Clarence Horatius "Big" Miller (December 18, 1922 – June 9, 1992) was an American
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
and
blues singer and bassist, chiefly associated with the
Kansas City blues style.
Biography
Early years
Miller was born in
Sioux City
Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County ...
and grew up in
Topeka
Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeast Kansas, in the Central Uni ...
, Kansas. His mother was descended from black slaves and his father was a preacher, of mixed black and Lakota origin.
[ He studied the trombone and bass in high school.] Miller was 193 cm in height (6 ft., 3.5 inches) and weighed more than 115 kilograms (over 250 lb.). He acquired the nickname "Big" while playing football as a teenager.[
His proximity to Kansas City influenced his style. By 1949, "Big" began singing with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. His first full-time professional job was with the ]Jay McShann
James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. He led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Walter Brown, and B ...
Orchestra where he became a featured performer.[ It was during this time that his vocal talents began to be recognized. He won fame as a "]blues shouter A blues shouter is a blues singer, often male, capable of singing unamplified with a band.
Notable blues shouters include:
*Piney Brown
* Walter Brown, of the Jay McShann orchestra
*H-Bomb Ferguson
*Wynonie Harris
*Screamin' Jay Hawkins
*Duke Hende ...
", a singer whose voice was powerful enough, without microphone amplification, for an auditorium—even with big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
accompaniment. He also occasionally performed on trombone.
In 1954, after five years with Jay McShann, Miller joined the Fletcher Henderson Reunion Orchestra. He became a popular performer in renowned jazz venues such as Birdland in New York, the Cotton Club in Chicago, and Detroit's Flame Showbar. It was with the Henderson Orchestra that "Big" did his first recording and it was in this period that his career really began to take off. He recorded for Savoy Records early in his career, including with The Five Pennies
''The Five Pennies'' is a semi-biographical 1959 film starring Danny Kaye as jazz cornet player and bandleader Loring "Red" Nichols. Other cast members include Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Harry Guardino, Bob Crosby, Bobby Troup, Susan Go ...
as backing musicians. His jazz activities also included work with Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
and Duke Ellington.
As a vocalist, Miller first rose to national prominence at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hir ...
where he appeared with a group led by trombonist Bob Brookmeyer
Robert Edward "Bob" Brookmeyer (December 19, 1929 – December 15, 2011) was an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of G ...
. This led to a New York session with Brookmeyer's ensemble that was released on a well-reviewed LP, ''The Kansas City Sound'', which has since been re-released on CD. After performing with John Hendricks
John Samuel Hendricks (born March 29, 1952)"John Hendricks: An Oral History," The Cable Center, September 2, 2003. is an American businessman and is the founder and former chairman of Discovery, Inc. (now a part of Warner Bros. Discovery) a broa ...
's revue, ''The Evolution of the Blues'', Miller signed with Columbia Records and released several full-length albums, including ''Big Miller Sings, Twists, Shouts and Preaches'' (1962).
He became a popular performer in renowned jazz venues such as Monterey Jazz Festival (1960), Birdland in New York City, the Cotton Club
The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...
in Chicago, Montreux Jazz Festival, and Detroit's Flame Showbar. Throughout his career he had performed with jazz legends such as Count Basie
William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
, Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards ...
, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musi ...
, just to name a few.
Edmonton
Discouraged by racial tensions in the mainland United States, he began touring other countries and lived for a while in Australia and then Hawaii.[ In the 1970s Miller toured with Big Joe Turner. Miller found himself stranded in Vancouver when one of his tours ran out of money. He travelled around Western Canada and in 1970 settled in Edmonton, Alberta.]Eugene Chadbourne
Eugene Chadbourne (born January 4, 1954) is an American banjoist, guitarist and music critic.
Life and career
Chadbourne was born in Mount Vernon, New York, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. He started playing guitar when he was eleven or twel ...
, Big Miller
Big or BIG may refer to:
* Big, of great size or degree
Film and television
* ''Big'' (film), a 1988 fantasy-comedy film starring Tom Hanks
* '' Big!'', a Discovery Channel television show
* ''Richard Hammond's Big'', a television show present ...
at Allmusic. He became a Canadian citizen in 1973[ and lived there for the rest of his life, working with local musician ]Tommy Banks
Thomas Benjamin Banks (December 17, 1936 – January 25, 2018) was a Canadian pianist, conductor, arranger, composer, television personality and senator.
Television and musical career
Banks was the host of nationally - and internationally ...
, and cover
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of co ...
ing "Big Yellow Taxi
"Big Yellow Taxi" is a song written, composed, and originally recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell in 1970, and originally released on her album '' Ladies of the Canyon''. It was a hit in her native Canada (No. 14) as well as Aust ...
" with the song's composer, Saskatchewan-born Joni Mitchell. Miller played a major role in the growth of the Edmonton Jazz Society, which began in the late 1970s, and taught at the Banff Centre
Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...
for Fine Arts. Miller helped to organize Edmonton's Jazz City Festival.[
He was the subject of a 1980 documentary "Big and the Blues", produced through the ]National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
.
He had a short side career as an actor, appearing in ''Big Meat Eater
''Big Meat Eater'' is a Canadian comedy science fiction film, released in 1982."Big Meat Eater illustrates just how good bad can be". ''The Globe and Mail'', September 16, 1982.
Directed by Chris Windsor, the film centres on Bob (George Dawson), a ...
'' (1982), ''A Name for Evil
''A Name for Evil'' is a 1973 American horror film directed by Bernard Girard and starring Samantha Eggar and Robert Culp.
Plot
Dissatisfied with the family architectural business, a man and his wife pack up and move out to his great-grandfath ...
'' (1973), and a cameo in the comedy ''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
''It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World'' is a 1963 American comedy film produced and directed by Stanley Kramer with a story and screenplay by William Rose and Tania Rose. The film, starring Spencer Tracy with an all-star cast of comedians, is a ...
''.
"Big" Miller died in 1992 in Edmonton at the age of 69, of a heart attack.[Oliver, Myrna. "Clarence Miller; Singer With Jazz Groups", ''Los Angeles Times'', June 11, 1992]
/ref>
Awards
* 1979 Juno Award – Best Jazz album: Jazz Canada Montreux 1978
''Jazz Canada Montreux 1978'' is an album by Tommy Banks Big Band with guest Big Miller, which was released in 1978 by Radio Canada International
Radio Canada International (RCI) is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadc ...
(Tommy Banks
Thomas Benjamin Banks (December 17, 1936 – January 25, 2018) was a Canadian pianist, conductor, arranger, composer, television personality and senator.
Television and musical career
Banks was the host of nationally - and internationally ...
Big Band with Guest Big Miller)
Legacy
Tributes to Miller include a piano solo piece by Jay McShann
James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. He led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Walter Brown, and B ...
entitled "Big Miller's Blues", and a track by the Canadian band Shuffle Demons called "Never Be the Same: Big Miller Blues".
The city of Edmonton named the park outside the Yardbird Suite jazz club after Miller.
Discography
As leader
* ''Did You Ever Hear the Blues?'' (United Artists, 1959)
* ''Revelations and the Blues'' (Columbia, 1961)
* ''Sings, Twists, Shouts and Preaches'' with Bob Florence (Columbia, 1962)
* ''"Big" Miller'' (Radio Canada International, 1978)
* ''Live from Calgary'' (Black Bear, 1982)
* ''Live at Athabasca University'' (Stony Plain, 1990)
* ''Last of the Blues Shouters'' (Southland, 1992)
* ''Big Miller and the Tommy Banks Band and Quartet'' (Century II, 1997)
As guest
* Tommy Banks, ''Jazz Canada Montreux 1978
''Jazz Canada Montreux 1978'' is an album by Tommy Banks Big Band with guest Big Miller, which was released in 1978 by Radio Canada International
Radio Canada International (RCI) is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadc ...
'' (Radio Canada International, 1978)
* Rex Stewart
Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra.
Career
As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart drop ...
, ''Henderson Homecoming
''Henderson Homecoming'' is a live album performed by cornetist Rex Stewart with the Fletcher Henderson Alumni that was recorded at the Great South Bay Jazz Festival in 1958 and released on the United Artists label.Edwards, D., Eyries, P. & Call ...
'' (United Artists, 1959)
References
*Jon B. Hittle, ''Jazz Town'', ''Weekender Magazine'', ''Sioux City Journal'', March 2004.
External links
Canada's Digital Collections: Big Miller
*
* Entry at allmusic.com*
Entry at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
Edmonton Jazz Society at yardbirdsuite.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller
1922 births
1992 deaths
American blues singers
20th-century American singers