Duncan Millar

 

 

 

Comin' Thru

Born in London Duncan Millar soon found the way to USA, where he studied at the famous Berklee music college in Boston. Established himself on the local jazz scene Duncan managed his breakthrough as a jazz interpreter with his first album A-One, which brought him in contact with Instinct Records, JazzFM and Expansion Records/Passion Jazz.

The album "Comin' Thru" bases on his previous albums "Dream Your Dream" and "Good To Go". Having his roots at first in the acid jazz scene Duncan changes his style slightly to Smooth Jazz. 

Duncan comments:

"Well, Comin' Thru  is a selection of some of the best tracks form my two previous albums, which were previously most easily available in the US.
This album has been specially designed for the UK and Europe, for people to get a good taste of my music on one album! I hope to back this up with some gigs in London and the UK in the near future."

Anyway you will like his music, cause Duncan plays easy and laidback without edges. Starter of this collection album is "Dream Your Dream", the title song of his first released album. Mike Smith  (sax, flute) and Mark Vandergucht (guitar) play the hooking main-theme which is replayed by Duncan on keyboards. 

Brite Life is a retro-piece with nice Fender Rhodes sound, soprano sax and an awesome piano solo. Rebuilding the famouse London club and dancefloor atmosphere with some jazzy elements this tune is uptime.

Little Ray Of Sunshine is the same mixture of guitars, sax and keyboards formed in an uptempo tune. Anew a smart piano solo breaks the capturing theme.

Good To Go, the title song of Duncan 's second album, opens with wah-wah effects and blossomed to a with many solos enriched theme. Especially you will like Jacko Peake's flute and sax parts.

Ultramarine has a deep acid jazz feeling with strong snare beats, a dark acoustic bass and fading sax sounds crossing the sax solo and the keyboard play. Expanding on more than seven minutes this tune has more of the experimental touch of the early acid jazz scene.

Comin' Thru is approaching as a smoother after this acid jazz storm. Featuring again Mike Smith on soprano sax and Mark Vandergucht on guitar the track has hit-quality for the JazzFM play-list.

Super-Real Feel turns the wheel back to uptempo acid jazz featuring Chris Standring on lead guitar and Arden Hart's furious trumpet breaks.

Damon Brown 's breathtaking flugelhorn  and Tony Campbell's (Nite Flyte) acoustic guitar attract the audience at High Sierra. 

Rodney Franklin 's The Groove ( You'll Never Know) hits the top ten in 1980, now the tune returns freshed-up with Duncan's kicking e-piano.

Sci-fi Hi starts with a new-agy synth then exploding into a rapid scale-runner.

A New Day presents anew Mark Vandergucht 's impressing guitar play which reminds me at Ronny Jordan greatest moments. Also to recognize the flute with a Herbie-Mann-touch.

Peaceful and dreamy is the following City Lights with Arden Hart's muted trumpet and Duncan's easy piano runnings. If you know the word bar-jazz, this is the better version.

Southside Groove distinguish itself through a plainly defined melody-line from other radio tunes.

One Warm Day has a great retro-potential with wah-wah-effects and vibraphone sounds. Jacko Peake's superior  jazzy sax solo is counterparted by Duncan's piano.

Final track of this remarkable album is a cover of Captain Of Her Heart, formerly a great hit for the group Double in 1985 from their album Blue. This extraordinary Smooth Jazz tune was Double 's one and only hit with a tremendous echo in the music world. Even Randy Crawford covered this song on her album Every Kind of Mood (1998). Tony Campbell (guitar), Arden Hart (trumpet) and Duncan Miller (piano) are playing like gods.

Those who haven't bought Duncan Millar's previous albums shouldn't hesitate to choose this affordable high-grade compilation. I strongly believe this album will be Duncan's definetive successful entry into UK's music market.

© HBH

 

 
The musicians:
  • Duncan Millar - Piano, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Synthesizers, Clavinet
  • Ernie McKone - Rhythm Guitar (1, 3, 6), Bass (11)
  • Tony Campbell - Bass Guitar (2, 4, 8, 9, 10), Electric and Nylon Guitars (2, 4, 8, 14, 15)
  • Chris Standring - Guitar (7)
  • Toby Baker - Bass (6)
  • Damon Brown - Flugelhorn (8)
  • Jim Carmichael - Drums (3)
  • Chris Dodd - Double Bass (5, 12)
  • Chanan Hanspal - Guitar (1, 4, 8, 10, 13)
  • Arden Hart - Trumpet (7, 12, 15), Bass (1, 3)
  • Tom Kenyatta - Alto Sax ( 5)
  • Jacko Peake - Saxophones (2, 14, 15), Flute (4, 9, 10)
  • Mike Smith - Tenor Sax (1,3), Flute (1, 6, 11), Soprano Sax (6, 11)
  • Mark Vandergucht - Guitar (1, 3, 6, 11, 12)
  • Spry - Congas (3)

 

  • More informations about this album here: