Being Music: The Art of Open Improvisation

Mark Miller

A saxophone, flute, and shakuhachi player, Mark Miller has toured and performed with a wide variety of improvising artists including Valerie Carter, Tuck and Patti, Paul McCandless, R. Carlos Nakai, Nawang Khechog, and Allen Ginsberg. His recordings include World Without Cars with Art Lande, named a top ten album of the year by Cadence Magazine, and the Grammy-nominated album Illumination, with pianist Peter Kater. A Zen practitioner for over 20 years, Mark is a Professor of Music at Naropa University, a leader in the international mindfulness movement. He views improvisation as a contemplative practice—an expression of individual presence and creative community. Mark holds an M.F.A. degree in jazz performance from California Institute of the Arts and currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, Dana Walker. 

Art Lande is one of the most versatile and skilled improvisers in the world. As a Grammy-nominated pianist and composer, he has performed and recorded with many of the leading jazz musicians of the modern era including Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Steve Swallow, Kenny Wheeler, Woody Shaw, Sheila Jordan, Jan Garbarek, David Liebman, Anthony Braxton, Randy and Michael Brecker, and Fred Hersch and Clark Terry, among others. His discography includes three recordings on the ECM label with Rubisa Patrol, critically acclaimed albums with Gary Peacock, Mark Isham, and Paul McCandless, and dozens of others. His solo piano recordings include Hardball (nominated for a Grammy Award), The Eccentricities of Earl Dant, and Friday the Thirteenth (the music of Thelonious Monk).