Allison Miller
“..Miller’s craftiness as a percussionist is met by her ingenuity as a composer and group conceptualist.”
“Drummer-composer Allison Miller celebrates the 10th anniversary of her band, Boom Tim Boom, with the release of Glitter Wolf, a collection of ten new idiosyncratic compositions featuring Miller’s deft drum work and compositional adeptness front and center, and all her ensemble’s raw but refined propulsive energy.”
“...the album defies expectations with a mix of head-bobbing grooves and rich melodies...”
Allison Miller is a lauded drummer who's mastered a vast array of musical settings. From guesting on late night TV, keeping time for some of today's most beloved singer-songwriters, being celebrated for a series of critically acclaimed recordings with both her own band Boom Tic Boom as well as the allstar group ARTEMIS, Miller engages her deep roots in improvisation as a vehicle to explore all music.
Described by critics as a Modern Jazz Icon in the Making, Miller has been named “Top 20 Jazz Drummers” in Downbeat Magazine and her composition "Otis Was a Polar Bear" is on NPR’s list of The 200 Greatest Songs by 21st Century Women. Miller was Monterey Jazz Festival’s 2019 Artist in Residence, alongside bassist/producer Derrick Hodge. She was also the first recipient of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation’s Commissioning Grant.
In 2019, Miller’s band Boom Tic Boom, featuring pianist Myra Melford, violinist Jenny Scheinman, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, cornetist Kirk Knuffke, bassist Todd Sickafoose, and Miller on drums and composition, celebrated its 10th anniversary with the release of their fifth album, Glitter Wolf. The Wall Street Journal declared, “Boom Tic Boom has a razor-sharp precision that recalls classic drummer-led ensembles of 50 years ago—the music of Art Blakey, Art Taylor and Max Roach come to mind—but Ms. Miller’s band works from a diverse sonic palette that is unmistakably contemporary.”
Boom Tic Boom has been met with critical acclaim, making the “Top 10 Jazz Albums” lists for Downbeat, The LA Times, Jazz Journalists Association, and Something Else. The band has been featured on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, WNYC’s Soundcheck and New Sounds with John Schaefer, NPR’s Tiny Desk with Bob Boilen, JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, The Checkout: Live with Josh Jackson, NPR’s Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride, and the jazz festivals of Monterey, Saratoga, Stanford, San Francisco, North Sea, RockIt, Molde, Guimarães, Chicago, Hyde Park, Saalfelden, Iowa City, Reykjavik, Earshot, Mary Lou Williams- Kennedy Center, Edgefest, Pittsburgh, and Redwood Jazz Alliance.
While breaking from leading Boom Tic Boom, Miller focuses on collaborations, co-directing Parlour Game with Jenny Scheinman and Science Fair with Carmen Staaf. Science Fair’s debut release was included in the New York Times and L.A. Times “Best Jazz of 2018” list. Miller is also a proud member of the critically acclaimed supergroup ARTEMIS. Fresh off their second consecutive win for “Jazz Group of the Year” in the Downbeat Readers Poll, ARTEMIS returns with their third Blue Note album Arboresque (February 2025) featuring the quintet helmed by pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda, and Miller on drums.
Miller’s latest album, Rivers In Our Veins, is a 12-song cycle embracing the concept of flow and renewal, and dedicated to our nation's crucial rivers, watersheds and the organizations devoted to reviving and protecting them. Commissioned by Mid Atlantic Arts Organization and Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Rivers In Our Veins is the studio manifestation of an ambitious live multimedia production with original music composed by Miller featuring a deeply telepathic cast of improvisers, as well as, tap and contemporary dancers. Miller culls inspiration from the cultural histories of five East Coast rivers that have been polluted nearly beyond repair through industrialism and commercialism, she focuses on the James, Delaware, Potomac, Hudson, and Susquehanna. The studio recording is brought to life by longtime collaborators, including violinist Jenny Scheinman, Ben Goldberg on contra-alto and Bb clarinets, pianist Carmen Staaf, trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Todd Sickafoose, and tap dancers Claudia Rahardjanoto, Michelle Dorrance, Elizabeth Burke, Byron Tittle, and Orlando Hernández.
Miller is a three time Jazz Ambassador for the US State Department and has been appointed Arts Envoy to Thailand for her work with Jazz Education Abroad. She is on Yamaha’s Top 30 Clinicians List, conducting clinics and master classes throughout the world, and teaches at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC, Stanford Jazz Workshop, and is the Artistic Director of Jazz Camp West. Her lessons and writings have been published in The Huffington Post, Modern Drummer, Jazz Times, DRUM, Tom Tom, and Drummer UK. Her instructional videos are produced and published by Reverb. In 2008 Miller founded the Walter Salb Memorial Musical Scholarship Foundation in honor of her late teacher and mentor. The foundation annually provides a monetary award to a promising young musician directed toward furthering their studies in music. Miller endorses Yamaha drums, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks, Sunhouse percussion, and Evans drumheads.
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