Milo Z

By JAY N. MILLER
For The Patriot Ledger

Neither The Iliad nor The Odyssey had any passages about "getting funky'' in Athens. But if the bard Homer never got down, some of his descendants undoubtedly do, whenever New York City's Milo Z comes to town.

Milo Z's latest album is a CD/DVD dual pack recorded live at a special show in Athens in July 2006. Johnny D's in Somerville hosts a CD release party Saturday night for Milo Z and his septet, who will bring the funk all night long. The album "Up On the Hill: Live in Athens, Greece'' will be available at the show, and is also available online through www.miloz.com or myspace.com/milozmusic.

Many American musicians, particularly jazz and blues artists, find plenty of work in Europe, but Milo Z is somewhat unique in forging a path in Greece.

"We first went to Athens in 1998-99,'' he said from his New York City home earlier this week, fresh from another Grecian jaunt. "That first time we ended up performing in a jazz place in Athens, and they really dug the funk. We kept going back and started doing a couple of other cities over there too, and our popularity started building.''

Early in 2006, a concert promoter approached Milo Z about doing a show in Athens. The proposed venue, the Lykabettus Theater, also known as "The Hill,'' is situated atop La Cavitos and overlooks the entire city, and the Acropolis.

The 3,000-seat venue is a bowl-shaped stadium, and the promoter suggested Milo Z bring a bigger band than his usual septet. Eventually, after some passport complications for various members were ironed out, Milo Z brought over a 13-piece band, with two dancers, a four-man horn section, and funk artist and pal Moe Holmes as second vocalist.

Given the size of the venture, and the historical site, Milo decided to record and film the concert. The resulting CD is more than an hour long, and the DVD includes behind-the-scenes segments of the band rehearsing in New York, traveling to Greece and checking out the concert venue. The DVD also includes live concert footage of four songs, displaying Milo Z's suave-but-funky frontman style and his band's ability to improvise and extend nearly every tune.

"I put together a funky big band,'' Milo Z said. "My usual group is seven or eight people, so this was definitely a little different. I had done a big band gig once before, at Trammps in New York in '99, and we'd recorded that one live, too. But it is a more challenging undertaking, with that many more cogs in the wheel. Luckily I have a rotating cast of musicians that we use in my regular band, revolving horn players, session guys, and so on, so most of these players were not starting from scratch. It was mainly a case of doing the horn parts for four guys instead of two, and adding percussion and of course the dancers.''

Milo Z's strong baritone, and rakish sense of style - dig the gray pin-striped suit he wears in the DVD footage - keep the party moving and visually exciting.

Milo Z began in music as a drummer, but was always a lover of funk. He particularly liked the way James Brown's classic bands used percussion as a guide and frequently inserted stop time, turnarounds, and tempo switches in his music. Milo Z does all of his own arrangements, but leaves room in them for improvisation, aiming for the kind of jams that make every night special.

"We never really do the same show twice,'' Milo Z said. "There is room in there for solos, extended choruses and jams. We don't like to do a set that has a song going '1-2-3' and is done in 3 minutes every night. I like to get the group as tight as we can, so they know the material inside-out, and then let them jam on it. It is just more fun that way, and there's more room for good accidents to happen.''

Milo Z met James Brown once, in the summer of 2006, in Greece. A trumpet player he knew years earlier when he was a drummer was playing with Brown. He contacted Milo Z and got him backstage for the show.

"I met him just before he went onstage, and I was truly awestruck,'' Milo Z said. "That man was the master, the godfather of this kind of music. The way he'd have his band break up meters, break down rhythms, use every instrument like it was a drum, and make it all fit in the way of a groove was brilliant. He was definitely a big influence on me.''

Milo Z's own songwriting uses funk as a foundation for a variety of themes. A tune like "Practice What You Preach'' jabs at hypocrisy, but without taking a pointed viewpoint. A song like "Food'' likens romance to sustenance. Other tunes such as "Serious,'' "Funky People'' or Crazy Boy'' are lighthearted dance fare with a dollop of autobiographical detail.

"I'm tough on myself when it comes to lyrics,'' Milo Z said. "Lyrics for me are the hardest part of the songwriting. I don't ever want them to sound too cliched. I want them to have a certain soulful quality, and try to say things in a different way.''

As many relentlessly touring bands have learned, younger generations tend to be hooked on hip-hop, iPods and downloads, and not especially hot for live music. It is something bandleaders like Milo Z try to keep in mind when they're crafting their show.

"The younger generation does seem like more of a throwaway generation, more apt to watch TV and their computer than go out,'' Milo Z said. "We musicians have a lot to compete with these days: 200-odd cable TV channels, video games, computers, iPods. I think the younger people's attention spans are very short. These are all reasons to try and make my show a real show, with a visual and dance component every night.'' -

Milo Z said young people in Europe are different. In Greece, for example, "young people love to go out at night and see different places and clubs and bands,'' he said.

But Milo Z sees hope for the younger generation, and music fans as a whole - and in an unlikely place: "American Idol'' and its string of similar shows.

"I like 'American Idol' because it gives people a shot who normally wouldn't get one,'' he said. "Record companies have been deciding what people should listen to for years, and that show proves them wrong.''

Milo Z will be bringing his usual septet to Johnny D's, where he's built quite a following with his incendiary live shows. With the band just back from a dozen dates in Europe and Greece, he said they're as tight as they've ever been and ready to raise the roof.

There was no Boston Battle of the Blues Bands this year, but that doesn't mean we won't have a local representative. Pembroke's wunderkind drummer, 14-year old Danny Banks, hooked up with the Mike Crandall Band in the Connecticut competition. The Crandall Band won, and Kilroy's in Quincy is hosting an afternoon fundraiser on Dec. 2 to help send them to Memphis for the national competition. The Crandall Band, Chris Fitz, Rick Russell, and the Coolerators are among the attractions at the event, which runs from 3-9 p.m.

Jay N. Miller covers popular music on the South Shore and in the Boston area. If you have information or ideas for Jay about the local music scene, bookings, recordings, artists etc., send it to him by e-mail to features@ledger.com . Attn: Music Scene in the subject line.

Copyright 2007 The Patriot Ledger

MILO Z: One of the best live bands in New York City for the last 15 years has been Milo Z – fans and magazines have raved about them for years, Carson Daly had them as a guest house band last year, I've been fortunate to have some of their tunes in a couple of my features. Their funky soul-a-delic ziggidy-doo-dah sound is dance music at its best, and they've carved out a cult niche up and down the Eastern seaboard. They've also become popular in funk-crazy Greece, and their new release UP ON THE HILL is a combo CD and DVD of last summer's Athens gig (with full rhythm section and beautiful background singers) atop the ancient ruins of one of the first places in Western civilization to ever have a concert. Milo himself is the coolest of the cool, singin', swingin' and swayin', leading his mighty band through original tunes that refresh and revitalize the greatest traditions of funky R & B. Musicianship, emotion, love, showmanship – it's all here. The DVD includes prep and rehearsal footage in NYC as the band prepare for the gig. Their website is www.miloz.com and you can also sample some tunes at www.myspace.com/milozband. Listen now and dig him later, or dig him now and listen later – either way you'll be on your feet when you hear the beat.

John Gallagher, The National Board of Review (12/15/07)