Do you know how many musicians are named Dave Miller? Well, lots of people with the same name are in similar fields. Hell, there are at least three other guys with my name (not a common one) who write about music. And then there's the guy with my name I'd really like to have been--the writer on Justified. Anyway, this is one of the younger Dave Millers. He plays guitar. These songs are about him and his guitar and their many journeys.

Dave Miller Dave Miller (Tomkins Square)

Jazz? Sure, especially if you view most of Steely Dan as jazz. So, yes, there's also a heaping dose of 70s in there (plenty of nods to Neil Young-esque style, though largely de-fuzzed--see the previous jazz note). The arrangements are all over the place, meandering from contemplative proto-folk to what Herbie Hancock might have done if he played guitar (try "Rollerblade or Die" if you don't believe me). To call this set ambitious is understating the obvious.

Some folks write music to express their ideas. That would be my approach. One of my sons plays piano as a way of expressing himself. He can (and does) compose, but his ideas are always expressed in his playing. Miller sounds like one of the latter types. He sets up arrangements as backdrops for his playing, and then he sets sail. There's not a lot of interplay between his guitar and the backing tracks, and there doesn't need to be.

Which is not to say his studio mates aren't spectacular. They are. It's just that there's one focus here, and that's Miller's guitar. Listen for a moment, and I think you will agree that is how it should be. Arresting.

Jon Worley