Pre-Order: Diana - Dominic Miller [CD]

Dominic Miller - Diana. With Diana, Dominic Miller makes a particularly compelling return to ECM. His fourth album for the label sees the return of familiar colleagues in bandoneonist Santiago Arias, whose gracefully textured playing could already be heard on Absinthe (2019), as well as the guitarist's rhythm section from Vagabond (2023) in bassist Nicolas Fiszman and drummer Ziv Ravitz. Here, collectively formed experience and trust give the music an uncommon sense of freedom. Dedicated to Miller's mother, who died in 2026, Diana is a deeply personal album, though it's character is defined less by sentiment than by the clarity and openness of the playing. Miller's guitar moves through a series of finely drawn melodies, with Arias adding subtle color and Fiszman and Ravitz responding with characteristic instinct and precision. Recorded at Studios La Buissonne and produced by Manfred Eicher, Diana captures a quartet at an especially fruitful point in their musical relationship.