Apr 27 2009
Check out the Interview with Mulgrew Miller
The name Mulgrew Miller may be a new one for you if you are new to the jazz scene. He spent a large part of his career as a sideman for some of the greatest jazz names you are likely to have heard of. He played for a long time with Art Blakey, for example. He has become, however, over the years, one of the finest living jazz legends, particularly when it comes to the jazz piano.
There is a great website I recently discovered called simply Jazz.com and they do a lot of fascinating interviews, reviews and articles for jazz lovers. In their most recent issue they have an interview with Mulgrew Miller that any fan of jazz and jazz history should read.
Miller himself was singled out at a young age by the legendry Woody Shaw at a jazz camp. According to Miller, Shaw pointed to him and said, “Yeah, I’m going to be seeing you in New York in a couple of years. This turned out to be exactly right and Miller’s career has never looked back.
Miller started playing the piano when his father bought one for the family when he was six years old. He claims that the instrument chose him rather than the other way around. It was a love at first sight and he began picking out tunes by ear before the age of 10.
Like a lot of talented people, his abilities were recognized fairly young. He started his formal training at the age of 8. It was another jazz legend, Oscar Peterson, who gave Miller his first taste of piano as an instrument for jazz.
The rest of the interview discusses how he learned to play jazz, how he got started, when he went on the road and how he found himself playing for Art Blakey. It’s a fascinating look at a modern legend, still out there, playing, with ties to some of the icons of the genre.
