Harold Simon Miller (25 April 1941 - 16 December 1983) was a South African jazz double bassist, who lived for most of his adulthood in England.

Biography

A native of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa, Miller began his career playing bass for the rock group

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two differen ...

. After settling in London, he became part of a groups of musicians in the 1960s and 1970s who combined

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

with the music of South Africa. He recorded with

Elton Dean Elton Dean (28 October 1945 – 8 February 2006) was an English jazz musician who performed on alto saxophone, saxello (a variant of the soprano saxophone) and occasionally keyboards. Part of the Canterbury scene, he featured in, among oth ...

Chris McGregor Christopher McGregor (24 December 1936 – 26 May 1990) was a South African jazz pianist, bandleader and composer born in Somerset West, South Africa. Early influences McGregor grew up in the then Transkei (now part of the Eastern Cape Provin ...

Louis Moholo Louis Tebogo Moholo (born 10 March 1940), is a South African jazz drummer. He has been a member of several notable bands, including The Blue Notes, the Brotherhood of Breath and Assagai. Biography Born in Cape Town, Moholo formed The Blue ...

John Surman John Douglas Surman (born 30 August 1944) is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet, and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music. He has composed and performed music for dance performanc ...

Keith Tippett Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "..spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary ...

, and

Mike Westbrook Michael John David Westbrook (born 21 March 1936) is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces. He is married to the vocalist, librettist and painter Kate Westbrook. Early work Mike Westbrook was born in Hig ...

. At the end of the 1970s, he moved to the Netherlands for economic reasons and worked with musicians in

Willem Breuker Willem Breuker (4 November 1944 – 23 July 2010) was a Dutch bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonist, and clarinetist. Career During the mid 1960s, he played with percussionist Han Bennink and pianist Misha Mengelberg, co-founding the Insta ...

's circle. In 1971, he made a guest appearance on the album ''

Islands An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

'', by the progressive rock band

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

. He and his wife founded

Ogun Records Ogun Records is a jazz record label created in London in 1973 by South African expatriate bassist Harry Miller, his wife Hazel Miller, and sound engineer Keith Beal. They recorded British avant-garde jazz musicians Keith Tippett, Mike Osborne ...

. Miller died in a car crash in the Netherlands in 1983.

Discography

* ''Children at Play'' (Ogun, 1974) * ''

Live at Willisau ''Live at Willisau'' is a live album by South African pianist and composer Chris McGregor's big band Brotherhood of Breath. It was recorded on January 27, 1973, in Willisau, Switzerland, and was released on LP by Ogun Records in 1974. In 1994, the ...

'' with

Brotherhood of Breath The Brotherhood of Breath was an English-South African big band established in the late-1960s by South African pianist and composer Chris McGregor, an extension of McGregor's previous band, The Blue Notes. History The Brotherhood of Breath i ...

(Ogun, 1974) * ''Ramifications'' with Irene Schweizer (Ogun, 1975) * ''Family Affair'' (Ogun, 1977) * ''In Conference'' (Ogun, 1978) * ''Bracknell Breakdown'' with Radu Malfatti (Ogun, 1978) * ''The Nearer the Bone, the Sweeter the Meat'' with Peter Brötzmann (FMP, 1979) * ''Opened, But Hardly Touched'' with Peter Brötzmann (FMP, 1981) * ''Zwecknagel'' with Radu Malfatti (FMP, 1981) * ''

Alarm An alarm device is a mechanism that gives an audible, visual or other kind of alarm signal to alert someone to a problem or condition that requires urgent attention. Alphabetical musical instruments Etymology The word ''alarm'' comes from th ...

'' with

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

(FMP, 1983) * ''Berlin 'Bones'' with Andreas Boje, Thomas Wiedermann, Manfred Kussatz (FMP, 1981) * ''Which Way Now'' (Cuneiform, 2006) * ''Full Steam Ahead'' (Reel, 2009) * ''Ninesense Suite'' with Elton Dean (Jazzwerkstatt, 2011) * ''The Birmingham Jazz Concert'' with Mike Osborne, Tony Levin (Cadillac, 2012) * ''Different Times, Different Places'' (Ogun, 2013) * ''Different Times, Different Places Volume Two'' (Ogun, 2016)

References

External links

Ogun collection

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Harry 1941 births 1983 deaths Jazz double-bassists South African jazz musicians Centipede (band) members 20th-century double-bassists Brotherhood of Breath members