Composer/ Arranger
Jazz
John Mills Times Ten in action! We’ve been blowing down the doors with all-original material the first Wednesday of every month for over ten years at Austin’s renowned Elephant Room. That night we featured my former UT BSOM student Gabriel Santiago Project on the guitar! (Photograph by GRHook Photo (Thank you, Gary).
Austin’s Elephant Room has seen many lifetimes of jazz performances — from some of the biggest names in the jazz world, to us local guys and gals throwin’ down 365 nights a year. This photo by Kim Yarborough shows me with Adrian Ruiz (tpt), Jon Blondell (tbn) and Kirk Covington (dr) on annual HAAM night, when every musician in every venue in town plays to benefit fellow musicians’ emergency health expenses.
John Mills TIMES TEN is a high-energy, 10-piece ensemble featuring exclusively his original compositions. One critic described the music as “crackling with rhythmic energy” and another observer described it as “Weather Report meets Bill Holman.” The band has performed monthly for over 10 years at Austin’s famed Elephant Room, as well as at JEN Conferences in New Orleans and San Diego and at multiple SXSW showcases. The band’s two CDs on Fable Records, Caffeine Dreams and Flying Blind, received critical praise, and new compositions are always arriving from Mills’ pen.
John has composed over 80 original charts for the University of Texas Jazz Orchestra, including big band arrangements for such past Longhorn Jazz Festival guests as Michael Brecker, Kenny Garrett, Stefon Harris, Cyrus Chestnut, Joe Lovano, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Conrad Herwig, Delfeayo Marsalis, and Joshua Redman.
Mills was a central composer for the late Tina Marsh’s adventurous and acclaimed CO2 (Creative Opportunity Orchestra), and his very first recorded compositions with the 1970s jazz-rock band Starcrost have been re-issued in Japan and the UK in recent years.
John’s jazz compositions have been recognized in worldwide competitions, including the 2019 SONIC Award for Best Big Band Composition from the International Association of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC), Third Prize in the UMO’s 2019 Enno Linnovalli Jazz Composition Contest in Helsinki, Finland and First Prize at the ArtEZ Jazz Composition Contest in Enschede, Netherlands.
Blues
In January 2019 I was honored to be Musical Director for the Ruthie Foster Big Band concert at Austin’s Paramount Theatre. The concert was recorded on location by the marvelous Malcolm Harper and Reelsound Recording Co.
The Texas Horns have been backing blues greats at festivals and on recording sessions for the last 25 years. An absolute highlight was joining Texas guitar icon Jimmie Vaughan (with B-3 wizard Mike 'The Drifter' Flanigin) at London’s Royal Albert Hall, opening for the legendary Eric Clapton for three unforgettable nights. During our stay in London we also played a sold-out CD release of Jimmie’s Grammy-nominated “Baby, Please Come Home” and a live broadcast at the historic BBC studio London.
John Mills contributed arrangements to recent Grammy-nominated recordings for Best Contemporary Blues: The Ruthie Foster Big Band at The Paramount Theater (2021) and Jimmie Vaughan, Baby Please Come Home (2020).
Dr. John Mills has written original material for two The Texas Horns CDs, Blues Gotta Holda Me (VizzTone Records) and Get Here Quick (Severn Records), including his songs Guitar Town, Sundown Talkin’, and Feelin’ No Pain, as well as his soulful treatment of Curtis Mayfield’s classic People Get Ready.
Classical/ Chamber Music
Conducting the Backyard Symphony, a 50-piece pops orchestra playing my own arrangements of rock, pop, and R&B classics, as well as originals I wrote expressly for this ensemble. This ensemble brought together the best of Austin’s classical musicians and recording session aces. One of the highlights was the recreation of George Martin’s iconic 23-bar orchestral glissando that concludes The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.”
Dr. Mills, who earned his DMA in classical composition, is a three-time finalist in the Golden Hornet String Quartet Smackdown international composer’s competition and has premiered works for chamber strings in Santiago, Chile. His classical works for saxophone, trumpet, and trombone choirs have premiered at such national events as the Trumpet National Competition and the World Saxophone Conference, and his works for trombone choir have been recorded on Longhorn Records.
His woodwind quintet setting of The Ugly Duckling, originally commissioned by the Wild Basin Winds, has been performed many times by El Quinteto de Respiro of Valladolid, Spain. John has written pop orchestral arrangements for such artists as Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel, David Byrne, Rosanne Cash, Indigo Girls, Arto Lindsay, Carmen Bradford, and concert material for the 50-piece Austin-based Backyard Symphony pops orchestra that he conducts. He has also arranged for the premiere wind ensemble, the Dallas Winds.
A memorable session for David Byrne’s “Grown Backwards” CD. My great friend and fellow composer/arranger Stephen Barber (right) lured David to Austin to record the arrangement overdubs and was kind enough to throw some woodwind performances and one funky horn chart my way. Photo by the proprietor of Congress House Studio, a former drummer for Carole King, Mark Hallman.
Progressive Pop
John Mills’ Invisible Designs, featuring renowned Count Basie vocalist Carmen Bradford, takes a jazz-rock songwriter's direction, with his original music and uncommon lyrics. The material from this CD was premiered live at the 2010 JEN Conference in Atlanta.
John has been a first-call session horn arranger in the Austin studio scene for decades, writing and performing horn charts for a long list of artists including David Byrne, Sara Hickman, Big Dog, Chris Smithers, and an Austin City Limits Hall of Fame - Ray Charles Tribute concert that featured Nora Jones, Ruthie Foster, and Los Lobos.
Media
Mills has scored numerous documentaries and programs produced by the KLRU-TV PBS affiliate, including the opening theme for seasons VI and VII of Austin City Limits. John has written and produced TV/Radio music for clients including McDonald’s, Lone Star Beer, Banfi Wines, Spectravision, Cinemark Theatres, and the PGA Tour, as well as some 100 jingles, such as the iconic Henna Chevrolet song in its many incarnations, heard non-stop for over 30 years in Austin.