 Ben Ratliff , writing for The New York Times , commented that , " As a composer , Mr. Miller is difficult to peg ; like his piano playing , he 's a bit of everything . " Critic Ted Panken observed in 2004 that Miller the pianist " finds ways to conjure beauty from pentatonics and odd intervals , infusing his lines with church and blues strains and propelling them with a joyous , incessant beat . " John Fordham commented that Miller 's " melodic fluency and percussive chordwork [ ... ] recalled Oscar Peterson [ ... but ] with glimpses of the harmonically freer methods of McCoy Tyner " , and that Miller was much more than the hard bop player that he was often stereotyped as being . The obituary writer for Down Beat observed that " Miller could swing hard but maintained grace and precision with a touch and facility that influenced generations of musicians . " 
