Denver jazz great Ron Miles spoke his mind, but not with his words – with his music. And that music spoke to his strength, his pride in who he was, and what his place in the world was.
“What his music said more than anything was this: ‘I am very proud to be a Black man,’ ” said the intentionally lower-cased local actor and director donnie l. betts.
Miles, considered to be one of the finest improvisers of his generation, died Tuesday at his home in Denver of complications from a rare blood disorder. The internationally renowned composer, trumpeter, cornet player, educator and collaborator was 58. Miles, a Grammy Award nominee, was both a staple of the Denver jazz scene and highly sought throughout the world for his singular sound.
“This is a major loss to Denver, and to the world of music,” betts said.
There was a distinctive loneliness to Miles’ music that was completely belied by his warmth as a person, said longtime Denver jazz journalist and KBCO radio personality Bret Saunders. Miles was an integral part of creating what Saunders describes as “a lonely, echoey Colorado aesthetic in improvised music.” He called Miles “a voice in the wilderness whose music evoked the wide-open spaces of Colorado.”
And yet, when Miles spied Saunders after playing in the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tenn., “Ron rushed across the stage to give me a hug,” said Saunders. Whatever existential, cool distance that might exist in Miles’ music simply did not exist in Miles the man.
“He was an exemplary musician, but he was also a genuinely exemplary person,” Saunders said Wednesday as word of Miles’ death brought tributes from around the nation.
Ron Miles. Courtesy Metropolitan State University of Denver.
“Ron was such a gifted artist,” Blue Note Records President Don Was said in a statement. “He was a sweet, soulful man whose character was reflected in every exquisite note he played. … He will live forever through the music he’s left behind for us.”
Miles released 11 universally praised records including “Heaven” (2002), “Quiver” (2012) and “I Am a Man” (2017). He was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2017, and received a Grammy Award nomination the next year for his work on Joshua Redman’s “Still Dreaming.”
“Miles has made an indelible mark not only on the Centennial State, but on the global jazz world as well,” it says on Miles’ Hall of Fame profile.
Miles realized a personal dream and creative milestone in 2020 when he made his Blue Note Records debut with “Rainbow Sign,” a record written in tribute to his father, Fay Dooney Miles, who died in 2018. The recording featured an all-star quintet with guitarist Bill Frisell, pianist Jason Moran, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Brian Blade.
The Oriental Theater paid tribute to the late Ron Miles with its marquee on Wednesday.
“These are songs I wrote as my dad was transitioning from here to passing on,” Miles said at the time. Saunders says flatly: “I genuinely think that was the best jazz album released in the world in 2020.”
Miles was born May 9, 1963, in Indianapolis and moved to Denver with his family at age 11. Here, he soon began playing trumpet and studying both classical and jazz music. His life path was fixed as a member of the jazz combo at Denver East High School, where he played under the tutelage of band director Jerry Noonan, and alongside future Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle, himself a gifted alto saxophonist.
Denver East has graduated a remarkable number of internationally acclaimed artists in several disciplines, including Frisell. Five-time Grammy Award winner Dianne Reeves. Philip Bailey of the band Earth, Wind & Fire. Bandleader Paul Whiteman. Singer-songwriter Judy Collins. “There is just something to be said about a creative community that ferments such cultural greatness over 70 years,” Saunders said.
Ron Miles' death 'is a major loss to Denver, and to the world of music.' Courtesy Colorado Music Hall of Fame
Miles attended the University of Denver to study electrical engineering. There, he took a jazz improvisation class taught by pianist Ron Jolly, who encouraged the young horn player to pursue a career as a full-time musician. Miles “was the most talented student I ever taught,” said Jolly. Miles changed his major and went on to study music at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Manhattan School of Music. He released his first album, “Distance for Safety,” in 1987. He gained national exposure performing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Ginger Baker and the Bill Frisell Quartet.
Miles balanced his musical life with his career as a professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, where he headed the Jazz Studies program as a longtime “Musician in Residence.”
“Miles established himself as one of today’s most prominent jazz musicians, all while teaching the next generation of musicians at the university for more than 34 years,” Metropolitan State University said in a statement. “His music and educational contributions are truly legendary, as he has left a lasting legacy.”
One of his many hundreds of impacted students is KUVO jazz host Erik Troe, who studied at Metro State from 1998-2000. “A lifelong educator, innovative player and writer, and such a remarkably calm and wise and kind person, too,” Troe posted to his Facebook page. “I know dozens of people who originally got into music after attending his Jazz Appreciation and History classes – turning an elective college course into a life-changing experience.”
Another is drummer Dustin Arndt, who graduated from Metro in 2006. "Every day I got to go to my combo in college was a great day," he said. "Every day, I try to live my life according to the things I learned from him."
Miles once said that, for him, “Music seems to come from a need to tap into some emotional thing that’s going on in my life. That’s what generates the music. Hopefully, music is finding a way to hear your truth in the music as opposed to your finding MY truth in the music.
“I think the role of the creative artist is to always be true to your vision and accept that your story is unique. We are all unique people. The way that we tell the story of humanity is a way that no one else can tell it.”
Miles is survived by his wife, Kari Miles; daughter, Justice Miles; son, Honor Miles; mother, Jane Miles; brother, Johnathan Miles; sisters Shari Miles-Cohen and Kelly West; and half-sister Vicki M. Brown.