Project Grand Slam

Project Grand Slam stands as an eclectic crossover jazz ensemble shaped primarily by veteran bassist and bandleader Robert Miller. A longtime East Coast musician, Miller assembled the group in the mid-2000s, extending his long-running leadership of jazz and fusion ensembles. Although the outfit had already surveyed numerous groove-driven jazz and Latin rhythms, the arrival of vocalist Ziarra Washington on the 2017 release The PGS Experience steered the sound toward funk and classic rock influences.

Before forming Project Grand Slam, New York-born Miller trained under legendary John Coltrane bassist Jimmy Garrison and directed his own fusion and jazz groups along the East Coast for more than three decades. Leading PGS, he has worked with a continually shifting roster that has included, at different points, guitarist Tristan Clark, keyboardist Baden Goyo, saxophonist Mario Castro, drummer Joel E. Mateo, and percussionist Guillermo Barron Rios. The band first appeared in 2008 on Play, issued Spring Dance four years later, and delivered its third album, Made in New York, in 2015 with a guest vocal from Kat Robichaud.

The Latin and Caribbean-influenced The Queen’s Carnival followed in 2016. The next year Miller issued The PGS Experience, which brought Ziarra Washington into the lineup as the featured singer and included saxophone work from Mindi Abair. Around the same period the group raised its visibility by opening shows for acts such as Edgar Winter, Boney James, and Blues Traveler. In 2018 Project Grand Slam released Trippin’, an album on which Miller guided the ensemble further into funk-rock territory.