Charlie Miller: Peace Horn CD release
By Polly Hansen - New Orleans Writer
From New Orleans to New York around the world and back - Charlie Miller has returned home... and he has produced one of the most in-depth descriptions of New Orleans ever created. He does it with a solo trumpet. Not just a single recording - a full album of original songs, composed and recorded by this exceptional musician who knows New Orleans like only a native can feel it. When was the last time you heard a full album of just solo trumpet? No backup, no musical reinforcement, nothing but the sheer talent of a man who loves his music and has the guts to put it all out there by itself. It's not been done before. The full soul of the city is expressed in this unique album ... its blues, its funkiness and all of its melancholy and joy ... captured! Charlie's music credentials are impressive enough - Thelonious Monk, Chuck Mangione and Dr. John to name just a few. But it's the essence that earned those credentials that make this recording and all of his performances - solo or ensemble - something that draws a smiling "Oh ya" from the true music aficionado. The CD, "Charlie Miller and Peace Horn" is a collection that fights being pigeonholed because it nudges "unique" into a different corner. Miller says he didn't start out to make a solo album, it just happened. You're going to enjoy everything he has to say about New Orleans, through his trumpet (and flute), in this one-of-a-kind recording. Miller is one of those incredible musicians that the legends of New Orleans music are all about; that special brand of talent that the City likes to call its 'national treasure'- for the world.
