Project Grand Slam
New York City, NY | Established. Jan 01, 2012 | INDIE
Music
Press
"Exhaustively innovative drumming" - NY Times
"His performances leave a lasting impression of his talent and his particular approach to music." - Drums, Etc.
"His virtuosity touches great depth, eliciting that special emotion from his listeners well beyond the mere consideration of his technical wizardry." - Batteur Magazine (France)
"To the extremely hip, tight yet edgy Robert Miller Group, Child's Play involves taking live improvisational excursions over basic trios and quartets in styles ranging from pop/rock to blues and straight ahead jazz. Any ensemble just as comfy around a gritty, funk driven Hendrix cover ('Fire") as it is invoking images of Miles ("All Blues"), Chick Corea and Charles Mingus clearly has a wild dance in mind. And yet for all the experimentation, bassist Miller and cohorts like speed demon pianist Haim Cotton are at their most provocative when stripping away the blowtorch and playing it ultracool and simple. As solid as Miller is, his real job is laying foundations for all the jamming. In a land where everything seems tailored for radio play, Miller's boys don't mind stretching the limits." - All Music Guide (Jonathan Widran)
"Miller's edgy electric bass work is perfectly suited for a program of brisk, rhythmically turbulent pieces featuring superlative trumpet work from the underrated Randy Brecker. Further enhancing this eclectic, but impressive instrumental date are moody vocals by Jon Lucien on Miles Davis.. ..All Blues.. and Ada Dyer on Jimi Hendrix..s ..Fire.." - The Los Angeles Times (Don Heckman)
"Robert Miller plays the bass with ease..This is just great jazz music!" - Strictly Jazz
"Appealing mainstream jazz from the electric bassist, joined by a stellar cast of musicians. Miller is miles ahead... !" - The Music Paper
"Miller's bass invigorates jazz standards, a few originals, and a boppish take on Jimi Hendrix's ..Fire... Guests include drummer Anton Fig and trumpeter Randy Brecker..." - Bass Player Magazine
"The Robert Miller Group has acquired rave reviews from many publications. Child's Play is over 55 minutes of high quality music. This disc is packed with progressive and soulful tracks that grab your attention until the end. The band is hard driving and reminiscent of the old masters. I highly recommend Child's Play by The Robert Miller Group!" - The Rensalear Polytechnic (Bill Heinrichs)
Discography
Project Grand Slam :
"Project Grand Slam is a spectacular mix of jazz, fusion and rock that combines melody, groove and great improvisation!" - Acid Jazz Magazine (Sept. 2007)
Robert Miller:
"Robert Miller is a bass player that's drawing raves these days!" – Pulse Magazine
"Miller is a passionate and skillful bass player, writing, recording and performing some of the tightest, ear-catching contemporary jazz currently on disc." – Bruce Pilato, Gannett News Service
"Miller's original tunes are first rate…Miller also brings excellent taste to his choice of music and talent." – JazzTimes
"Miller's bass invigorates!" - Bass Player Magazine
"To the extremely hip, tight yet edgy Robert Miller Group, Child's Play involves taking live improvisational excursions over basic trios and quartets in styles ranging from pop/rock to blues and straight ahead jazz. Any ensemble just as comfy around a gritty, funk driven Hendrix cover ('Fire") as it is invoking images of Miles ("All Blues"), Chick Corea and Charles Mingus, clearly has a wild dance in mind. And yet for all the experimentation, bassist Miller and his cohorts are at their most provocative when stripping away the blowtorch and playing it ultracool and simple. As solid as Miller is, his real job is laying foundations for all the jamming. In a land where everything seems tailored for radio play, Miller's boys don't mind stretching the limits." - Jonathan Widran, All Music Guide
"Miller's edgy electric bass work is perfectly suited for a program of brisk, rhythmically turbulent pieces" - Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times
"Robert plays the bass with ease. This is just great jazz music" (Four Stars) - Strictly Jazz
"Appealing mainstream jazz from the electric bassist, joined by a stellar cast of musicians. Miller is miles ahead..." - The Music Paper
"The Robert Miller Group has acquired rave reviews from many publications. Child's Play is over 55 minutes of high quality music. This disc is packed with progressive and soulful tracks that grab your attention until the end. The band is hard driving and reminiscent of the old masters. I highly recommend Child's Play by The Robert Miller Group." - Bill Heinrichs, Polytechnic
"The Robert Miller Group is certainly worth a listen!" – Chelsea Clinton News
Haim Cotton:
“Haim Cotton is a discovery!” – Yossi Charsonsky, Maariv
"…speed demon pianist Haim Cotton" - Jonathan Widran, All Music Guide
"Haim Cotton is a talented jazz pianist from Israel" - Bruce Pilato, Gannett News Service
"...the gifted hands of pianist Haim Cotton have been accompanying singers for 18 years" - Heidi Evans, Daily News
“Haim Cotton stands out and steals the show. Haim Cotton’s improvisations are thrilling!” – Zev Perry, Davar
“Haim Cotton is a dynamic pianist who sustained the voltage of the group and the audience both when he played the heads and throughout his improvisations. His solos demonstrate outstanding ability. His lightness was a dominant factor that swept behind it the entire group. Add to that his sense of humor and you get a superb jazz performer” - Baruch Ben Chorin, msnbc
"Music director/pianist Haim Cotton led an energetic trio that even Bobby Darin could dig" - Elizabeth Ahlfors, Cabaret Scenes
"The arrangements are artfully crafted by Haim Cotton and they lose none of the special Yemenite flavor, while incorporating some jazzy sequences" – Amazon.com CD Review - Ofra Haza At Montreux Jazz Festival
"The New School University Jazz and Contemporary Music Program in New York City has a number of talented pianists including Haim Cotton” – Dustin Garlitz, Jazztalent.com
Gilad Ronen:
"Israeli born saxophonist Gilad Ronen is one of the most promising young musicians in the United States. His musicality and broad perception of sound gave him a respected reputation in the Boston area, and across the U.S." - Boston Herald
"In addition to his high level of musicianship and instrumental skills Gilad also is a very original stylist, something that is not so common among younger improvisers. He brings a fresh voice to the groups he plays with, and is an able contributor when it comes to composing and organizing ensembles." - Gary Burton
"…A talented musician and a wonderful saxophonist who will one day make a major contribution in performance as well as in composition in the music world." - Julius P. Williams
Ron Thaler :
"…exhaustively innovative drumming" - NY Times
"Thaler's performances leave "a lasting impression of his talent and his particular approach to music" - Drums Etc.
"Thaler has a virtuosity that touches great depth, eliciting that special emotion from his listeners well beyond the mere consideration of his technical wizardry" - Batteur
Photos
Bio
The brainchild of acclaimed bassist/composer Robert Miller,
Project Grand Slam is a Jazz Rock Fusion band with a twist of Latin and Classic
Rock, which has earned over one million video views while defying genres,
languages and geographic boundaries. Gashouse Radio says: “Robert Miller’s
Project Grand Slam deserves mentioning as among the best musical acts produced
by American culture in the last quarter century!”
PGS has cultivated a fervent, worldwide fan base fueled in large
part by the Latin/Caribbean-infused title track from the band’s 4th studio
album, ‘The Queen’s Carnival’ (2016). No Depression praised the album as “a
uniquely affecting work…impossibly memorable!” With influences as diverse as
Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks, Afro-Cuban rhythms and Celtic folk, Robert has
delivered a sound like no other. In fact, one of Robert’s musical signatures is
to take Classic Rock songs such as Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Fire’ and The Kinks’ ‘You
Really Got Me’, and to completely reimagine them.
The band has shared the stage with such artists as Mindi Abair,
Boney James (twice), YES and Scott Weiland (formerly of Stone Temple Pilots),
and performed at major venues including the Bergen Performing Arts Center,
Ridgefield Playhouse, F.M. Kirby Performing Arts Center, Gramercy Theater, and
Garcia’s at The Capitol Theater, while also performing at a number of major
clubs including The Blue Note, The Cutting Room, and Iridium and continuing
monthly residencies at The Groove and Ashford and Simpson’s Sugar Bar.
In 2017 PGS will be performing at Music Festivals in Jamaica,
St. Kitts, New Jersey and Alabama in addition to a number of other dates.
The band’s forthcoming 5th album, “The PGS
Experience” – set to be released on June 30, 2017 – features 2x Grammy nominee
saxophonist Mindi Abair on two tracks. The CD consists of five new studio cuts
(three new tunes written by Robert and two new PGS-style covers arranged by
Robert of songs by Cream and Phish), plus four dynamic and powerful live concert
tracks of some of the band’s best known songs. Says Robert: “The new album
represents the best of PGS between the studio and the live tracks. We continue
to drive the line between jazz and rock like no other band.”
Robert originally formed PGS in 2007. In 2009 the band and
Robert also had a featured role in an episode of the hit NBC-TV series
“Lipstick Jungle” starring Brooke Shields and Kim Raver, with five of the
band’s tunes featured in the soundtrack and Robert having a speaking part.
The band has had several top radio singles – “The Captain Of Her
Heart” (ft. Judie Tzuke on vocals) from ‘Play’ (2008), “Catch You Later” and
the title song from ‘Spring Dance’ (2012), “Fire” and “New York City Groove”
(both ft. Kat Robichaud on vocals) from ‘Made In New York’ (2015), and “You
Really Got Me” (ft. Lucy Woodward on vocals) and the title track from ‘The
Queen’s Carnival’ (2016).
Says Robert: “What Iʼm trying to achieve now with PGS is to
combine the power and beat of rock with the improvisation of jazz in a new and
exciting way that takes the music to a whole other level.”
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