MILLER TIME AT MY FATHER’S PLACE — Friday, February 21, 2020 is the date for the debut Long Island-performance of Robert Miller’s Project Grand Slam at the legendary My Father’s Place. It’ll be an auspicious debut for the band and we sat with Miller to answer some finer points about the performance and some other things:
T2C: I think the new My Father’s Place at The Roslyn Hotel is an excellent venue for you. Were you ever at the original MFP?
Miller: The original My Father’s Place was one of the great rock ‘n roll clubs of the NYC area in the 70’s and 80’s. All the greatest artists played there, from Springsteen to The Police. For someone like me who grew up in Queens, NY, it was an incredible place and I went there many times. Kudos to Eppy who ran the original club and has now opened the successor. The new MFP is a major upgrade, now located at The Roslyn Hotel. I am very excited for PGS to play there. And it will be our first engagement on Long Island, where we have many fans.
T2C: Your current PGS 7 is my favorite album so far; what will the set list be for MFP? In case you wondered, our favorite track is the Dobie Gray song, “The ‘In’ Crowd.” Just an inspired choice.
Miller: Thanks. PGS 7 (our 7th studio album), might be our best one yet – or at least that’s what the critics have said. Every review has been 5 stars. I love variety in our music, and on PGS 7 the songs I composed run the gamut from hard rock to funk to Latin to ballads. Something for everyone but always keeping true to the PGS sound.
When I originally formed PGS in 2007 we were a contemporary jazz group playing mainly instrumental music. Since I re-formed the band in 2015 I’ve taken PGS in a very different direction. Now we are a true fusion of Jazz, Rock and Latin – with mainly vocal songs. Our singer is extraordinary, as is the rest of the band. I write and arrange all of our material, and one of my musical signatures has been to “reimagine” a classic 1960’s song in the PGS style on each album. I’ve done this so far with Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Who, The Kinks, and now on PGS 7 with Dobie Gray’s “The ‘In’ Crowd”. So yes, we will definitely include that one in the set when we perform at My Father’s Place!
T2C: I’m hoping to see you perform again at The Groove in NYC. Any surprises in-store?
Miller: The Groove in Greenwich Village is like our home base in NYC. It’s an intimate club with great sound and a great vibe. Over the next several months we will be playing two special Sunday evening gigs there on November 17 and December 8, both with a 5:30 pm start, as well as a Saturday night gig on January 11 with a 7:30 pm start. At these shows we will be debuting some of the new songs that I’ve written for our next album along with PGS songs that our fans have come to love.
T2C: Will PGS be performing at the upcoming APAP conference?
Miller: Yes. We are doing a Showcase at APAP, the annual music industry conference, also on January 11th at 5:40pm in the Regent Parlor room on the 2nd floor of the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel where the conference is held.
T2C: Tell us about the new upcoming PGS album.
Miller: I wrote all the songs for the next PGS album over the summer. The new songs further evolve the band’s music. At this stage of my career I feel that I’ve got no artificial boundaries on what I write, and I always want to push the envelope. So for example one of the songs I’ve written for the next album is what I call a cowboy jazz song. Another is a James Taylor inspired song called “Stockbridge Fanfare” – an ode to a particular small town that I love.
I like to release a new album each year. Here’s the schedule we’ve had: Made In New York (2015), The Queen’s Carnival (2016), The PGS Experience (2017), Trippin’ (2018 – which went to #1 on Billboard), Greetings From Serbia (Jan 2019 – our “live” album recorded at the Nisville Jazz Festival), and PGS 7 (June 2019). New music keeps the band fresh. Plus, I figure if The Beatles could release three albums in a year I can do at least one!
We will be recording the new album at the end of January at our favorite studio – EastSide Sound – which is owned and run by my friend Lou Holtzman, who has co-produced with me our last several albums. We will aim for releasing the new album in mid-2020.
T2C: Thank you … we’ll see you at My Father’s Place in February.