Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

MILLER, Mulgrew

(b 13 August 1955, Greenwood MS; d 29 May 2013 at Lehigh Valley Cedar Crest Hospital, Allentown PA) Piano, composer, leader, educator. He studied at Memphis State, toured with the Ellington ghost band, worked with Betty Carter, then with Woody Shaw (including Columbia recordings compiled on Mosaic); then he was a new star in a late edition of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Blakey's New York Scene '84 on Concord Jazz features Miller on a lovely ballad medley ('My One And Only Love', 'Who Cares', 'It's Easy To Remember'), also a Middle Eastern-flavoured Miller tune 'Falafel'. He worked in Tony Williams's quintet and recorded with Blakey alumni Terence Blanchard/Donald Harrison on New York Second Line '84, also on Concord. His own albums began on Landmark: trio sets Keys To The City '85 with Ira Coleman on bass, Marvin 'Smitty' Smith on drums; Work! '86 with Charnett Moffett and Terri Lyne Carrington; From Day To Day '90, Time And Again '91; plus quartet The Countdown '88 with Joe Henderson, Ron Carter and Williams; quintet Wingspan '87. Landmarks '91 is a compilation album, pop marketing applied to one of the young lions of jazz. On Novus: quintet Hand In Hand '93, trio With Our Own Eyes '94, Getting To Know You '95. After a gap, more albums in the 21st century were The Sequel (with his Wingspan quintet), two volumes of Live At Yoshi's and two of Live at the Kennedy Center (all trio sets), all on MaxJazz; and Harrison's Survivor on Nagel Heyer

Miller passed one of the most important tests of a jazz pianist: he was a team player extraordinaire; again and again the record reviews single him out as bringing something special to the date, playing fine solos but also urging the best out of everybody else, as on two Miles Davis tribute albums on Evidence: drummer Carl Allen's Dark Side Of Dewey and Benny Golson's I Remember Miles, both '92, and on Charles McPherson's Come Play With Me '95 on Arabesque, and many more. There can be no greater compliment than to be a sideman of choice.

On the faculty at William Patterson University in Wayne NJ, he was a key member of that school's valuable Jazz Program. He had had a 'minor' stroke in November 2010 and was taking very good care of himself when another, massive stroke completely unexpectedly took him away.