Soul Slaying British Vocalist Mica Millar Releases Her Latest "A Little Bit of Me"

 

Mica Millar- A Little Bit of Me - Golden Hour Music

I am not often smitten, but the British soul/jazz/R & B vocalist Mica (pronounced Meekah) Millar has grabbed me with her latest                  A Little Bit of Me. The album is self-produced on her label Golden Hour Music and will be released on June 5, 2026. Once you get your hands on this music, I predict you will find yourself repeatedly playing this one because you can't get this captivatingly compelling voice out of your head.

Born in Withington, a southern suburb of Manchester, England, this thirty-two-year-old chanteuse absorbed some of the best of soul, R & B, jazz, Motown, gospel and blues that was happening when she was as a young girl. She has taken all those influences-inspired by identifying with artists like Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Etta James, Tracy Chapman and Prince- added her own Manchester grit, and out comes something that’s rooted in the tradition but is all Millar’s own. Her father was a drummer, and her mom was involved in the public relations side of music. She clearly had the music in her DNA from an early age. This woman stands all of five feet five inches tall, but has a voice that projects elements of soul, emotional R & B, gospel and bluesy grit with aplomb and power. She once reflected

“I wasn’t really a very good singer when I was a kid. That’s the truth of the matter. But I had passion. I had a very loud voice. I could project for a very small person.”  (*)

That humble self-assessment doesn’t do justice to Millar’s talent. Her emotionally charged voice and the visceral connection she establishes with listeners is what makes this vocalist different.

Mica Millar at the Jazz FM Awards where she won "Soul Act of the Year 2022" Award.

In her early twenties, Millar was on her way to becoming a premier soul and R & B singer in Great Britain. By 2017, she was playing mostly local gigs around her hometown Manchester surrounding area including a short stint with the group Red Sky Noise. Initially she sang her own compositions solo and released some on social media where she started to be noticed. She released the sparse, piano accompanied single “My Lover” and “Not the First” with some backup vocals in 2017.  The Portishead-like single,  “The Defender,” was well received in 2018.  Mica Millar was an artist that clearly was a force to be reckoned with.

Then in January of January 2020, her health and career were seriously challenged by a terrible accident. While working on developing trampoline skills, she tragically took a terrible fall and broke her back. It was a serious, terrifying injury that required her back to be surgically pinned permanently with metal fasteners.  As with many spinal injuries, there is always the possibility of partial or full paralysis that loomed over the young singer. Millar always sang with strength and conviction as her voice projected from her diaphragm. A serious back injury could have ended the vocalist’s career just when her talent was being more widely recognized. Although paralysis was thankfully not part of her path, any physical impairment would require months of rest and dedicated rehabilitation.  

“My fracture from the accident was dangerously close to my spinal cord-I’m incredibly lucky not to be paralyzed.”  “One of my vertebrae was entirely crushed and I had metalwork put in. Not that long after the op’, while it is incredible pain I can’t describe, you are up to walk after a week or so, and they don’t want you to be laying down for long as your muscles deteriorate…” (*)

Her voice would be another X factor until she had a chance to rebuild her strength. Her career was temporarily at a standstill. Millar was forced to regroup, rebuild, and recover.

After battling the restrictions of Covid and her own arduous rehabilitation, Millar got a chance to work on her recovery album, Heaven Knows. The album was released in June of 2022, a statement that represented what she was feeling at that time. Thankful, hopeful and I’m back!  It was a hit! Millar was able to record it at Abbey Road Studios in London with the legendary Goeff Pesche and she assembled a great group of backing musicians. The album featured a strong Millar who composed and sang fourteen songs that proved this woman was back and in fine form. “Preacher Man,” a single from the album which showcased her gospel inspired talents, kept her music in front of her ever-building fan base as the album gained greater exposure and accolades.

Fast forward as the world anxiously awaits the release of Millar’s latest   A Little Bit of Me which is scheduled to be released on June 5, 2026, on her Golden House Music label. I have had this record for about a week, and I can’t tell you how much I have spun this one over, and over, and over again. I am mostly a jazz reviewer and for me to be captured by this soul/jazz/Motown/gospel/blues inspired record both delights and surprises me.  Millar’s voice is hypnotizing. She projects with strength and conviction a little like Sarah Vaughan did with jazz, a little gritty like Etta James did with blues or like Aretha did with Soul and  R & B , the listener gets grabbed and trapped into the web Millar spins with genuine joy and steadfast faith. If you are looking for a success story to cheer for, Mica Millar's return to full strength certainly meets that criteria.

There is something here for almost anyone who just wants to lay back with their headphones and soak it all in. The opening album title cut “A Little Bit of Me” has a soulful groove that has Millar and her excellent back up singers, Amber Kuti-Smith and Ellie Hulme, makes for easy listening. Millar voice is strong and soulful. The backing duo fit her voice like a custom made glove. “Times Like These” have some elements of neo-country, with Millar finding some country in her voice and with a twangy slide guitar line, probably by Adam Smith, that warms your heart, cozy up to a fire and grab your Tony Lama boots.

One of my favorites is the slow burning “Under My Skin” which features Millar’s expressive, soulful voice, backed by some stellar backing voices like Kuti-Smith and Hulme, and some excellent section horn work by Kenyon Harold (trumpet/arrangement), Tiivon Pennicott (saxes), and Hamilton Hardin (assorted horns) that complete the feel. This one smolders like a glowing ember. Sizzling, look but don’t touch!

The album continues to the funky “Warning Sign,” the rousing “It’s You” and the strutting, barrelhouse “The Broadway” with its horn section work and its “maybe later we can get undressed” line, all satisfying offerings.

Have a listen to Millar’s “A Little More Time for Love” with featuring some of Danielle Weatherspoon’s B3 organ lines and some of Pennicott’s baritone sax accents. The production and musicianship on this album is fantastic.

If you love well harmonized voices in the Motown tradition you can’t miss “If You Stay.”  Millar’s voice is stage front and beautifully present as the two backup voices plus Simon Dale, weave the harmony to perfection. Guitarist Smith adds tasty lines, as Jay White’s bass and Marcus Finnie’s trap work hold the pace with precision.

·   There is plenty more to enjoy, from “My Joy,” to “See You On the Other Side” and “Hard Times” or like the gospel driven “Oh Freedom,” but you need to find your favorites and get the music to get into your blood and percolate.  The album finishes with the sauntering soulful “Hand on My Soul” and poignant torch song “When You’re Gone.” It’s great to hear that Mica Millar is growing better and stronger and she delivers in spades with her latest A Little Bit of Me.  Guaranteed to bring some joy to your listening experience.

(((*) The quotes were taken from Steve Best's article "From Horror to Heaven-Meet Stunning Soul Diva Ms. Mica Millar" in  Music Republic Magazine which you can read here.) 

Charlie Hunter's Trio at Red Light Cafe Atlanta, GA

Carter McClean,  Charlie Hunter and Rob Dixon

Last night, February 8, 2017, the guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter and his trio brought his own style of blues, jazz, funk, ragtime and just plain fun music to the stage of Atlanta’s Red Light Café.  Located midway between Ansley Park, Midtown and Virginia Highlands, this unassuming, relaxed, crunchy little venue that seats about seventy was filled to capacity for this show.  It was good to see so many young faces in the audience and it was especially good to see a crossover artist of Hunter’s talent being warmly embraced by an Atlanta audience.

Hunter was born in Rhode Island and lived through high school in California where he took lessons from the great guitarist Joe Satriani. He moved to Paris when he was 18 where he is said to have learned the ropes of being a working musician. After returning to the States and performing in several groups as a sideman, he released his debut album the Charlie Hunter Trio in 1993 with Dave Ellis on tenor sax, Jay Lane on drums and Charlie playing a seven-string guitar. Hunter’s seven string guitar technique utilizes the top three strings as a bass guitar and the lower four strings as a standard guitar. He has developed a mind-blowing technique that allows him to play complex bass lines while alternately finger-picking melody and improvised solo lines and strumming rhythmic chording almost simultaneously. The guitarist had for a time experimented with a custom eight string guitar, but he has returned to a custom modified seven string guitar that suits his present multi-faceted style.

Hunter’s Let the Bells Ring On was one of my best of jazz 2015 picks in the Huffington Post and combined Hunter’s blues/funk/Americana approach with the trombone of Curtis Fowlkes and the drums of Bobby Previte. His latest album is amusingly titled Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth was released in 2016.

On this evening, Hunter was joined by the tenor saxophonist Rob Dixon and the drummer Carter
Mc Clean. Dixon has roots from Atlanta and went to Indiana University where he studied with David Baker. His resume included stints with bassist Rufus Reid, guitarist Fareed Haque and as a co-leader in a group with Wes Montgomery organist Melvin Rhyne.  McClean has worked with vibraphonist Roy Ayers, funk master Bernie Worrel-of Parliament Funkadelic fame- and Fred Wesley, a James Brown alumnus.  He also was the pit drummer for the Broadway show The Lion King.

The group had a telepathic connection as they ran through two sets of head-bopping music. They started the first set with Charlie’s “These People” from his album Let the Bells Ring On, with Dixon’s tenor taking up the part played on the album by Fowlkes bellowing trombone. Dixon had a deep, smoothly burnished tone that at times reminded me of Stanley Turrentine. Hunter for his part just amazed the audience with his dexterity and unfailing musicianship. He laid down some bass lines that for bass players would be impressive enough, but then he added a filigree of finger picked melodies on top of it all.  His technique is a descendant of the pioneering work of the great guitarist Joe Pass, an obvious influence, who would also play both bass and melody coincidentally. But whereas Pass limited his accompaniment to walking bass lines -admittedly on a six-string guitar- and impressive chordal comp work, Hunter has extended the complexity of his bass lines and incorporated a delicate finger picking approach unlike Pass’ pick and finger driven style. Hunter also incorporates some rhythmic strumming that has a flamenco feel to it and occasionally uses a delicate touch to produce harmonic overtones similar to virtuoso Lenny Breau.

Charlie Hunter

On this evening, the trio stuck to a mostly blues or blues/funk format that was expertly executed and grabbed the crowd with its accessibility, authenticity and emotional appeal. Hunter’s facility on his guitar at extracting the rawness emblematic of the old blues masters was palpable and audience approved. The trio ventured into the fusion-esque “Pho-Kus-On-Ho-Hokus” from the Let the Bells Ring On album and interplay between Dixon and Hunter was tight and crisp. Hunter and company often brought the song to an extreme tempest only to break abruptly into a calm oasis of sensitivity. A version of Terrence Trent D’Arby’ s funky “Wishing Well” was a crowd pleaser with McClean using a steel plate, xylophone-like apparatus on top of his tom to create an interesting effect. Hunter, who has a penchant for using period Americana pieces, then played a solo version of a classic Ink Spots 1941 tune “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire.” His sensitivity with this loping waltz was a high-light as he mouthed a few verses to his own sensitive accompaniment.

After a brief intermission, the band returned for a second set which started out featuring Dixon on a fiery saxophone solo, this time sounding a little like Lenny Pickett. Another nasty blues followed before Hunter went away from his blues-centric playbook and spontaneously started to play a Caribbean riff that had the band grooving in a mode reminiscent of Sonny Rollins “St.  Thomas.” The set was climaxed by a funky version of Hall and Oates “I Can’t Go for That” which had the whole audience grooving to the catchy song and which Hunter made into his own vehicle of expression.

For those who attended this show there was no lack of excitement and it was good to see the Red Light Café able to successfully bring in this kind of top quality entertainment into a neighborhood Atlanta area haunt. Let's hope this is the strat of a trend.

Here is the Charlie Hunter Trio from a live performance in NYC on December 30, 2016 with Carter McClean on drums and Curtis Fowlkes on trombone.

Graffiti: JD Allen's Art of the Saxophone Jazz Trio

JD Allen's Graffiti Savant SCD 2147

Forty-three year old tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen is a man on the rise. He was named as Downbeat’s Rising Star in 2011 and has matured nicely in the succeeding  four years. Witness his latest creation Graffiti ,  a tour de force of purpose and inventiveness. With this album Mr. Allen has developed a much clearer vision for himself and his sound. Together with the propulsive drums of Rudy Royston and the rooted bass of Greg August, the music sounds like it harkens back to the past while pointing us forward to  the next step in the evolution of the jazz saxophone trio. The album is both a celebration of form and measured free improvisation.

JD Allen (photo credit unknown)

From the opening salvo of Royston’s exploding drums to the clarion voice of Mr. Allen’s tenor on “Naked,” Allen does indeed bare his musical soul. His fluent grasp of the language  makes for an immediately visceral connection with the listener, a free form cry that one can still relate to by virtue of its recognizable form.

“Jawn Henry” is an inspirational tune based on the folktale of John Henry the Steel Driving’ Man.  On this song Mr. August’s plucky  bass provides a low register respite from the dynamic dueling of Mr. Allen and Mr. Royston. The two seem to be musically bent on recreating the man versus machine theme of the folk tale’s legendary duel of strength and they do so effectively.

Allen composed all of the songs on this album and described his intention for each one in the liner notes. On “Third Eye” he writes  “The saxophone and bass play rubato while the drums have the option of playing against type.”  To this end we find Mr. August establishing the heartbeat of the song  . Mr. Royston playing against the tempo, as he so often does, with Mr. Allen left to find his own ground either with the tempo or as a counterpoint to what Mr. Royston is doing. Through it all Mr. Allen returns  to a plaintive call that seems to unify the whole for the listener.

The song “Graffiti,” as the title suggests, is a potpourri of color, rhythm and texture much like the radical, free form of wall art the name implies.  With the short repeated line from Allen’s saxophone as the only basis, Royston pulses, bobs and weaves like a fighter in the ring. August reaches for some grounding  beat for the group to hold onto and Allen explores the color palette, disciplined but carefree. Allen’s tenor has an implied sense of earnestness that is not something that can be contrived.

My favorite piece is the loping “G-dspeed , B, Morris“ perhaps because its melody is memorable and  heartfelt. August is particularly effective in anchoring the tune’s march-like cadence as Mr. Allen plays between the bass lines with an easy swagger that is laid back and mellow.  It is a dedication to the late Butch Morris who originated Conduction, a form of structured free form  improvisation  that allowed the musical conductor to direct an improvising group through the use of his baton and actions. Perhaps this association with Mr. Morris is the guiding light that has allowed Mr. Allen to create this delicate balance between the form and the formless, a  balance he navigates so expertly on this album? 

Butch Morris (photo credit unknown)

The economical “Little Mack” is buoyed by the walking bass line of Mr. August who keeps the pace of this blues right where it should be. Mr. Royston lays back on this one,  punctuating the air here and there with a rim shot or a splash of his cymbal as Mr. Allen  swoons over the melody with succinct clarity. 

On “Sonny Boy”  Mr. August’s bass is again the lead, repeating a motif that allows Mr. Allen to play an ascending and descending line harmonically over the top.   

On the liner notes Mr. Allen says about “Indigo (Blue Like)” Sometimes I feel like the most avant garde thing a jazz musician could do today is to try to straight up and down swing.”  My sentiments exactly. Swing he does with Mr. August and Mr. Royston keeping the tempo as Mr. Allen rides above it, simmering in a slow burn on his saxophone. His sound is uncluttered, heartfelt and swinging

“Disambiguation”  is another take on the aforementioned “Jawn Henry,” a seemingly endless source of  inspiration for Mr. Allen. This time he does so with an openness of form that uses only the barest implication of the original melody to inspire the ensemble improvisation Allen is trying to achieve. Royston and August are free to roam the periphery of the melody finding their own way. This leaves Mr. Allen in the role of foil, responding to the free form dynamic created by his band mates.  Clearly there is trust with this triumvirate of musicians, co creators of this ensemble sound.

With Graffiti Mr. Allen and company have created a body of music  that leaves a lasting impression  and hopefully promises more to come.