U of M to Honor Jazz Pianist
For release: Feb. 12, 2003
For press information, contact Dionne Chalmers, (901) 678-2350

The University of Memphis will honor jazz pianist Mulgrew Miller with the Distinguished Achievement Award for the Creative and Performing Arts. Miller will receive the award the evening of Saturday, March 1 as part of a concert featuring The Mulgrew Miller Trio.

The Distinguished Achievement Award honors individuals with personal or artistic connections to the Mid South who have distinguished themselves in the arts. Past recipients are Sam Phillips, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, B.B. King, Estelle Axton, Carl Perkins, James Blackwood, Rufus Thomas, Chet Atkins, Kay Starr, Marguerite Piazza, Al Green, Carroll Cloar, David Porter, Dixie Carter, Isaac Hayes, William Eggleston, William Christenberry, J.D. Sumner, Gail Robinson, James Williams, Cybill Shepherd, John Dye, and Scotty Moore.

Born in 1955 in Greenwood, Mississippi, Miller learned how to play piano as a young child and became influenced by gospel, rhythm and blues, and the recordings of jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. Miller also studied classical music, and in the 1970s at The University of Memphis formed friendships with jazz talents Donald Brown and James Williams (who received the Distinguished Achievement Award in 2001).

In his early career, Miller toured with the Mercer Ellington Orchestra and later with vocalist Betty Carter, the Woody Shaw Quintet, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and the Tony Williams Quintet. As a band leader himself, he recorded for the Landmark label. Miller also worked with jazz greats Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, and Diane Reeves. In a 1995 New York Times poll consisting of his peers, he was voted the "most-in demand" pianist in jazz. Miller's latest CD is The Sequel on the MAXJAZZ label.

The Mulgrew Miller Trio will perform the evening of March 1st as part of University of Memphis' Jazz Week 2003. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Michael Rose Theatre on the U of M campus and will include the Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra conducted by Dr. Jack Cooper. Admission to the concert is free to U of M students; $7 for seniors, faculty/staff, and non-U of M students; and $10 general admission.

Jazz Week 2003 is sponsored by the University of Memphis Student Activities Council and the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music's Jazz and Studio Music Division. For more information about the concert, call Dr. Jack Cooper at 678-2547.

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