A Certain Respect for Tradition is a celebration of jazz and, equally, of Mark MillerÕs distinguished career as a writer. Drawing on more than four thousand articles, most published by The Globe and Mail in Toronto, Miller has chosen some ninety profiles and reviews according to the simplest and most subjective of criteria: these are pieces he likes about musicians whose work he admires Ñ from the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to John Zorn, Jabbo Smith to Enrico Rava, Rosemary Clooney to Phil Minton, Dorothy Donegan to Cecil Taylor.
On Mark Miller's departure from The Globe and Mail in 2005:
ÒHis stature as [CanadaÕs] pre-eminent jazz critic, analyst, historian and keeper-of-the-flame is unassailable... The Miller style is notable for its almost classical clarity, purity and economy. ThereÕs no rhetorical, metaphorical or musicological overkill... just a precise, accurate blend of description, thought and feeling.Ó Ñ James Adams, The Globe and Mail, December 2005