Greg Mills (2)

Greg Mills studied classical piano performance at the St. Louis Institute of Music and privately with Gail Delente and Jules Gentil. Mentored in jazz performance and theory by St. Louis Black Artist Group bassist Carl Arzinia Richardson, he gigged with Richardson performing jazz standards as the duo Epoxy in the mid 1970’s. In the late 1970’s he was associated with James Marshall’s Human Arts Ensemble. In 1980 Mills teamed up with Jay Zelenka and for the next ten years performed and recorded as the multi-instrumental improvising duo EXILES, amalgamating influences of the musical cultures of India and Africa with free improv and elements of the Euro-classical avant-garde. Exploring exotic tunings and extended raga-like duet performances for kalimba led Mills to adapt the Indian raga form to piano, creating a unique body of work in performances and recordings. During this time Mills pursued interests in mallet keyboards, drum set, and percussion and began developing what is today a virtuoso command of the melodica, a wind keyboard usually treated as a novelty instrument. Recent examples can be heard as a duo with flutist Fred Tompkins on Tompkins’s YouTube channel. In 2015 Mills co-founded the Perihelion groups (trio, quartet, and ensemble), and curated a series of performances for solo improviser (Soliloquy) and duo improvisations (Just The Two Of Us). As leader of the Perihelion groups, Mills organized numerous public performances in 2015-2016 while recording his solo work Mosaique, A Day At The Circus (Perihelion Quartet), Triopolis (Perihelion Trio), Duets and New Music for Clarinet and Piano with Eric Mandat. In 2017 Mills continued his prolific output, recording KUVUKA as one half of The Glen “Papa” Wright/Greg Mill Duo. All of these recordings appear on the Freedonia Music imprint. Also, during this period, he recorded a new solo work The Dark Passenger and performed on three recordings by composer/flutist Fred Tompkins: Another Place, The Fourth Arch – To Freedom and Stretching Time.