Nicola Miller
Livings Things

Out: December 13, 2024 on Cacophonous Revival Recordings (CRR-025 — LP/CD/DL)
Genres: Experimental/ Avant Jazz
Nicola Miller — WEB
Cacophonous Revival Recordings — BANDCAMP

The compositions on Canadian saxophonist and composer Nicola Miller‘s debut album for Cacophonous Revival Recordings employ ingredients that will feel familiar to curious-eared listeners, but she situates these elements in disorienting and utterly personal configurations. 

The all-star ensemble she has assembled includes Frank Gratkowski: Bass Clarinet and Alto Saxophone, Doug Tielli: Trombone, Saw and Voice through tube, Nicholas D’Amato: Upright Bass and Nick Fraser: Drums. 

Her affinity for jazz is irrefutable even though the music’s overall thrust is decidely experimental and abstract. One can certainly its pulse in the album’s more driving passages, such as on “Night Crawlers,” yet it’s audible even there in the more abstract pieces. “Buffleheads,” for instance, intersperses slow smeared unison lines between textural detours in something that vaguely recalls “Lonely Woman” while also nodding in the general direction of Wandelweiser composers. Some pieces have clear solos and impassioned spontaneous exchanges, but she’s also not afraid to set the music adrift through long moments that refuse to disclose the direction they’re headed. 

Living Things is an imaginative and mature debut that will no doubt leave listeners curious to hear what Miller will produce next.

COVERAGE:
Year-End — Donos Kulturalny
List — Upcoming Release, A Closer Listen
List — Darryl Sterdan, Next Week in Music | Dec. 9-15 • The Long List: 275 Releases On The Way, Tinnitist
List — Steve Smith,For The Record: November 29, 2024, Night After Night
List — Steve Smith,For The Record: December 13, 2024, Night After Night
List — Jazz In Family
List — Upcoming Albums DECEMBER 2024 DICIEMBRE, Holy Noise
News/ List — Kerry Doole, New & Upcoming Canadian Albums: Roy Woods, Alex Henry Foster, Menno Versteeg & More, Billboard
News/ List — Kerry Doole, New & Upcoming Canadian Albums: Kandle, Jesse Mac Cormack and More, Billboard
News — Mixing
News — GPoint Audio
News — Verhoovens Jazz
Social Media — Donos Kulturalny
Article — Lawrence Peryer,Nicola Miller Lets Nature Write the Music’s Score, The Tonearm
Article — Lawrence Peryer, Saxophonist Nicola Miller Finds Musical Inspiration in Wild Nova Scotia, That Canadian Magazine
Review — Matty Bannond, Jazz Journal
Review — Allan Sommer, salt-peanuts*
Review — Stuart Broomer, The WholeNote
Review — David Reed, Belleville Intelligencer
Review — Tom Haugen, Take Effect
Review — Mike Jurkovic, All About Jazz
Review — Ivan Rod
Review — Nitestylez.de
Review/ Round-up — Phil Freeman, Ugly Beauty, Stereogum
Review/ Round-up — LamontPaul, Outsideleft Week in Music the Campaign for Christmas in July begins here, Outsideleft
Review/ Round-up — Tomáš S. Polívka, Uloveno na síti: Šťastný nový jazzový rok, Český Rozhlas (Jazz)
Review/ Round-up — Gianluca Diana, Gli Ultrasuonati 128, Il Manifesto
Round-up — Frank P. Eckert, Motherboard: Januar 2025, Groove.de
Round-up —ORGAN: Albums, more albums – Cringe Fantasy are some kind of Lovely Little Girls flavoured supergroup, Nicola Miller’s experimental sax, Kampira’s A Dancefloor in Ndola, Vancouver’s Unit:187 are back, We Hate You Please Die, something raw from extreme metal flower pickers Botanist and…, Organ Zine
Round-up — Staff Picks – November & December 2024, The Attic
Round-up — New releases Dec ’24 – Jan ’25, M-O, Jazz Journal
Round-up — Albums en ribambelle #32, janvier 2025, Culture Jazz
Round-up — Ian MacKenzie, Rabble Without A Cause, March 26: New Releases, Jazz On The Rideau
Chart — AMN Picks of the Week (December 19, 2024), Avant Music News
Chart — The Moderns, Friday Five (December 13, 2024)
Social Media — Clair et obscur
Social Media — The Attic / Album of the Day
Podcast — The Moderns, Ep. 345
Podcast — World of Jazz #721
Podcast — One Man’s Jazz #1389
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 10 Jazz, CKUT (April 15, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 30 — CFRU (April 15, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 30 — CFRU (April 8, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 10 Jazz, CKUT (April 1, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — !earshot Weekly Jazz Top 10, #1 (National) (April 1, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 30 — CFRU (April 1, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 30 — CFRU (March 25, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 30 — CFRU (March 18, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 30 — CFRU (March 11, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 10 — Jazz, CJSW (March 5, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 10 — Jazz, CJSW (January 29, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 10 — Jazz, CJSW (January 22, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 30, CJSW (January 16, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 10 — Jazz, CJSW (January 16, 2025)
Radio/ Chart — Weekly Top 10 — Jazz, CJSW (January 9, 2025)
Radio — Cul-De-Sac, CJRU (November 30, 2025)
Radio — Cul-De-Sac, CJRU (November 27, 2025)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (September 4, 2025)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (March 27, 2025)
Radio — Rabble Without A Cause, CKCU (March 26, 2025)
Radio — Ear of the Behearer, PBS (March 25, 2025)
Radio — Rabble Without A Cause, CKCU (March 12, 2025)
Radio — Icarus Radio #640, Urgent FM (March 5, 2025)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (March 25, 2025)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (March 18, 2025)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (March 11, 2025)
Radio — Humanoid Radio, CFRU (March 4, 2025)
Radio — Ear of the Behearer, PBS (March 4, 2025)
Radio — Vocal Cords, CJSW (February 24, 2025)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (February 20, 2025)
Radio — Motte and Bailey, CJSW (February 12, 2025)
Radio — Icarus Radio, Urgent FM (February 12, 2025)
Radio — Dr. Sushi’s Free Jazz BBQ, WMSE (February 11, 2025)
Radio — Quaaludes and Preludes, KWVA (January 30, 2025)
Radio — Self Help Radio, KBOO (January 28, 2025)
Radio — 80lb Cardstock, XRay FM (January 28, 2025)
Radio — Elysian Fields, KXCI (January 24, 2025)
Radio — David Dalle, CKCU (January 23, 2025)
Radio — Floating Head of Zsa Zsa, WRUV (January 21, 2025)
Radio — Co w jazzie piszczy, Jazzkultura (January 15, 2025)
Radio — Breaking The Tethers, CJSW (January 13, 2025)
Radio — Vocal Cords, CJSW (January 13, 2025)
Radio — Radio State, UMFM (January 13, 2025)
Radio — NAISA Radio — Music Or Noise? (January 11, 2025)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (January 9, 2025)
Radio — Du Vanguard au Savoy, CHOQ (January 9, 2025)
Radio — Jazzmanía, Radio UAQ 89.5 (January 2, 2025)
Radio — Floating Head of Zsa Zsa, WRUV (December 31, 2024)
Radio — Breaking The Tethers, CJSW (December 30, 2024)
Radio — Jazz Disturbance (December 23, 2024)
Radio — Jazz Amuck, CKUT (December 20, 2024)
Radio — Journey Into Mystery, KMNO (December 19, 2024)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (December 19, 2024)
Radio/ Feature — Introvert Extract, WAYO (December 13, 2024)
Radio — Feast On This, KOWS (December 11, 2024)
Radio — Electric Sense, CIUT (December 11, 2024)
Radio — Popule Knul Meus Quid Feci Tibi?, KWVA (December 5, 2024)
Radio — Flight Risk, KOPN (December 4, 2024)
Radio — On The Corner, XRay FM (November 29, 2024)