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January 10, 2006
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MULGREW MILLER NAMED DIRECTOR OF JAZZ STUDIES AT WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY
—Renowned pianist has been critically acclaimed for work as a leader and with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Woody Shaw, Mercer Ellington and Tony Williams
Mulgrew Miller, a jazz pianist and composer of international stature, has been named director of the Jazz Studies Program at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J.
One of the most recorded pianists on the jazz scene today, Miller has been featured on more than 400 recordings. He made his first recording as a leader in 1985 for producer Orrin Keepnews’s former label, Landmark, and has recorded as a leader of his own trios and quintets for RCA/Novus. His most recent recordings, on MaxJazz, include “Live at Yoshi’s, Vol. 1” (2004), “Live at Yoshi’s, Vol. 2” (2004) and “The Sequel” (2003).
Miller is a veteran of tours and recordings with such ensembles as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, three years with the Woody Shaw Quintet, three years with the Mercer Ellington Orchestra and over six years with the Tony Williams Quintet. He regularly tours throughout the world and in 1997, was invited to tour Japan with One Hundred Fingers, an assembly of some of the most prestigious names in jazz piano including Tommy Flanagan, Ray Bryant and Kenny Barron. Other innovative projects include his work with the late Danish jazz bassist Niels-Henning Orsted Pederson and a commission to compose a special work for the Dayton Dance Company.
“As an educator, my main objective is to share with the students my experience and knowledge, gained through decades of performing and development,” says Miller. “Our ideal at William Paterson is to provide an environment conducive to optimum development and at same time encourage and allow artistic individuality. Our teaching staff consists of professional musicians who work on the New York scene; many have established worldwide reputations.”
The William Paterson Jazz Studies Program is unique among higher education programs. Among the most respected programs in the country, it is one of the few with an emphasis on small-group playing, improvisation and a genuine commitment to the jazz tradition. Jazz majors come to William Paterson from all parts of the United States and all corners of the world to study with its artist/faculty of world-class jazz professionals, including members of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, which is in permanent residency. Founded in 1973, the program has been directed by the legendary trumpeter and composer/arranger Thad Jones (1973-1980), renowned bassist Rufus Reid (1980-1999), and the late internationally acclaimed pianist James Williams (1999-2004).
“We are delighted to, once again, have at the helm of this ‘flagship’ program of the University a musician and teacher of such stature as Mulgrew Miller,” says Ofelia Garcia, dean of the College of the Arts and Communication at William Paterson. “We are certain that the quality of our programs will continue to grow under his direction.”
“Mulgrew Miller is one of the most influential improvisers in the world of jazz today, on any instrument,” says David Demsey, coordinator of the Jazz Studies Program. “What our students are quickly learning is that he is also a deeply caring person, and a wonderful teacher. We are extremely fortunate that he has made this commitment to William Paterson and to our students, and on a personal basis it is very exciting and fulfilling to lead the program in partnership with him. I know that his daily presence will take the jazz program to a higher level.”
A native of Greenwood, Mississippi, Miller was picking out melodies on the piano by ear at age six, taking lessons at age eight and going on gigs with his older brother by age 10. As a teen, he soaked up every kind of music available in his small Southern hometown - blues, country and western, gospel, rhythm and blues, classical, and discovered his passion for jazz after seeing piano legend Oscar Peterson perform on television. During the 1970s, he studied at the University of Memphis, where he found friends and mentors in the late pianist James Williams, saxophonist Bill Easley and Ray Charles’s sideman Rudolph Johnson. Miller began his professional career at age 20 with the Duke Ellington Orchestra, led by the late Mercer Ellington. In 2003, the University of Memphis presented Miller with the Distinguished Achievement Award for the Creative and Performing Arts.
William Paterson University is also home to several jazz archives, including the Clark Terry Archive, featuring manuscripts, recordings and memorabilia from one of the century's great trumpeters and one of the founding fathers of jazz education. These include the Thad Jones Archive, a collection of original scores and charts composed or arranged for the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra; and the James Williams Archive, which includes compositions, arrangements and nearly 300 rehearsal and live performance tapes recorded by Williams.
The University also presents the popular Jazz Room Series, which is in its 28th season of concerts by renowned professionals and William Paterson student ensembles. The series has won numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation for its innovative programming, which encompasses the complete spectrum of jazz from bebop to avant-garde.
One of the nine state colleges and universities in New Jersey, William Paterson University offers 32 undergraduate and 19 graduate programs through five colleges: Arts and Communication, Christos M. Cotsakos College of Business, Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Science and Health. Located on 370 hilltop acres in Wayne, the University enrolls nearly 11,000 students and provides housing for nearly 2,300 students. The institution's 375 full-time faculty are highly distinguished and diverse scholars and teachers, many of whom are recipients of prestigious awards and grants from the Fulbright Program, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the American Philosophical Society.
www.wpunj.edu
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