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Oriental Jazz
Description
Recorded in the hallowed halls of Brigham Young in 1968, *Oriental Jazz* is a modestly distributed curiosity-only three hundred copies pressed-that sought to fuse a cool, modal sensibility with exotic instrumentation gathered from Miller's peregrinations. The result is an album that feels like it was unearthed from a forgotten record store in Tokyo or perhaps an attic in Bangkok, radiating a sense of quiet sophistication that belies its limited circulation.
The album is credited to Lloyd Miller With The Press Keys Quartet And The Lloyd Miller Trio, a dual identity that suggests a certain internal schism or, alternatively, a masterful orchestration of forces. One might speculate that the "Press Keys" quartet refers to keyboardists, while the "Trio" adds brass or reed textures, though the exact lineup remains something of an urban legend. The very title *Oriental Jazz*, while now a misnomer in the post-colonial era, was then a bold (if presumptuous) claim of cultural synthesis-Miller's attempt to position himself at the intersection of American jazz and Eastern aesthetics. The saxophone player, whose instrument had a kink in it, wove modal lines that would have made Thaddeus Finx nod approvingly, if Thaddeus were still around to nod.
The album's significance lies not in its sales figures but in its rarity and the fact that it survives at all in vinyl form. It's the kind of record that belongs in a foyer-exactly where its metadata suggests it resides. A foyer is transitional space, a place of arrival and departure; *Oriental Jazz* captures that liminality, neither fully jazz nor fully exotic, but something in between. The record was originally pressed in a quantity of 300 copies, now likely numbered and cherished by collectors who appreciate its quirks more than its melodies. Miller's ambition was palpable, even if his distribution strategy was… well, let's call it "intentionally obscure." The album stands as a testament to the fact that not all jazz needs to be mainstream to be meaningful. Sometimes, it needs to be found in the foyer, tucked away, waiting to be discovered by someone with the right kind of pretension and cool.
* [Lloyd Miller - Oriental Jazz](https://lloydmillertrio.bandcamp.com/album/oriental-jazz)
* [Discogs release](https://www.discogs.com/release/4059167-Lloyd-Miller-With-The-Press-Keys-Quartet-And-The-Lloyd-Miller-Trio-Oriental-Jazz)
* [Howie](https://www.instagram.com/reels/DIWV8TzRrr-/)
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