James Miley

Composer and Jazz Pianist James Miley joined the faculty of Willamette University in the fall of 2009 as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies.

He was awarded the prestigious IAJE/ASCAP Gil Evans Fellowship in Jazz Composition in 2004, was a featured composer at the inaugural International Jazz Composers Symposium in Tampa, FL, in March, 2006, and made his Carnegie Hall debut as a composer with After the Water, the Clouds (2006), premiered by the James Logan Wind Symphony under the direction of Ramiro Barrera on May 29, 2006. He has been commissioned by many of the top university and high school jazz and wind ensembles in the nation, most recently for the California All-State Honor Jazz Band, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the Monterey Next Generation Festival. He has appeared as a guest composer and director at numerous festivals and universities throughout the country over the past decade, including the University of Kansas, University of Michigan, University of Nevada, University of Oregon, Drury University, CSU Northridge, California Institute of the Arts, and the Reno, Santa Barbara, San Joaquin, Fort Lewis and Monterey Jazz Festivals. His catalog of compositions and arrangements is available through Walrus Music and UNC Jazz Press.

Recent recordings include Dan Cavanagh's Jazz Emporium Big Band ‘s Pulse (OA2 Records, 2008) and Altered's Angular (House of Drumming, 2008), along with upcoming releases by the jazz collective BUG (with saxophonist Peter Epstein) and classical trumpet virtuoso John Adler, both available on Seattle's highly acclaimed Origin Records in late 2009. Current and future recording projects include an electronic duo with his brother, Los Angeles-based guitarist Jeff Miley, and a large scale recording of his music for big band scheduled for the summer of 2010. He is also a founding member of the composer collective ECHO, premiering his composition "Necessary Angels" for piano trio, electric guitar and human beatboxer in April, 2009.

Dr. Miley holds degrees from Occidental College (B.A., 1989), the University of Arizona (M.Mus., 1994) and the University of Oregon (D.M.A., 1999), in addition to graduate-level coursework at the California Institute of the Arts and the University of California, Santa Barbara. His principal teachers in composition have included Richard Grayson, Jeff Stolet, Daniel Asia, Robert Kyr and Harold Owen, along with Steve Owen, Gary Versace, David Roitstein and Larry Koonse in Jazz Studies. In addition to directing the Willamette University Jazz Ensemble, Dr. Miley's teaching and research interests include composition, improvisation, orchestration and arranging, aesthetics, popular music history and creative applications of technology in music.

A California native, James Miley previously held appointments at Virginia Tech, Cuesta College (San Luis Obispo, CA), California State University, Fresno and Albion College (Albion, MI). He lives in Salem with his wife and two very happy, very loud children.