Mulgrew Miller has made over 400 recordings alone and with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, the Woody Shaw Quintet, the Mercer Ellington Orchestra, and the Tony Williams Quintet.
"Jazz at Saint Michael's" with legendary pianist MULGREW MILLER, Feb. 9
Celebrating Black History Month with "the most demanded pianist in jazz"
Legendary jazz pianist, Mulgrew Miller, inspired from the start by Oscar Peterson, will perform jazz at Saint Michael's on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Saint Michael's McCarthy Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public, made possible by the vanderHeyden Endowment for the Arts.
Miller, a native of Greenfield, Mississippi, has toured widely and has made over 400 recordings alone and with such ensembles as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, the Woody Shaw Quintet, the Mercer Ellington Orchestra, and over six years with the Tony Williams Quintet.
His peers label Miller "the most demanded pianist in jazz." Critics say, "Miller plays elegant, grown up music that's tasteful, melodic, and rhythmic," All About Jazz. "...a pianist who has been impressing his fellow musicians with accomplished, inventive and increasingly individual playing and composing," The New York Times.
Mulgrew Miller will be joined by saxophonist Brian McCarthy and bassist John Rivers.
Additional Jazz at Saint Michael's concerts made possible by the vanderHeyden Endowment for the Arts:
Gregorian Chant Meets Modern Jazz
The Saint Michael's College Chorale, directed by Piero Bonamico, will perform German composer Peter Schindler's Missa in Jazz, a work in the jazz idiom with words of the Latin Mass, on Friday, Feb. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the Saint Michael's College Chapel. Free and open to the public.
Director Bonamico describes the Missa in Jazz as "a marvelous major choral work that combines a Latin text with a contemporary setting. The composition has all the elements of jazz, including rhythmic drum percussion and saxophone riffs, but the vocal arrangements are soaring and melodic, a piece of music that brings a subtle jazz influence to the Latin Mass without sacrificing its solemnity." Dr. Susan Summerfield will accompany the SMC Chorale on organ, Brian McCarthy on saxophone and Dan Ryan on percussion.
Robert Johnson: 100 Years at the Crossroads
Educational Clinic led by blues guitarist and historian SCOTT AINSLIE
Guitarist and historian Scott Ainslie will present a themed teaching concert on the life, music and influences of Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson on Wednesday, March 21, at 7 p.m. in the McCarthy Arts Center. Scott Ainslie has spent nearly 40 years studying and playing traditional music, visiting and documenting senior musicians in American's old time banjo and fiddle music, blues and gospel traditions. Ainslie has received numerous awards and grants for his contributions to blues performance, documentation, scholarship, and education.
Ainslie's recent CD, Thunder's Mouth, is an extension of his work with African and African-American music. "Robert Johnson has always been a hip reference when guitarists are asked about influences; often it's nothing more than lip service. With Thunder's Mouth, Ainslie has continued a career that one can imagine Johnson being proud of," Ray Hogan Stamford Advocate.