Civil Rights polemic The Fire Next Time, and the trumpeter’s commitment to Christian spirituality. Following a long battle with the rare blood disorder polycythemia vera, Miles passed away at his home in Denver on March 8, 2022 at age 58. ~ Matt Collar & Thom Jurek