![]() If you can do that, you’ll always have a place at my top table.Īnd consider this: “Mulgrew” is an extremely rare first name. One unexpected and experimental piano phrase was so bluesy that I felt it like a hook in the solar plexus. Once I watched him play “Autumn Leaves” with Ron Carter and Russell Malone somewhere in Spain. I admit that this doesn’t seem quite right to me: there are plenty of underrated musicians everywhere, and I never heard a Mulgrew Miller record as a leader that made me desperate for the next one. In the wake of his passing, I saw a lot of finger-pointing at the establishment for failing to give him his due while he was alive. It’s fair to say that the jazz community was rocked by Mulgrew’s death. Listen carefully to the drummer’s many low-key but fabulous responses to the pianist’s improvised line. Young at Heart is a not a truly classic record but the effortless stroll of “You and The Night and the Music” is a great listen Tony and Mulgrew are on the same page, enjoying pure swing. It’s not right that this was Tony’s last record before he died at 51-just as it’s not right that Mulgrew died recently at 57. Tony chose Mulgrew and Ira Coleman to do the casual standards date Young At Heart, which seems distantly related to all those Japanese albums Tony made with Hank Jones and Ron Carter. Just like Bud or Herbie, he blew into the piano. But when Mulgrew played, Tony relaxed the intensity just enough for the lyrical and bluesy piano phrases to come though. It was a great gig, although I couldn’t really hear the trumpet or saxophone solos because the drummer was hitting so hard. I first heard Mulgrew live with the Tony Williams quintet (Wallace Roney, Billy Pierce, Robert Hurst) at the Artists’ Quarter in St. Nat Reeves and Tony Reedus sound great too. This is absolutely how it is supposed to be done. It is important to listen carefully to Mulgrew’s impeccable comping behind Shaw. It’s interesting to compare the similarities (the constantly varied and disjunct phrases, the concluding blues shouts) and the differences (Shaw’s beat is less secure, though his language is more personal). I took down the famous trumpet solo by Woody Shaw, too. Especially “Have You Met Miss Jones.” Many youngsters heard this track and said, “I want to do this! I want to play jazz!” Introducing Kenny Garrett was an important gateway drug for a generation of musicians. But there are no less than 273 sessions in the Lord discography most of those are pick-up studio dates which show Mulgrew’s expertise at making everyone else feel comfortable. ![]() The last time Mulgrew Miller sounded flustered was never.įor me, the samples above show Mulgrew at his best: live, raw, and unperturbed by stressful situations. He wasn’t alone in this perspective, of course, but a certain Cedar Walton-ish elegance set him apart from his peers. I believe he saw it all as a continuum: Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea. ![]() Harmonically Mulgrew was comfortable in anything up to and including Woody Shaw. At half-speed they sound normal, not at all square or evened-out due to velocity. When transcribing these uptempo solos, I was astonished at Mulgrew’s rhythmic accuracy. Playing on “All God’s Children Got Rhythm” on TV for Joe Lovano, Mulgrew straightens out almost enough to be a bebop pianist. In the above solo you can hear some McCoy Tyner and Chick Corea influence. In this rambunctious performance, Mulgrew is totally unfazed by the lacerating drumming of Ralph Peterson. His strong touch, fearsome articulation, and endless flow of clear ideas could challenge any horn player. Mulgrew Miller was one of the great jam session pianists.
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