Al Miller (musician)

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Al Miller (* around 1900, † after 1936) was an American blues musician ( vocals , mandolin , guitar , also kazoo ) of the interwar era .

Life

Al Miller, about whose other life little is known, recorded a total of 26 songs between 1927 and 1936. After his first recordings in July 1927 for the short-lived label Black Patti Records ("Someday, Sweetheart", # 8047), the producer J. Mayo Williams gave him the opportunity to make recordings for Paramount and Brunswick Records ; He also recorded in 1929 with King Mutt and his Tennessee Thumpers (including with Jimmy Blythe ) for Gennett Records . While his songs, recorded in 1927, were still heavily influenced by vaudeville , his 1929 recordings borrowed from Hokum , as in the three versions of his best-known song "Somebody's Been Using That Thing" (1929, Brunswick Records 7063). This song was also recorded by Alex Hill and in 1936 by Milton Brown (Decca 60610) and was popularized mainly by Tampa Red .

The pianist Cripple Clarence Lofton and the clarinetist Odell Rand took part in his 1936 recordings, and the pianist Frank Melrose (“Pass the Jug”) was involved in other recordings . Miller recorded both under his own name, for example as Al Miller and His Market Street Boys or as Al Miller and His Swing Stompers ("Ain't That a Mess?", 1936) and Al Miller's String Band, and as an accompanist, among others. a. for Cripple Clarence Lofton (1936) and the singers Red Nelson Wilborn, Luella Miller (1928) and Mozelle Alderson (1927).

His song title "Thirty First & State" alludes to the former Chicago entertainment district on the South Side, with lines like The best looking woman that I ever saw / Are runnin 'round corners, dodgin' the law and You can get a get a nose full of coke and a belly full of booze . Miller's song "I Found Your Keyhole" from 1929 (Brunswick 7088) is full of sexual allusions.

I found your keyhole, baby, but my key just won't go in.
I twist it to the east, I twist it to the west, now it's beginning to bend.
Now, my key's too big, or your keyhole is too small.
They just won't work, now, baby, that's all.

In the opinion of Allmusic author Arwulf Arwulf, Al Miller combined elements of country music , blues and jazz in his playing , a style of playing that manifested itself in western swing from the mid-1930s ; Arwulf compares his mandolin playing with that of Charlie McCoy , Yank Rachell , Charlie Burse and Peg Leg Howell .

The guitarist Al Miller should not be confused with the Chicago blues harmonica player of the same name, who has been active since the 1960s.

Discographic notes

  • Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order 1927-1936 ( Document Records , ed. 1994)
  • Negro String Band Music 1927–1936 (Limited Edition Records)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ with the guitarists Dan Roberts and Alex Robinson under the name Hokum Boys . See Before Elvis: The Prehistory of Rock 'n' Roll , edited by Larry Birnbaum, 2013, p. 407.
  2. ↑ Al Miller & His Swing Stompers - Champion 50067 (1936)
  3. ↑ Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed December 29, 2014)
  4. ↑ a b Dietrich Helms, Thomas Phleps: Topic No. 1: Sex and popular music . 2014, page 59
personal data
SURNAME Miller, Al
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues musician (vocals, mandolin, guitar)
DATE OF BIRTH around 1900
DATE OF DEATH after 1936