PLANNING - STRATEGY - PLAYERS
I completed the composition selections for the project at the end of 2018, having spent many months listening and composing some tunes. I wanted compositions that would appeal to a very wide Jazz audience and could potentially highlight the strengths of the soloists and ensemble players in the orchestra. I also looked for pieces that would widen my orchestration concepts.
I targeted January 2021 as a potential release date, planning 2020 for recording, mixing, mastering, jacket cover design, etc. This meant I'd have to complete all the arranging/orchestrating by the end of 2019. With 11 selections in mind, I needed to complete an average of one arrangement each month. I was able to complete them in December 2019 and set up a meeting in January 2020 with our engineer, Mike Levine, to discuss my budget and recording methods.

​At our meeting in January, we discussed recording the rhythm section live at Mike's studio and the horns in sections, with a few players recording remotely in their home studios. We were getting ready to implement our plan in February when the COVID pandemic hit hard in Florida. This forced us to abandon our planned approach. With no reasonable prediction for the end of the pandemic, Mike and I decided to remotely record each part individually. Mike and his wife also made the decision to leave Miami and go to their 2nd home in North Florida, where Mike has another recording set up.

The next challenge was finding compatible players with home studios that were available and willing to participate. I've always preferred selecting familiar, versatile players, whose musical skills and concepts were as like-minded as possible. That is why, with few exceptions, almost all the players in our recording projects have come through the University of Miami Studio Music and Jazz program. Our backgrounds have been very similar and in some cases we have worked quite a lot together. Unfortunately, several of our current band members were not set up to record at home, so, I had to search for replacements. I needed to find 2 trumpets, trombone, piano, bass, drums, and guitar.

Happily, along with Cisco Dimas (Miami), I was able to include Brett Murphey in Wisconsin, Jason Carder in Arizona on trumpets, and Dana Teboe in Maine on trombone, all of whom I had worked with in The Atlantean Driftwood band and on countless gigs in Miami many years ago.  All are also graduates of the UM Jazz program as well.

Here in Miami, bassists Nick Orta, Tim Smith, and Jamie Ousley were all willing and able to record at home. We were able to record bassist Matt Bonelli on a track when Mike Levine made a quick return to his house in Miami. They, along with bassist, Mark Egan, in Connecticut, completed the cast of outstanding bass players. Again, all graduates of the UM Jazz program from different eras.
Guitarist Lindsey Blair (Miami) committed to recording all our tracks along with Randy Bernsen, who is featured on Infant Eyes. Randy (Ft. Lauderdale) and drummer, Peter Erskine (Los Angeles), are 2 of the players on the project that are not UM graduates. Randy is also an Atlantean Driftwood alumni and Peter and I toured together with the Stan Kenton Orchestra as well as concerts and recordings with Jaco Pastorius.

Along with Peter Erskine, the drummers are a cast of all-stars. Lee Levin and Mike Harvey, all recorded their parts remotely here in South Florida. Mike is the 3rd player not from UM, who I have known mostly by reputation and was highly recommended by Mike Levine. We were able to add Jack Ciano on a track, a founding member of The 14, along with bassist Matt Bonelli, at Mike's studio, on the same day as Matt. Percussionist, Richard Bravo (Miami) also appeared on our last project and has taught as an adjunct at UM.
In addition to engineering the project , Mike Levine consented to playing keyboard and piano. On the high recommendations of Ed Calle and Mike Levine, we were able to add pianist, Kemuel Roig, to our Misturada track. David Roitstein (Los Angeles), who is also an Atlantean Driftwood alumni and UM graduate, recorded 3 tracks, but we were unable to use the tracks due to some technical recording issues. The same was true for composer, arranger, pianist, Ron Miller, on his composition, Wood Dance.

Our woodwind players (all UM Alumni), Ed Calle (Miami), Ed Maina (Tennessee), Tom Timko (New Jersey), and Peter Brewer (Miami) all recorded remotely while my brother, Neal Bonsanti, recorded his parts at Paul Hoyle's studio in Miami. Tenor saxophonist, Adam Kolker (New York), contributed a great solo on Driftin', which, unfortunately, does not appear, having become a victim of several edits that were needed to shorten the track.
 
RECORDING METHOD
Devising an approach for recording all the tracks individually and remotely was a special challenge. Mike Levine and I had some success in our last project, "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be", with tracks, such as "Pandamandium",  where most of the parts were recorded remotely, one at time. Knowing we had such great players to work with, I generated wave files from the Sibelius software I used to score the arrangements and orchestrations. The playback contains emulated sounds of each instrument. We started by sending the wave file and drum parts to drummer Lee Levin, who recorded amazing tracks on "Dayride", "Misturada", "A Day Tripper's Blues Buffet", and "Got A Match?". Upon receiving Lee's drum tracks we began following the same procedure adding the rest of the rhythm section parts, bass, piano/keyboard, and guitar. Once Mike and I were confident this approach would work, we began the same approach with the remaining tracks. Mike built each track one part at a time as he received them from the players. We added the solos after we had the rhythm section parts completed. If the other horn parts had not been recorded, we used the emulated horns from Sibelius so the soloists would have them as a reference.

This method created a long list of challenges for the players. For example, our rhythm section players had to anticipate the intensity of the soloists and how to accompany each soloist. Coordinating, tuning, cut offs, and articulations were some of the horn's ensemble challenges. Conforming to the established accompaniment was one of the hurdles presented to each soloist.

I strongly believe this project could never have been completed in this fashion without Mike Levine. Very few engineers could have successfully overcome the technology challenges of assembling and coordinating each part into a master track, along with the musicianship required to edit, repair, and mix this project. I am truly amazed by what Mike and these great players put together.
 
CHOOSING THE SELECTIONS
Countless hours were spent listening to a wide assortment of recordings in order to find the music I believed would be accepted and enjoyed by our audience, stand up to repeated listening over time,  fun to play, challenging to arrange/orchestrate, and would give our soloists and rhythm section players settings that would showcase their talents. It took sorting through a lot of great material to find interesting, energetic tunes, as well as some colorful, passionate compositions for the project. I was also interested in co-arranging pieces with 2 of my former U of Miami colleagues, Ron Miller and Vince Maggio. I felt their compositions, creativity, and arranging/orchestration styles would expand my knowledge and offer our listeners a contrast in styles.

I had always loved Ron's big band arrangement of "When I Look in Your Eyes" and his composition, "Wood Dance" originally written in 3/4, which we performed together for my Master's recital in 1973 with Ron (Keyboard), Danny Gottlieb (drums), Mark Egan (bass), Pat Metheny (guitar), Bob Meyer (Flugelhorn), and Steve Goldstein (Percussion), all students at UM at the time. Ron graciously allowed me to reduce the instrumentation, make a few orchestration changes, and some edits on "Look". I was particularly excited to analyze the Gil Evans' arranging and orchestration techniques he included in his arrangement. "Wood Dance" gave me the opportunity to work with one of Ron's many modal pieces. I originally imagined a bass clarinet solo in the arrangement and contacted Bob Mintzer to see if Bob could record it for me, but unfortunately Bob was not set up to record at home. Ed Maina recorded a great bass clarinet solo for us, but after numerous listening, I felt the basic orchestration had so much bass clarinet in the ensemble writing that piano would provide a needed contrast.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's Vince Maggio led a 13 piece ensemble, featuring Ira Sullivan, called The Baker's Dozen. Although I was not a regular member of the band, I often had the opportunity to sub at rehearsals and for a couple of concerts, and became a big fan of Vince Maggio's arranging. Two of his arrangements in their book included "I'm All Smiles" (Leonard/Martin) and "Misturada" (Airto). I'd written a chart on "Smiles" during the early years of The 14 Jazz Orchestra, which I never liked. I contacted Vince to see if he had the score to his version. We worked together to combine the two versions. Vince's version of "Misturada" along with the Airto's recordings were a big influence on our recorded version.

Chick Corea's music translates very smoothly to large ensembles and has been a part of each of our recording projects. Our latest project, "Cartoon Bebop" contains two of Chick's compositions, "Got A Match?" and "Duende".  I heard "Got A Match?" as a high energy track to potentially showcase 4 of our players, Ed Calle (tenor), Ed Maina (piccolo), Lee Levin (drums), and Nicky Orta (bass). The passion I heard in Chick's String Quartet version of "Duende" was like a magnet and offered me the opportunity to showcase Ed Calle's more lyrical style and my brother, Neal, on oboe as well. It was the 1st arrangement I completed for the project.

Adding some of my own original pieces to the project was also one of my goals. As I selected the compositions to arrange, I began to work on some original pieces to fill in some style gaps. One morning, I happen to see a TV advertisement using cartoon characters, Rocky and Bullwinkle, who happened to be childhood favorites. Over the years, I worked for many entertainers in music theaters. One of them, Liberace, used the cartoon's theme in his show, which was always fun to play. After repeated listening and examining the sheet music, I discovered a way to hint at the theme by using piccolo and tuba while adding Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk motifs. My 1st title was Rocky, Bullwinkle, Bird and Monk, which morphed into "Cartoon Bebop" and became our album title. Once I had decided on adding tuba for both "Cartoon Bebop" and "When I Look In Your Eyes", I contacted David Bargeron, who I had met while performing at the Jaco Pastorius Birthday concert in 1981. Unfortunately, David was recuperating from surgery and couldn't get back in playing shape to record. At the last minute I decided to use an emulated tuba sound. 

"A Day Tripper's Blues Buffet" combined 2 compositional goals. I was considering adding a Beatles tune and was also planning to include an original Blues in the project. I pulled elements of both together to form this piece, hoping for a kind of Rock 'n' Roll feel.

Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock have always been among my favorite composers and players, so I searched through their vast libraries of compositions hoping to find and add 2 great additions to our project. Wayne's ballad, "Infant Eyes", has been one of my favorites since the day the "Speak No Evil" album was released. I was always hesitant to arrange it, not feeling confident I could capture its sensitivity and lyricism. I also did not want to subject Ed Calle to the logical comparison listeners and critics would make to Wayne's solo and phrasing. I decided to attempt to capture the compositions essence with a slow 6/4 feel and use a variety of woodwind colors to try to create a new setting. Guitarist, Randy Bernsen, had recently sent me one of his new recordings and I heard the exact sound I was looking for. Herbie Hancock's "Driftin'" came from his 1962 "Takin' Off" release and provided a great hard swinging vehicle for the band.

​Stanley Clarke's "Dayride" , from Chick Corea's Electric Band "No Mystery" album, was the last arrangement to be completed, but one of my 1st choices for the project. It was challenging to translate the small group version into a 13 piece band. I decided to incorporate  Chick's approach to solo fills and the exciting  shout chorus near the end of the recording into our version. It turned out to provide a great solo vehicle for the talents of Ed Calle, Lindsey Blair, and Mike Levine. 
 

​Our latest release, "The Future Ain't What It Used To Be", is The 14 Jazz Orchestra's 2nd recording. Due to significant budget restraints, the recording process for this project required a rather unique approach, only made possible by the extreme generosity of our band members, guests artists, studios, and engineers.
It was always my intention to work with players that came out of the program at the University of Miami, where I had been a student and later a member of the Studio Music and Jazz faculty. It's presented us with a "like-minded" approach to the music. The members of the orchestra represent 7 decades of former students, graduates, and/or faculty members from as early as the very late 1950's to the present. Even the guest artists have a U of M background, with Randy Brecker as the only exception. Several of us have performed and/or recorded with Randy going as far back as 1977.
After several concerts in 2016 and 2017 to test out some of our new material, we began by recording 8 of the rhythm section tracks at Red Rock Studios in Miami, with engineer Frank Miret. The studio has 4 isolation rooms plus the control room, which is also used to record the grand piano. We isolated the drums, bass, and guitar in 3 of the rooms and recorded them along with the piano in 3 separate recording sessions. For the most part, the guitar and piano solos were done live during those sessions. The players had to rely heavily on the written parts as well as their recollections of the arrangements since the horn parts were to be added later. This presented significant challenges for Tom, Jim, Matt, and Jack, especially in those places where ensemble parts needed drum accents and where future solos required each of them to anticipate/imagine how to accompany soloists who'd be recording their solos at a later session.
We went back to work with Frank at Red Rock Studios and in 2 sessions we overdubbed all the horns parts on Ruth, Dance Cadaverous, 16 Tons (Give or Take), and Triste. Mark Colby subbed for my brother Neal on the 1st session (Ruth, Dance, and 16 Tons) as did Jack Wengrosky for Cisco Dimas on the 2nd Trumpet part. Neal was back for the 2nd session when we recorded Triste and Jack came back to sub for Steve Reid on lead Trumpet. Recording the horns in 3 separate rooms was very challenging for the players and the engineer. Our smaller instrumentation demands mixing instruments from different sections of the orchestra throughout the arrangements. Getting the right headphone balances, so the players could hear one another in separated rooms, was extremely difficult.
Not long after we completed the 5 sessions at Red Rock, I contacted Mike Levine, who has been a friend and colleague for many decades.  As a great keyboardist, composer, recording engineer, producer, and recording artist, I valued Mike's input and was hoping he'd agree to work on the project with us. To our great fortune, he agreed to do the editing, some additional recording, and also mix the project when it was completed. Most of the project was still ahead of us. We had 3 more rhythm tracks to complete, most of the solos to overdub, and 7 more tracks that still needed all the horns parts to be recorded!
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the recording came when Ed Calle, Ed Maina, and Peter Brewer volunteered to record all their parts in their home studios. Ed Maina also recorded the vast majority of the other horn parts at his home as well, drastically reducing the overall production costs. Each transferred their digital files to Mike Levine when they completed their parts. Mike put them all together with the other parts we recorded at his studio, and made some repairs and edits as needed. Their generosity absolutely made the project possible.
As we gradually assembled all the pieces, we made plans to complete the rest of the rhythm section parts, add the overdubbed solos, as well as all the guest artists' parts. Perhaps the most unorthodox approach of all the tracks we recorded  was on Pandamandium. Mile Levine took the playback sound track from the Sibelius software I use to write the arrangements, placed all the simulated parts on one track, and emailed the files along with a written drum part to drummer, Lee Levin. Lee recorded his drum part and emailed the recording back to Mike. Within a few days guest bassist, Tim Smith, recorded the bass part at Lee's home studio. From there we gradually recorded the guitar and keyboard, and all the horn parts separately. Once all the parts were completed, Mike made a rough mix and emailed the files to Randy Brecker to add his parts and solos. After several discussions with Mike Levine and Ed Calle, I asked Ed to add tenor sax fills in several places to give the recording some more intensity. Richard Bravo added the final touches on percussion.
Associate Producer, Michael Hurzon, provided his guidance on both ends of the project. Mike Hurzon and I met back in 2003 when he was Co-Producing the 1st Jaco Pastorius Big Band Recording and he's been my production mentor ever since,  handling the radio promotion for both our debut album and current release. As an example, Mike assisted me with the album conception as I selected the compositions and guest artists, gave me some very helpful input on the new release title and album jacket, and structured the tune sequence. 

Dan Bonsanti
​

​Chick Corea's compositions and recordings have always been among my favorites. I wanted to find one of Chick's tunes that had not been "overly" recorded and arrange it in a way that represented the Latin influences of South Florida. Armando's Rhumba fit the description perfectly. It was my goal to create an energetic, powerful interpretation while still retaining some of the composition's small ensemble acoustic magic, displayed in the original recording.  It became very clear that the tune could provide a nice setting to feature Ed Maina on Piccolo, Ed Calle on Soprano Sax, and our guest drummer, Lee Levin. Richard Bravo put the "icing on the cake" with the addition of his Latin Percussion. This track was essentially recorded one instrument at a time including the over-dubbed piccolo, soprano sax, and piano solos. As we approach the radio release date, this tune has been the overwhelming favorite track streamed on Spotify and Apple Music. It will be fun to see if the radio DJ's react the same way.

Herbie Hancock's  album, "The Prisoner", has been a longtime favorite of mine and contains a wealth of creative compositions, colorful orchestrations, and masterful performances. Buster William's, Firewater, stood out as a composition that could be expanded to a larger instrumentation without losing some of the compositions delicate characteristics. With a great cast of woodwind doublers in the 14JO reed section, I felt we had the ingredients to give it a re-interpretation.  The track was recorded in separate studio sessions, with the full horn sections overdubbing their parts collectively at Red Rock Studios. Each of the solos were overdubbed at Mike Levine's Downtimes Studio. It was great to be able to include my very good friend, tenor saxophonist Mark Colby, on a solo track, who flew in from Chicago to sub for my bother Neal on the 1st horn session.

The piano solo on Blue Miles and the full Rhythm section track was recorded at Red Rock Studios while the horns were completed individually at Ed Maina's and Mike Levine's studio. To make the track more attractive for radio play, I made the decision to edit it down to about 5 minutes in length. This meant taking out one chorus of the piano solo, eliminating Tom's guitar solo, and reducing the number of other soloists that I had originally planned to include. We also made some edits on solo backgrounds that we felt conflicted with and distracted from the solos. Both of the sax solos were overdubbed at their home studios.

Triste is a very special part of our project. Bob Meyer's arrangement was written in the late 1960's  for the Miami based, 13 piece jazz ensemble known as "The Baker's Dozen". That ensemble featured IRA Sullivan and was directed by pianist Vince Maggio. The ensemble was comprised of some of Miami's most accomplished jazz and studio players of that era and attracted composers and arrangers like Ron Miller and Bob Meyer. All the parts and the score to the arrangement had been lost. The only known recording was a cassette I made with a portable cassette machine, of a The Baker's Dozen performance, done for a local NPR television broadcast in 1970, by holding a portable recorder in front of the television speaker. I spent several months transcribing all the parts from the recording and then re-orchestrating it to fit our instrumentation. Along with "Firewater", "Ruth", and "16 Tons (Give or Take)", "Triste" was first recorded with the rhythm section and we later, collectively, overdubbed all the horns.  The solos were also overdubbed  at a later date while Jim Gasior made a 2nd take on his piano solo at the group session. It was our very good fortune that Rick Margitza happened to be visiting Miami and was willing to overdub a solo at Downtimes Studios on "Triste" as well as being the featured soloist on "I'll Be Seeing You". We dedicated this track to Bob Meyer, whose musical contributions for decades to the South Florida music scene were immeasurable.

Dance Cadaverous is a Wayne Shorter composition that I have long admired and was the first arrangement I completed for the project. This recording was among the 4 tracks where the rhythm section was recorded collectively at Red Rock Studios, but each of the horns parts were overdubbed individually. Once again Jim Gasior's piano solo was recorded live while Dante's trombone solo was overdubbed much later at Mike's studio. I attempted to capture the compositions somewhat dark and exotic characteristics by combining muted brass and woodwinds.

I first heard Pandamandium in the 1980's  while performing with Peter Graves' Atlantean Driftwood Band at The Sanibel Jazz Festival on Sanibel Island, FL. Eliane Elias and Randy Brecker were guest artists that year and Eliane was pregnant with their daughter, Amanda at the time (for whom the tune is cleverly titled). They performed the piece with just our rhythm section. After the concert, there was talk that Michael Brecker might join them as guests the following year. I told Eliane how much I liked the tune and that I would like to arrange it for the The Atlantean Driftwood Band to play with them, so she generously provided me with a lead sheet. Unfortunately, their return to the Festival with Michael Brecker  didn't materialize. We read down the chart, but never performed it. I later expanded the instrumentation to a full big band and gave it to my University of Miami colleague, Whit Sidener, who conducted the UM Concert Jazz Band. They recorded an amazing performance of it at Criteria Studios in Miami. Many years later, after we formed the 14 Jazz Orchestra, I mentioned to Randy Brecker my desire to re-record it in the original format with The 14. Randy had heard the UM track and offered to record it with us if we did a 2nd project. About halfway through our new project I brought our main engineer, Mike Levine, an MP3 of the sound track, created from the new score I had completed on my Sibelius software. He sent that track with a drum part to Lee Levin and Lee laid down the first track. Only a few days later, bassist, Tim Smith, recorded his part at Lee's home studio and all the rest of the ensemble and solo tracks were recorded one player at a time.
 
I came across 16 Tons one day as I was scanning through channels on cable TV. The 1960's hit recording by Tennessee Ernie Ford happened to be playing on an infomercial show and caught my attention. After streaming it many times, I thought of some ways the tune could work in a jazz-like setting if I could expand it's very simple form {thus, 16 Tons (Give or Take)} . I added a bridge (middle section) and utilized march and stop-time feels to add a slight Art Blakey/Jazz Messengers touch. While experimenting with "16 Tons", I was completing an 8 minute Mancini Movie Theme project for a community choir concert,  consisting of 50 voices, a female vocal soloist, and a 3 piece rhythm section (piano, bass, and drums), so I was doing a great deal of listening to Henry Mancini's music. Mancini's orchestrations were a definite influence, especially in the solo backgrounds to the Trumpet and Baritone sax solos. This is another track where we recorded the rhythm section 1st and later overdubbed all the horn parts and the 2 horn solos individually. Tom recorded his Guitar solo live at the session.
 
Seventh Sign was written by one of the band's favorite composers, Ron Miller. Ron and I were fellow faculty members during my 15 years in the Studio Music and Jazz program at The University of Miami and performed and recorded  together during those years.  "Seventh Sign's"  first large ensemble arrangements were done by Ron himself and his approach and melodic content, form the basis of this chart, which is mostly a re-orchestration to feature Ed Calle on Soprano Sax. As students bassist, Mark Egan, and drummer Danny Gottlieb were among the first musicians to perform Ron’s music so I thought of them right away as potential contributors, knowing they would capture the composition’s numerous subtleties. We recorded the rhythm section together at Red Rock Studios and later replaced the drum and bass tracks remotely, sending the tracks to Mark and Danny. Mark was able to record his track at his home studio and Danny at a friend's local studio. As usual, Mike Levine assembled and mixed the track with the horns,  adding their parts individually.
 
 I was looking for a Jaco Pastorius composition that had not been re-recorded on numerous occasions when I stumbled across Charlie Brent's, Rice Pudding on Jaco's "Early Years" CD (our liner notes incorrectly list Jaco Pastorius as the composer). When I first met Jaco in 1970 and began to play some of his early compositions and arrangements (ie: "Domingo" and "Killing Me Softly") his writing was heavily influenced by Charlie Brent. According to the "Early Years" CD liner notes, Charlie wrote "Rice Pudding" for a concert at Rice University as a show opener for The CC. Riders (thus the title). I felt the composition, along with Charlie's arrangement,  created a snapshot of the funk style of the late 1960's and early 1970's; sort of Barney Miller (TV Sitcom Theme) meets "The Chicken". I could not locate a published lead sheet, so I had to transcribe the music from that recording. The quality of sound made the process very challenging, but the required repeated listening gave me an opportunity to extract some important elements, which I included in the arrangement.  Every part on this track was recorded individually with Marko and Randy recording their tracks remotely. I think the rhythm section really captured the style with very special performances by guest bassist, Tim Smith, and great solos by Tom Lippincott (Guitar), Randy Brecker (Trumpet/Synth.), and Ed Calle (Tenor Sax).
 
Ron Miller’s Ruth, written for his wife, along with Wayne Shorter's "Dance Cadaverous", is one of the more sophisticated compositions in the project and a band favorite. This delicate waltz gave me a special opportunity to show-off the orchestra’s versatility. The extended introduction allowed the extensive use of woodwinds and muted brass to set the mood and to later demonstrate Ed Calle's lyricism. Ed does a magnificent job of negotiating very challenging harmonic structures. "Ruth" is one of the 4 pieces recorded with all the horns overdubbing their parts together with the exception of Ed Calle's part, which he later recorded at his home studio. The original recording included a beautiful flute solo by Ed Maina. Mike Levine and I made the difficult decision, as we had done on several of the other tracks, to shorten the recording by deleting the flute solo, to keep the track  under 6 minutes and treat the piece as an Ed Calle feature.
 
 
I'll Be Seeing You closes the recording, as a tribute to our late and very dear South Florida friend and former associate, Larry Warrilow, best known for his long association with bassist, Jaco Pastorius. Originally performed in an abbreviated form for Larry’s memorial, this version has an extended introduction, which includes a delicate flute solo by Ed Maina, and an English Horn solo played beautifully by Neal Bonsanti. The recording features Rick Margitza on Tenor Sax. This is another track where each part was recorded separately and assembled and mixed by Mike Levine.

Via email, on 2/21/16 I completed my “interview” with renowned Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, orchestrator, and jazz educator, Ron Miller, covering a variety of subjects. (You can hear and see Ron’s music and his complete bio at the sites listed below) Here were Ron’s responses:
 
How did you get started in music? 
There were many musicians in my family, both sides. There were family jam sessions. My dad played guitar, an uncle, piano, my grandfather played violin, and another uncle played trumpet professionally. The rest all played ‘by ear’. It was natural that I would start piano lessons. I was more interested in science and working with my hands, I did not get serious about music until a friend, a sax player, suggested I go to FSU with him to study music. It took off from there.
 
Were you always interested in composing and/or arranging? 
When I heard Nica’s Dream on a Jazz Messengers album, I was touched and started on the road to composition. The sax player friend is the one who played it for me. This was ca. 1959. 
 
Although you have earned degrees from FAU and The University of Miami, do you consider yourself a self-taught composer and pianist? 
Yes, I am mostly self-taught by listening, transcribing and spending hours on the 5th floor of the stacks (studying scores) at the U. of Miami (Library).
 
Having spent a lot of time studying scores – any compositions, orchestrations, or arranging books that were influential? Who do you consider your main musical influences as both a player and a composer?  
Ravel's Daphnis and Chloe. Never studied books of others. I wrote the definitive books. I listen mainly to classical music. For playing jazz: Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans and Cedar Walton are influences. For jazz composition: Horace, Wayne Shorter, Monk. Mingus are my main influences. For classical composition, Ravel, Stravinsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Holst.
 
Can you describe your approach to composition? 
(I discuss it) in my latest book, Jazz Composition, The Creative Process. (There) I describe how I compose.  I took it off the market to add to and improve it. 
 
Do you have a favorite personal composition?  
Too many to pick one.
 
Name some. 
Seventh Sign - wrote that chart in 1974 when I was young and innocent. I feel it is clean and transparent while still being deep and musical. Halcyon Days, Secret Ceremony - like Seventh Sign, it’s simple, but can burn. Kepler’s Dream. Ruth, Smile, and other nonet charts are more recent.  I arranged Ruth before I retired, sitting in my recliner watching football with earphones on, Sibelius on my MacBook, it turned our ok... Ruth on the porch grading papers. Smile for a CD Then a few for the FAU Jazz Rats group.
Of the rest, One Nite Strut recorded with (David) Liebman and, Sun Child recorded with Ira Sullivan.  American Hope is special...
 
Have you done a lot of large jazz ensemble arranging and/or orchestrating? 
The 1st Big Band arrangement was Nutville (Horace Silver), which I arranged for the big band at Miami Dade College. I was always a small group guy but playing in that band gave me the itch to write a chart. It’s in the style of Gerald Wilson. I also did an arrangement of Gemini, which is more in the style of Gil Evans. Later, I did some writing for The Bakers Dozen in the early 1970’s (13 pieces, featuring Ira Sullivan and directed by Vince Maggio), including Seventh Sign and Secret Ceremony. I think Seventh Sign was the 1st chart I converted to a big band instrumentation. (Recorded along with Halcyon Days by the UM Concert Jazz Band on the album entitled Halcyon Days). When I Look In Your Eyes - my orchestration chops possibly at my highest (skill level), maybe too much Gil Evans (influence)? 
 
Since your retirement from teaching in The Studio Music and Jazz Program at the University of Miami, what's been your involvement in music? 
Archiving all my hand written big band charts to Sibelius 7, then posting them on YouTube; transcribing music that I think students and others need to know and posting them on YouTube. Then of course the “RonJams”, currently with John Hart, Tom Mitchell, Steve Rucker and Jeff Carswell.
 
Any hobbies/interests outside of music? 
Cooking, video games, the beach, and spending time with (my wife), Ruth. 
 
You were on the Jazz Faculty at The University of Miami from 1974-2007. You’ve had a formidable influence on your students. To what do you attribute your significant impact on their writing and playing?  
I think they perceived that I was sharing my love of music.  I did not judge any particular student regarding their background or innate musical abilities.  I tried to give them confidence in their abilities. (I wanted them to) just have fun with music. Of course, I also gave them the musical skills to realize their musical aspirations.
 
Did you enjoy teaching to the same extent as playing and writing? 
Yes
 
 
What did you find to be the greatest reward(s) during those years of teaching on the college level?  
Seeing students realize their love of music and confidence in their realization of their music aspirations.
 
What's your perspective on today's jazz education?  
I am out of the loop.
 
If you could go back, would you change anything in your philosophy or methods of teaching?  
No
 
Do you believe university Jazz programs can create a laboratory of experimentation, which can foster future innovation?  
Yes
 
How? Can jazz programs replace the bars and night club scenes of the past that provided musicians with a laboratory to experiment?  
When I first started to UM there was no small group program, yet we organized jams, many… that is how the Miller/Colby band started, then later, all the jams in my office that came to be known as “RonJams”.
So, constant jams is the answer. 
 
With such a small percentage of jazz fans in the country do you think the music can survive and grow in the decades to come?  
I am so out of the loop. I rarely play in public. The last time was The Music of Ron Miller event at Gusman Hall on the University of Miami campus, where only 50 or so people showed up.
 
Who do you see in today's scene that you believe will carry the torch as an innovative composer, arranger, and/or orchestrator? 
I don’t hear anybody influential like Bird, Bill Evans, Gil Evans, Miles, Coltrane et al that can change the jazz world. For carrying the torch, Maria Schneider is keeping Gil Evans alive. There are many more, but I am not sure carrying the torch is as important as innovation.
 
Where can Jazz Fans, musicians, and students access and/or study your music? 
They can listen and study my scores at http://www.ronjam.com/
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/user/ronmillerjazz
FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Ron-Miller/708745318
RonJam Quartet CD: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ronmmusic
http://www.jazzcomp.com/        

​I was asked recently, “Why did you guys produce your own recording? Weren’t any record labels interested?”

Yes, but….. Other than recordings made by some of today’s biggest pop stars, it’s a “new day” when it comes to working with record labels. “Back in the day”, when most of our orchestra members were making a living playing and recording, most genres of music were produced and distributed by record companies. The labels fronted the money for the projects; paying the musicians, the studios, and all the post production expenses, including promotion and distribution. The labels took the financial risk that the audiences would buy the vinyl records and later the CD’s. This had been the standard through most of the 20th century until the combination of computers, digital recording, and the internet brought a huge change to the industry.
Recordings gradually became available in download formats; making them more conveniently stored on our computers, phones, and other mobile devices and could be copied and given away for free. The sales of CD’s has dwindled away as fewer and fewer people even own a CD player. This has reduced much of the profit, especially for genres such as Jazz, which has a very small audience. The addition of companies that basically distribute music to the public with little or nothing paid to the artists, has helped produce an environment where the public expects music to be a free product rather than intellectual property. Copying music files, burning CD’s etc. is not looked upon as theft by the public.  
All of the above changes have led record labels away from production toward distribution, leaving the cost of recording to the artists and independent producers. Jazz artists have come to view recordings simply as expensive promotional materials, hoping their production and distribution will lead to income by attracting live performance opportunities. Given the present circumstances, the more expensive studio and large ensemble recordings are much more difficult to produce, logically leading to more live recordings and smaller groups.
When we looked at our options for recording "Nothing Hard is Ever Easy" with The 14 Jazz Orchestra, we had all these factors to consider. It came down to accepting that distributing the recording through an existing record company would not give us any chance of recovering our expenses. We saw that our only chance to at least a partial recovery would be to produce, distribute, and promote the music ourselves. We are hopeful that sales will bring in enough to provide starter money for another project.
We are looking forward to January when the print media and radio promotions begin. We are hopeful our music and the performance quality will spark an interest in the jazz community and fans will support us by purchasing downloads and CD’s.
 
Dan Bonsanti 

I was approached at one of our recent concerts by a young man whose exposure to Jazz has mainly come from listening to “Smooth Jazz” radio. He had played saxophone in his high school band and was curious about the saxophone innovators of modern jazz and asked me to recommend some saxophone players for him to listen to. This reminded me how little exposure, outside of a college music appreciation class, today’s audiences get to our music.

There is a huge list of masterful jazz saxophonists today and throughout jazz history. So, I’m limiting my list to just those players believed by most jazz saxophonists and historians to have the greatest influence on their peers and, in some cases, had a far reaching affect on the music.

The decade of the 1930’s brought the innovative and contrasting styles and sounds of tenor saxophonists, Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. The big sound and extroverted style of Coleman Hawkins offered a dynamic contrast to the more subtle, melodic style of Lester Young. Their influences can still be heard in the recordings of Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz. Alto saxophonist, Charlie Parker, not only affected the styles of his peers but changed the direction of jazz, impacting the entire musical vocabulary. Tenor saxophonist, John Coltrane, whose personal style and approach went through several evolutions, has also had a great impact on modern jazz. These masters, along with saxophonist, Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker have had profound and far reaching affects on the music we listen today.

Please feel free to tell us about your favorite players and/or recordings!!!!

Dan Bonsanti

It has been those artists that hold the development of the music or the establishment of their own personal musical styles to be a higher priority than its popularity or commercial value, who have brought progress and change to our idiom. Today’s performers, composers, and arrangers stand on the shoulders of those innovators. Without them…………?

Instrumental music is a single digit percentage of CD sales, downloads, and radio airplay, of which jazz is only a small part. “Smooth Jazz” seems to dominate the marketplace. As director and arranger for The 14 Jazz Orchestra, I find myself strongly considering the goals of the players as well as the entertainment of our audiences. At times, those considerations struggle for compatibility. The performers often want the music to challenge them, give them opportunities to grow, to test their skills, and provide a vehicle for self-expression. Although there can be occasions where very “sophisticated” Jazz musicians, and/or fans make up a large portion of those in attendance, I find that in general, audiences of live concerts respond more to the emotion and energy of the music than the intellectual aspects. Trying to be true to one’s artistic values, provide meaningful musical experiences for the players, and at the same time entertain an audience, does provide an ongoing challenge!
Dan Bonsanti - Director, 14 Jazz Orchestra