Meet Mark Christian Miller of Corniche Entertainment in West Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Christian Miller.

Mark Christian, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Living for live music is my story, really. I guess you could say I have an interesting “hybrid” job, where I wear different hats. I remain active as a vocalist and entertainer on the LA scene, also as a music booker and promoter through Corniche Entertainment, which is a division of the Corniche Group, Inc., a prominent full service corporate and leisure travel Management Company that includes Anastasia’s Africa.

I also function as the Executive Assistant to Anastasia Mann, Chairman, and CEO of the company. I met Anastasia in the mid-2000s when I was booking music for two upscale West Side restaurants. She was managing talented Latin band leader Louie Cruz Beltran, and I booked him into the venues. A year later she asked me to join her company as a part-time consultant to start an Entertainment Division and to help manage Louie’s career.

Eventually, she found herself in need of a full-time Executive Assistant, and I saw an opportunity to join a great company. Anastasia took a chance on somebody with zero experience as an Executive Assistant, and I have been in this position now for five years, so I guess it is working out ok. It is a great gig for me. I’ve learned a great deal and has allowed me to continue my passion for music, mostly jazz, and also learn more about the nuts and bolts of the music business.

I also enjoy my role as Executive Assistant to the owner of the company, and produce our award-winning Corniche Club Magazine, and help with the correspondence and many duties of Anastasia Mann, who is not only a leader in the travel business but a civic leader in Los Angeles. I am proud to say I have a deep history in this town in the jazz and live music worlds. I enjoy writing about the local music scene on my blog “Mark Heard It First.”

Has it been a smooth road?
I work very hard to balance a busy work schedule, which is primarily based in the music business, with my own need to create music. Finding time to develop my piano skills and practice can be difficult. The opportunities and challenges have been to integrate my experience with all aspects of music performance, booking, and promotion into a richer musical life.

Venues and gigs can be difficult to find for all musical artists, especially jazz artists, and the financial incentive to record new music has disappeared. I guess I face the same obstacles all musicians face, but feel fortunate that my experiences, especially of the last 10 years, have given me a very realistic and complete picture of what it takes to make music in LA.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Corniche Entertainment – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
The Corniche Group has been in business for 31 years in the same location on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood. It is a prestigious and very successful corporate and leisure travel management business. I am very proud of the Corniche brand, which not only survived the computer revolution but thrived by focusing on personalized service and corporate and luxury leisure travel management.

Corniche owner Anastasia Mann is a force of nature, and I have learned a great deal from her. Today, Corniche Entertainment, in addition to managing the successful career of Louie Cruz Beltran, books an average of 60 music events yearly, with 2018 on record to be a banner year. A few highlights in Corniche Entertainment – for 10 years we have curated the popular annual Music on the Main series at Descanso Gardens in La Canada.

The series draws up to 1,000 people under the oaks on consecutive Thursday evenings to listen to some of the most accomplished LA-based and nationally known artists, with a focus on jazz. We have booked Louie into the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl and produced four La Vida Music Festivals at the Ford Amphitheater. This past spring Louie performed on the National Mall in Washington, DC, representing Latin Jazz at the close of Jazz Appreciation Month, followed by a sold-out performance at historic Blues Alley in Georgetown.

On a personal level, I continue to perform and record, and continue my piano studies. My 2015 release “Crazy Moon” was named “one of the top 15 vocal jazz albums of 2015” by Jazz History Online, and spent three months on the national jazz charts. I am in production on my third album, “Music in the Air,” planning on a 2019 release.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the jazz and music legacy in LA and the still vibrant jazz scene here and all the amazing musicians who make it happen. I love being part of that community.

Like everybody, I hate the traffic, although I love the fact that West Hollywood is a walking community. On the rare weekends, I have off, I can leave the car in the garage. I can also walk to my office. I am very fortunate in that respect. Although I do spend my summers managing a very busy Latin band in locations all through Southern California – there is a lot of drive time.

I also worry about losing our rich LA history through unchecked development, and the congestion that causes. And tour busses irritate me.

Contact Info:

• Address: 8721 W Sunset Blvd Suite 200
  West Hollywood, California 90069
• Website: http://www.markchristianmiller.com
• Phone: 310.854.6000
• Email: mark@corniche.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/markchristianmiller/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.c.miller.3
• Other: https://www.corniche.com/

Image Credit:
Main photo: Ziggy Spiz

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