Local Accountant Gets Jazzy With It
BY AISIIA MORI COLEMAN
Assistant Editor
WATTS-Who says accountants are boring stiffs without a creative
bone in their suit-and-tie-clad bodies? Gerald Miller is debunking
stereotypes by sharing his "Personal Passions"-his
debut jazz CD released on his own Start-up label, Mahkingdom
Records.
"It's kind of like a double life in a way," said
Miller, a 41year-old native of Watts who began piano lessons
at 9 and guitar at 12.
Miller's personal relationship with
music dates back a while. In the summer of 1967, a 6-year-old
Miller sat enraptured in a South Los Angeles storefront church
as his mother belted out a soulful rendition of ''Amazing
Grace"-it
was then that he fell deeply in love with music.
When he delivered
the graduation speech for his junior high school class,
he encouraged classmates to "reach for the
stars." Yet, he didn't practice what he preached. Instead,
he took the road most traveled-the safe one leading to a
stable, if not particularly inspiring, career as a payables
accountant.
"Accounting is more on the mechanical side," said
the Locke High School alumnus. "There is the satisfaction
of getting things done as far as being accurate. But music,
of course, is more creative and is more intrinsically satisfying."
Miller
majored in magazine journalism at Cal State Long Beach an
did freelance writing for a while, but he needed something
more reliable and lucrative, so he pursued accounting. Miller,
whose mother was in banking and whose father was in construction,
said the world revolves around money so he knew his business
skills would always be necessary, but that it wasn't what
his heart yearned for. He named his CD "Personal Passions" because
he wants to encourage people to follow their hearts to find
true inspiration and happiness. He believes in the adage
that "if
you do what you love, money will follow."
"I decided
to establish my own record company ... rather than waiting
for someone else to quote-unquote discover you," said
Miller. "I said within myself, `why don't I sign my
own self to a record contract, pay all the bills and just
kind ot bootstrap it?' "
He said his ability to tap
into his entrepreneurial spirit comes from his willingness
to "step out on faith." In
1999, the married father of two daughters-ages 12 and l4-decided
to do what was necessary to "get his own company off
the ground to lauch his CD. In addition to his 8 a.m. to
5 p.m. accounting job, he took on a 6 to 9 p.m. telemarketing
job to help pay for the expenses of studio time, extra musicians
and promotion. When he wasn't attending his daughters' activities
or doing household chores, he was holed up in his home studio-which
paid off when he started Mahkingdom Records in 2000, and
released his CD on May 31.
"Scriptures say you need to
have dominion over every area whatever subject it might be,
so I want music to be my kingdom, the one I'm going to have
dominance over and be excellent in," said Miller,
who wanted to give, the narre an African slant by calling
it Mahkingdorn.
Over the last three decades he has taken advantage
of local venues to hone his singing, guitar and songwriting
talents. He attended the Dick Grove School of Music in
Studio City, where he acquired a strong foundation in arranging
and composing. Miller, whose major influences include George
Benson and Al Jarreau, has played guitar for such notables
as Dionne Warwick, Denise Williams, AI Green and Howard
Hewitt.
"Personal
Passions" features guest soloists Kevin
Flournoy on keyboards and Rodney Taylor on Saxophone. Eight
of the contemporary jazz/R&B songs have vocals and three
are fully instrumental. Miller describes his music as "hot
and inspirational" and "exciting at every turn." His
wife, a homemaker, may be the next artist signed to his label
for a gospel record, but for now, he's focusing on getting
his business and CD off the ground.
"I'm at a point in
my life where I don't have any inhibitions about pursuing
music," said Miller, who hopes for more
financial freedom and time to make music his only professional
priority. "It's been overdue so I have no reservations
about going full force and letting accounting go... I'm all
for it."
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