Mulgrew Miller Piano Festival. ROOTS AND RIBS FESTIVAL of music and food. at OSPAC

THE FIRST ANNUAL MULGREW MILLER PIANO FESTIVAL AT OSPAC.

MARC
CARY, LASZLO GARDONY, ARMEN DONELIAN, JOANNE BRACKEEN AND MANY  OTHER
PREEMINENT PIANISTS GATHER TO PERFORM IN HIS HONOR AT THIS - THE FIRST
ANNUAL MULGREW MILLER PIANO FESTIVAL.

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MULGREW
MILLER (AUGUST 13, 1955  MAY 29, 2013) WAS AN AMERICAN JAZZ PIANIST,
COMPOSER, AND EDUCATOR. AS A CHILD HE PLAYED IN CHURCHES AND WAS
INFLUENCED ON PIANO BY RAMSEY LEWIS AND THEN OSCAR PETERSON. THESE EARLY
INFLUENCES REMAINED IN HIS PLAYING, BUT HE ADDED THE GREATER HARMONIC
FREEDOM OF MCCOY TYNER AND OTHERS IN DEVELOPING AS A HARD BOP PLAYER AND
THEN IN CREATING HIS OWN STYLE, WHICH INFLUENCED OTHERS FROM THE 1980S
ON.

MILLER'S STYLE EVOLVED THROUGH PLAYING WITH A SERIES OF MAJOR
JAZZ FIGURES. AFTER LEAVING UNIVERSITY HE WAS PIANIST WITH THE DUKE
ELLINGTON ORCHESTRA FOR THREE YEARS, THEN ACCOMPANIED VOCALIST BETTY
CARTER. THREE-YEAR STINTS WITH TRUMPETER WOODY SHAW AND WITH DRUMMER ART
BLAKEY'S HIGH PROFILE JAZZ MESSENGERS FOLLOWED, BY THE END OF WHICH
MILLER HAD FORMED HIS OWN BANDS AND BEGUN RECORDING UNDER HIS OWN NAME.
HE WAS THEN PART OF DRUMMER TONY WILLIAMS' QUINTET FROM ITS FOUNDATION,
WHILE CONTINUING TO PLAY AND RECORD WITH NUMEROUS OTHER LEADERS, MOSTLY
IN SMALL GROUP CONTEXTS. MILLER WAS DIRECTOR OF JAZZ STUDIES AT WILLIAM
PATERSON UNIVERSITY FROM 2005, AND CONTINUED TO PLAY AND TOUR
INTERNATIONALLY WITH OTHER HIGH PROFILE FIGURES IN THE MUSIC UNTIL HIS
DEATH FROM A STROKE AT THE AGE OF 57.