Miles Black

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Miles Black is a jazz pianist and New Age musician residing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1]

[edit] Biography

Miles Black was born April 13, 1966 in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada. He started playing piano at age 12. He studied jazz and classical music with George Essihos and began performing professionally at age 14 in Victoria, B.C., with various jazz and R & B groups as pianist, arranger and composer.

By the age of 18, Black had worked as a music therapist, musical director of the C.A.S.T. Theatre Company, guitarist, bassist, saxophonist, vocalist and scoring films in the Victoria and Vancouver Island area.

In 1987, Black moved to Vancouver and has since performed with Glenda Rae, Ann Mortifee, Shari Ulrich, Maynard Ferguson, Valdy, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Slide Hampton, Mark Murphy, Rodney Whittaker, Dee Daniels, Carl Anderson, Christine Duncan, Skywalk (as keyboardist since 1989), Oliver Gannon, Kenny Colman, Carl Allen, the Mike Allen Quartet, The Robin Shier Quintet, Almeta Speaks, The Paul Horn Band (USSR Tour 1988), Wildroot Orchestra, Chuck Israels, Jim Ferguson, Brad Turner, Soulstream, Sam Masich, Rob Frayne, Fraser MacPherson, Max Roach, Claudio Roditi, Jeff Hyslop and Ruth Nichols, Lew Tabackin, Houston Person, Gaye Delorme, The Bill Clark Sextet, Von Freeman, Ernie Krivda, Johnny Frigo, Martha Lorin and has played with many other popular, established artists locally and abroad.

Black taught piano at Capilano College in Vancouver from 1990 to 1996, and toured across Canada in 1996 with his own quartet featuring the drummer Claude Ranger.

Black also played piano and keyboards for musical theatre and recording sessions for television and film.

Black has also experience producing music instructional software (complete with transcripts), including The Jazz Pianist Levels One & Two, The New Age Pianist, The Children's Pianist, The Modern Jazz Pianist, Jazz Piano Masterclass, and an Oscar Peterson instructional CD ROM.

Miles Black is currently a pianist in Vancouver and in Canada.

Black has a long standing composition/performance relationship with West Coast vocalist/lyricist Glenda Rae, and together have written over 350 songs, and recorded several albums.

In addition to Black's ongoing collaborations with local and visiting singers and instrumentalists, he has teamed up with Juno Award winning saxophonist and jazz flute player, Tom Keenlyside to create their jazz ensemble, Altered Laws. The quartet performs regularly and Black and Keenlyside are currently writing and producing new material to accompany albums The Outsiders and Live at the Cellar (both released 2005).