Natasha Miller

EAST COAST:

WAER Syracuse, NY
WBFO Buffalo, NY
WEAA Baltimore, MD
WESM Princess Anne, MD
WGMC North Greece, NY
WICN Worcester, MA
WVPR Burlington, VT
WWUH West Hartford, CT
WICB Ithaca, NY
WMUA Boston, MA
WPFW Washington D.C.
WGDR Plainfield, VY
WFNX Boston, MA
Voice of America New York, NY
WDIY Bethelehem, PA
WLIU Southampton, NY

SOUTH:

KABF Little Rock, AR
KRTU San Antonio, TX
KTSU Houston, TX
WFSS Fayetteville, NC
WSHA Raleigh, NC
WUAL Tuscaloosa, AL
WWOZ New Orleans, LA
WTJU Charlottesville, VA
WFHC Henderson, TN
WDCE Richmond, VA
WHCJ Savannah, GA
WDNA Miami, FL
WUSF Tampa, FL


MIDWEST:

KMUW Wichita, KS
WGLT Normal, IL
WDBM East Lansing, MI
WWSP Stevens Point, WI
WSIE Edwardsville, IL
KDHX St. Louis, MO
WBGU Bowling Green, OH
KIOS Omaha, NE

WEST COAST:

KAJX Aspen, CO
KCSM San Mateo, CA
KEWU Cheney, WA
KFSR Fresno, CA
KJZZ Phoenix, AZ
KUNM Albuquerque, NM
KMFB Mendocino, CA
KSDS San Diego, CA
KMUD Redway, CA
KBOO Portland, OR
KRZA Alamosa, CO
KSVY Sonoma, CA
KZYX Boonville, CA
KPLU Tacoma, WA
KCME Colorado Springs, Co
KWVA Eugene, OR


NATIONAL SYNDICATION:
JazzWorks
Jazz After Hours
Spirit of Jazz
Live365.com - Jazz At The Beach

OVERSEAS:
Aeropuerto Jazz Café Spain
Jazz&Blues Tour The Netherlands
UN Radio 98,5 FM Colombia
Jazz & Bossa Nova Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Radio Adelaide, Australia
CKUW Winnipeg, Canada
Clombian Public Radio, Colombia
Jazz With Brian Parker, Jazz Radio, Spain


- Radio List

For her third album, Bay Area singer Natasha Miller devotes the eleven tracks to the songs of Bobby Sharp. The songwriter achieved his most notable success with “Unchain My Heart,” popularized by Ray Charles in 1961 and later by Joe Cocker. Sharp was a New York songwriter who composed from 1946 through 1978. After having recovered from a drug addiction problem, Sharp relocated to San Francisco where he spent eight years as a drug counselor. Upon hearing Miller sing, Sharp contacted the vocalist, and I Had A Feelin' is the result of their labors.
The album is structured to showcase ballad performances on the first six tracks and provides the remainding songs as mid- and uptempo compositions. Miller's delivery on the first five tunes is that of a smoky jazz cafe in an afterhours performance reminiscent of the cool 1950s jazz vocal genre. Included in this section is the aforementioned “Unchain My Heart,” which is forever associated with the rhythmic Ray Charles version. Natasha Miller proves that the melody and lyrics are perfectly adaptable to the change in tempo. In other words, if you suspend any preconceived notions about how you feel the song should sound, you can discover a new love ballad. These other opening tracks, “My Magic Tower,” ”Everlastin' Blues” (featuring a funky Hammond accompanyment), and “I Return to the Sea,” plus the title tune, are all well written. Songwriter Sharp makes a vocal appearance on “Monica.”
The pace picks up with the humorous “Things Are Breakin' Like Rocks,” followed by “Big Storyteller” and “A Real Swingin' Affair,” which insert an eleven minute swinging segment. Miller closes with two more ballads that feature a string quartet on “Madame Heartache” and the poignant lyrics of “What Diff'rence Does It Make.” In fact, the label (Poignant) strikes me as being an aptly named vehicle for this singer. - allaboutjazz.com

The smile never left veteran songwriter Bobby Sharp's face Thursday night at the Vic in Santa Monica.
Leaning forward in his chair, he listened intently to singer Natasha Miller, following every twist and turn of the music, rocking gently with the rhythms. Occasionally, he silently mouthed the words, nodded approvingly at a particularly poignant phrase, and greeted the conclusion of each number with warm, enthusiastic applause.
The songs were familiar to Sharp and Miller, but not to the audience. With the exceptions of a Miller original and Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things," every number on the program was written by Sharp at least 30 years ago. And with the further exception of a single Sharp tune, each was being heard live by a Southland audience for the first time. That exception was the Sharp song that became a Ray Charles hit in the early '60s, "Unchain My Heart."
Miller sang the engaging material with sensitivity and insight, her cool musicality and clear articulation illuminating the unfamiliar pieces. In her renderings, songs ranging from the whimsical "A Real Swingin' Affair" and "Things Are Breakin' Like Rocks" to the touching "At Midnight" and "My Magic Tower" became instantly memorable.
What was even more remarkable was the story behind the music. Before the set, Sharp and Miller, both residents of the Bay Area city Alameda, outlined the unlikely circumstances surrounding their collaborative friendship.
It began nearly two years ago when Sharp, now 79, heard Miller interviewed on San Francisco jazz radio station KCSM-FM. Liking what he heard, he looked up her number and called.
"He said, 'I'm a songwriter and I'd like to know if you're interested in looking at some of my songs,' " Miller, who is in her early 30s, recalled at the Vic. "I said, 'Sure,' skeptically. I've had offers like this before and people hand me really strange songs."
And when he added during the phone conversation that Miller might know one of his songs, she thought, "Yeah, right, buddy."
But her response shifted gears quickly when he said, "It's called 'Unchain My Heart.' "
"My heart stopped for a moment," Miller said, "and I just thought, 'Oh, my goodness. I'd better check this out.' "
A few days later, when Miller received a package of lead sheets and cassettes from Sharp, she realized that she had been presented with musical lightning in a bottle. Although she was in the late stages of pregnancy, she was determined to find an appropriate showcase for the material.
In the first week of March 2003, her pregnancy ended tragically, with the death of her son, Aidan, and a near-fatal illness for Miller.
"When I got home," she said, "I tried to sing and nothing would come out. And I just thought I'd never sing again, and I didn't care. How could I, after what had happened to me? But I was also thinking, 'How can I let Bobby down? He's just handed me these lovely texts and melodies and chord voicings.'
"So I started working on 'My Magic Tower' and finally performed it in a concert, with Bobby in the audience. And that was really what helped to bring me back."
The songs' role as an impetus to help restore Miller's health was mirrored by the manner in which they revived Sharp's career as a songwriter and singer — a career Sharp had thought was irrevocably in his past.
Halfway through her set Thursday, Miller invited Sharp up to the Vic's intimate performing space to offer his own interpretation of an original titled "Monica." Singing with a sweet, youthful voice, he told the tale of unrequited love with intimate tenderness. Then, responding to unrelenting shouts of approval from the audience, he moved to the piano to sing and play the witty and sardonic "Daddy Romeo."
The setting and the performance were light years removed from the circumstances of Sharp's life at the time when most of the songs were written. "Unchain My Heart," for example, was knocked out in an hour and sold for $50 to get a quick hit of the drugs that were then the center of his life. It wasn't until the original copyright ran out in 1988 that he regained ownership of the song.
"I had changed my life around," Sharp said, "became a drug counselor, came out to San Francisco and wasn't really thinking about music until I found out that I could renew the copyright. And it really changed my life. I'd worked as a postal worker, a factory worker, but I'd never built up my Social Security. But I'm in good shape now, luckily."
With the exception of "Unchain My Heart," none of the Sharp songs has ever been sung by anyone other than Miller. Her latest recording on Poignant Records, "I Had a Feelin'," is completely devoted to his works. But even this fascinating collection represents only a small percentage of his still unheard music.
Sharp has offered to share some of the royalties from the now opened treasure chest of material with Miller, should the songs be picked up by other artists — as they probably will be.
But Miller, who is also - Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times

Natasha Miller launched the opening salvo for her new CD, "I Had a Feelin,’" at a spectacular sold-out show at Yoshi’s in Oakland April 20.

Miller’s third CD was a collaboration with Bobby Sharp, the songwriter who penned the hit song "Unchain My Heart" made famous in 1961 by Ray Charles, and later, Joe Cocker. Sharp has been a virtual unknown since then, keeping his catalogue of songs private for the past 30-plus years. Miller recorded 11 of his songs as a tribute to him; the album was recorded with Sharp standing at Miller’s side, featuring songs from his unpublished repertoire, as well as a new version of "Unchain My Heart."

...Miller’s band opened the first set with an instrumental that Miller said she’d been allowed to name – "Bobby’s Bounce." Miller was poised and elegant through all her songs, from the retro-feeling "A Real Swingin’ Affair" to her original song, "My Sleep," with its Bacharach undertones.

Miller’s voice was strong and tender on the variety of songs; she seemed utterly at ease onstage and looked elegant in a black gown. The best indication of how she felt on this evening’s debut was her cheerful announcement that, "So this is how it feels to have arrived. Not bad for a girl from Iowa." She gave a heart-rending performance of "My Magic Tower," launched playfully into a Coltrane-inspired version of "My Favorite Things," arranged by Miller and jazz pianist Mark Little, then swept into a sultry "Unchain My Heart."

The audience gave props to Sharp, who was in the house and went onstage to perform his own wistful "Monica" in both sets, earning him standing ovations and the recognition he has been denied for too long. He confessed to being a bit nervous, in the spotlight after decades in the shadows, but performed, in fine voice, with aplomb. All in all, it was a delightful show.

Miller’s talent is apparent in all that she does, in her passion for music and her effortless performance of it. She has come a long way in just a few short years, from the sweet lyrics of her first pop CD, "Her Life," through her first jazz offering, "Talk to Me Nice." Personal tragedy has marked both her and Sharp’s lives, and the result is a more mature, fully realized collaboration, bringing richness, power and intent to the lyrics of Sharp’s pen.
Miller’s joyful discovery of Sharp – or his discovery or her – was a happy coincidence that seems to have turned the fates of both. Lucky, we who get to hum along.
- Julia Park, Alameda Sun

Listening to Natasha Miller’s new CD, "I Had a Feelin’" – Miller’s tribute to the songbook of another Alamedan, songwriter Bobby Sharp — is a pleasure, and not a guilty one. In fact, if there is one thought that encapsulates the entire collection it is this: He writes like a gentleman and she sings like a lady.

Miller has just released this, her third CD, in collaboration with Sharp, the songwriter who penned the hit song “Unchain My Heart” made famous in 1961 by Ray Charles, and later, Joe Cocker. Sharp had been out of the music business for more than 30 years when he happened to hear Miller in an interview on jazz radio station KCSM last year, promoting her first jazz collection. He loved her voice and sent her his music, including never-before-heard gems and his most notable songs, including “Unchain My Heart,” “My Magic Tower” and others.

Miller was so moved by the music and by her new friendship with Sharp that she decided to record 11 of his songs as a tribute to him. The album was recorded with Sharp standing at Miller’s side. The collection of songs tells a poignant story of longing, loss and heartache, buoyed by sass and spunk, with a classic jazz feel that harks back to the Cotton Club and other nightspots in Harlem from which Sharp took his inspiration firsthand.

Produced by Miller, along with her bassist/recording engineer Jon Evans, who tours with singer Tori Amos, "I Had a Feelin’" also offers the opportunity to hear Miller’s voice at her most sophisticated.

Miller gives up a song with attitude, especially in “Big Storyteller” and the charming “Things Are Breaking Like Rocks,” and with saucy flair in the sultry “Unchain My Heart.” She achieves the perfect period feel (and these aren’t retro numbers – they’re the real thing) in the blues of “Madame Heartache” and “Everlasting Blues,” “What Diff’rence Does It Make,” and others.

Sharp’s poetic expression comes into full bloom in such songs as “I Return to the Sea,” which Miller imbues with a dreamy wistfulness, and “My Magic Tower,” which is permeated with a sense of solitude and desire.

Sharp makes an appearance himself on a track called “Monica,” another song suffused with yearning. Sharp’s vocals are as precise and elegant as any crooner, leaving the listener wondering why we were deprived of such a talent for so long – and grateful to hear it at long last.

The musicians who backed up the project included piano legend Michael Bluestein, Evans on bass, Tim Bulkley on drums, Emil Miland on cello, Rob Roth on sax, Jeff Lewis on trumpet, Liz Prior Runnicles on viola and Miller on violin.

Miller and Sharp will debut the CD at Yoshi’s at Jack London Square Tuesday, April 20, with two shows, at 8 and 10 p.m. Tickets are $12. For tickets, call Yoshi’s box office at 238-9200 or visit www.yoshis.com. Yoshi’s at Jack London Square is located at 510 Embarcadero West.

Contact Julia Park at jpark@alamedasun.com
 
- Julia Park, Alameda Sun

All about Natasha...

“Ms. Miller's CD has been very well received by listeners ...her interpretation is vibrant... a very distinctive vocalist” João da Penha, Host Jazz & Bossa Nova, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“Natasha sang the engaging material with sensitivity and insight, her cool musicality and clear articulation illuminating the unfamiliar pieces.” Don Heckman, Journalist, Los Angeles Times

“Natasha Miller delivered at Yoshi's. She was fantastic and the capacity crowd loved her!” Marshall Lamm, Publicist, Yoshi’s

“I can't tell you how much our listeners are enjoying "I Had A Feelin'". You are a truly gifted vocalist.” Eric Cohen, Music Director WAER, Syracuse

“Miller’s voice was strong and tender… bringing richness, power and intent to the lyrics.” Julia Park, Journalist, Alameda Sun

"Natasha has a way of singing very directly and simply straight into the heart of a song... you feel the commitment to every note, every word." Michael Morgan, Conductor, Oakland East Bay Symphony

"There is something quite unique and special about Natasha's singing and performances. It's called magic and it comes from a most wonderful combination of talent, ability and most importantly, HEART!" Frederica von Stade, mezzo soprano

"Natasha... a woman who understands the importance of the human voice and its impact on humanity. She sings from the heart and gives us music for the soul." Melanie Berzon, Program Director, KCSM

"Natasha is blessed with deep musical knowledge not only as a vocalist but as an accomplished instrumentalist. This professionalism is clearly evident in her recent musical endeavors and is a delight to experience.” Jerry Dean, Producer, Dean Broadcast Services

“I only play things that I really like and your new recording is a welcome addition to my show!” Doug Moody, "Moody's Mood", KMFB-FM
- Various Quotes