Eddie Miller

Ray Bauduc , Herschel Evans , Bob Haggart , Eddie Miller, Lester Young , Matty Matlock , Howard Theater, Washington DC, ca.1941.
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

Eddie Miller (* 23. June 1911 in New Orleans as Edward Raymond Müller ; † 1. April 1991 in Philadelphia ) was an American jazz - Tenor saxophonist , clarinetist and singer of the old-time jazz and swing .

Eddie Miller started out as a professional musician in New Orleans in 1927. His first recordings are from 1930. He worked from 1930 in the Big Band of Ben Pollack and then as a soloist until the dissolution of the band in 1942 in that of Bob Crosby took over the Pollack band 1934th In 1941 Miller also appeared in the Crosby Band as the singer of the blues number "I Was Only a Dream" (by Kokomo Arnold ).

Miller was also from 1935 member of the "Bobcats" of Bob Crosby. After his time at Crosby he had his own band for a short time (with singer Ray Eberle ) before he was drafted into the military; he was soon released due to illness. He settled in Los Angeles , where he worked as a studio musician for 20th Century Fox. In 1940 he was one of the Metronome All-Stars with Harry James , Jack Teagarden , Benny Carter , Charlie Christian and Gene Krupa . At Capitol in 1944 he took part in sessions of the Capitol Jazzmen with Shorty Sherock , Barney Bigard , Pete Johnson with the singer Peggy Lee . He also worked repeatedly with his own groups; In the mid-1940s, a. a. Harry Babasin , Pete Daily , Nappy Lamare , Artie Shapiro and Nick Fatool . In 1947 he played in the backing band of R&B singer Jeese Price. From the 1950s to the 1980s he performed in reunions of the Crosby Band and worked with Pete Fountain in New Orleans from 1967 to 1976 . Miller was active until the 1980s; In 1987 he recorded with Nick Fatool.

Miller also composed a. a. the jazz standard "Slow Mood" ( known as "Lazy Mood" after the adaptation by Johnny Mercer ).

In 1998 he was inducted into the Big Band Jazz Hall of Fame.

Discographic notes

• Swinging Tenors - Bud Freeman / Eddie Miller (Affinity, 1944–47 (Miller) and 1953 (Freeman))
• Wild Bill Davison and Eddie Miller Play Hoagy Carmichael (Real Time Records 1981) u. a. with Nat Pierce and Howard Alden
• George Van Eps : Once in Awhile ( Delmark , ed. 2014).

literature

• Will Friedwald : Swinging Voices of America - A Compendium of Great Voices . Hannibal, St. Andrä-WIERT, 1992. ISBN 3-85445-075-3

Web links

• Biography on Verve by Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
• Eddie Miller at Discogs (English)