RIP Mulgrew Miller

May 30, 2013 6:34 AM

Jazz pianist Mulgrew Miller is gone too soon at 57. His music lives on, including this streaming NPR recording of the Mulgrew Miller Trio live at the Kennedy Center Jazz Club.
posted by .kobayashi. (14 comments total)

.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:04 AM on May 30, 2013

.
posted by tealsocks at 8:30 AM on May 30, 2013

.
posted by jcrcarter at 9:03 AM on May 30, 2013

Frustratingly, the third link isn't live right now, though it was when I made the post (C'mon, NPR!). Here's an alternative option for you.
posted by .kobayashi. at 9:07 AM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Nate Chinen's obituary is well done. Miller was indeed a "fixture," and it's appropriate to acknowledge that his sideman work overshadowed his work as a leader and to pat him on the back for it. Mulgrew Miller was one of those players who, if you were a jazz fan, you might not have owned one of his records but you definitely owned records that he played on.
posted by cribcage at 9:35 AM on May 30, 2013

Damn.

.
posted by phoebus at 12:24 PM on May 30, 2013

Saw him playing with Tony Williams (another taken too young) years ago.
He was a terrific talent.
posted by Mr.Me at 1:28 PM on May 30, 2013

Echoing a sentiment expressed upthread: Damn. Saw him play a couple of times, and he was a terrific all-around jazz pianist.

He also seems to have been very well regarded among his peers, and the interviews I've seen/heard suggest that he was a very likeable, down-to-earth person. Condolences to the family.

.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 12:35 AM on May 31, 2013

Here's an alternative option for you.

Thanks for that .kobayashi. And for the FPP. I came back to it this morning and was disappointed to find the NPR link was dead. Listening to those tracks now and enjoying them immensely.
posted by three blind mice at 12:41 AM on May 31, 2013

That NPR killed that link -- which is the only thing I can conclude, given that the surrounding NPR links are still active -- is colossally disappointing, and leads me not to trust the other NPR link either. I don't have any other good streaming sites. But here's an hour-long youtube interview that folks might find interesting.
posted by .kobayashi. at 3:29 AM on May 31, 2013

I gave my parents Live at Yoshi's a while back and we both love that album. He really was a fantastic piano player. Very sad to leave early.

RIP
posted by packfan88c at 6:03 AM on May 31, 2013

.
posted by ruelle at 6:49 AM on May 31, 2013

And it looks like the NPR link in the post is now once again active. Huzzah!
posted by .kobayashi. at 12:29 PM on June 3, 2013

Sad news indeed. Remarkably, Miller played on more than 500 albums in less than 35 years. (And, obviously, is featured on many YouTube videos.) A class act indeed. He died in Allentown PA, where the local paper had this to say.
posted by LeLiLo at 1:14 AM on June 4, 2013