"Promethean" is an original composition by pianist Mulgrew Miller, first recorded on his debut album as a leader, Keys to the City, released on Landmark Records in 1985 with a trio featuring Ira Coleman on bass and Marvin "Smitty" Smith on drums. The piece is a contrafact based on the chord changes of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's "Days of Wine and Roses," with Miller writing an original melody inspired by the Greek myth of Prometheus over that familiar harmonic foundation. In his approach to the composition and improvisation, Miller superimposes triads and fourth structures, often inverted, above the underlying harmony, creating a layered harmonic texture characteristic of his writing. The tune is one of four originals on Keys to the City, an album dedicated to Miller's wife Tanya and to influential musicians in his life, sitting alongside pieces like "Song for Darnell" (named after his son) and a tribute to McCoy Tyner. It emerged from a period when Miller was transitioning from sideman work with Art Blakey and Woody Shaw to establishing his own voice as a bandleader in the straight-ahead jazz piano trio tradition. Matt Gordy's JazzTonite Sextet has performed the piece in an ensemble arrangement distinct from the original trio setting. "Promethean" remains a deep cut in Miller's catalog rather than a widely covered standard, valued by those familiar with his compositional craft and his ability to weave mythological inspiration into harmonically sophisticated jazz.
