Celebrating a giant legacy

Friends, fans and fellow musicians from near and far gathered in Naples FL on Sunday, February 12 to celebrate the love and life of trumpeter Dan Miller. He died suddenly on August 19 at age 54 but left a giant legacy. A legacy of phenomenal trumpet artistry, an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz, renown as a skilled and passionate educator, and a life filled with joy and a genuine kindness to everyone he met.

Dan Miller

Those traits were underscored time and again during the two and a half-hour celebration at North Naples Church. The program included a revolving cast of bands, beginning with the Gulf Coast Big Band, which Dan led for 10 years, followed by blends of musicians he had worked with through the years - on the road with the Harry Connick Jr. big band, in New York, in New Orleans, and in Florida for the past 18 years.

Wendell Brunious

"Dan was the embodiment of brilliance, kindness and love for all," his longtime girlfriend, Judi Woods, told the hundreds in attendance.

All of the material on this afternoon, programmed by longtime band-mate Lew Del Gatto, consisted of Dan's favorite tunes. Trumpeters Leroy Jones and Wendell Brunious and clarinetist Caroline Brunious were there from New Orleans, with Jones capping their back-to-back appearances with "When It's Sleepy Time Down South."

Nathaniel Williford

Another group dug into one of Dan's favorite formats, a Jazz at the Philharmonic-style ballad medley. It opened with one of Dan's former students, Nathaniel Williford, playing "Tenderly;" and five tunes later, closed with Horace Silver's ballad "Peace," that featured Del Gatto, trumpeter Terumasa Hino and violinist Glenn Basham.

Lew Del Gatto, Terumasa Hino

The live performances were interspersed with video clips from 11 musicians who were unable to be there in person. They included Connick and fellow New Orleans musicians Craig Klein and Jeremy Davenport; as well as fellow trumpeters Randy Brecker, Chuck Findley and New Mexico-based Bobby Shew, who Dan treasured as a mentor. Singer Carmen Bradford's poignant clip featured her a capella version of "Danny Boy," while teen-aged pianist Brandon Goldberg, who Miller took under his wing about seven years ago, played Duke Ellington's "In a Mellow Tone."

Jeff and Preston Rupert

Later in the program, a septet of longtime Miller collaborators also performed "In a Mellow Tone." This grouping included tenor saxophonist Jeff Rupert, who heads the jazz studies program at the University of Central Florida, and his son, Preston, who was a trumpet student of Dan's since age 10.

The joyous closer was an extended take on Miles Davis's "Blues By Five," which Dan used as a first-set finale at many of his performances. 

This one had a dozen participants: pianist Roy Gerson, bassist Chuck Bergeron, drummer Jim White (in from Colorado), trumpeters Hino, Brunious, Preston Rupert and Kenny Rampton (in from New York), and tenor saxophonists Jerry Weldon (in from New York), Gerald Augustin, Jeff Rupert and Lou Califano. 

In his video remarks, Connick said Dan had been a cherished and talented member of his band and a treasured friend. "His legacy is of joy. He was this giant teddy bear of a sweetheart that we all loved so much."

Blues by Five:
Kenny Rampton, Lou Califano, Gerald Augustin, Lew Del Gatto,
Jerry Weldon, Jeff Rupert, Wendell Brunious (partially hidden),
Preston Rupert, Terumasa Hino

A life well-lived, and then some....

Someone's impact on others is a more meaningful measure of a life well-lived than the number of years they spend on the planet. That notion was reinforced today when we received word that Dan Miller died unexpectedly yesterday (Friday, August 19). He was just 53.

Dan was passionate about a lot of things - auto racing and other sports, fine food, and his family. Most of us knew him best through his many contributions to the world of jazz. He was a high-octane trumpeter, blessed with a bright, soulful sound that graced the ranks of many a band through the years.   

His sudden passing came just a few days after he and his sweetheart, Judi Woods, returned from their regular 12-day vacation trip to New Orleans. On this visit, he caught up with many longtime musical friends and former band mates, and sat in one night at Preservation Hall.

The Chicago-area native worked with Maynard Ferguson, Harry Connick Jr., the Wynton Marsalis-led Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Tom Jones, Woody Herman, Lionel Hampton and others. It seemed he could do it all - and do it well. He was as passionate about teaching as he was about performing, maybe even more so. 

Dan was a fixture on the New York jazz scene until 2004 when he began spending part of the year in Southwest Florida. He moved here permanently about a dozen years ago, quickly making an indelible impact on the region's music scene - as a performer, educator and mentor.

In addition to leading or co-leading groups, frequently with NBC Saturday Night Live Band alumnus Lew Del Gatto, Dan was on the Jazz Studies faculty at the University of Central Florida and also taught privately. He traveled the country frequently as a guest clinician at high school and college jazz programs. He was a Yamaha Performing Artist and Clinician for more than 30 years.

He taught late pianist Barry Harris's principles of jazz improvisation to students of all instruments. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz players and their recordings - not just the trumpeters whose work he studied in analytic detail. He shared that knowledge freely - and eagerly.

He started and directed the Naples Philharmonic Youth Jazz Orchestra, and led a Naples-based community big band concert series on Sunday afternoons during the snowbird season.

Here's what Wynton Marsalis shared today on Facebook about what he termed his "inexpressible grief" over Dan's death:

“Dan was the essence of our music: soulful, original, virtuosic and consistent. He was a great great educator and even better student. Most importantly, he was deeply engaged with humanity and how it could best be expressed in our interactions with each other, and through the trumpet. Big sound, big spirit, his sudden passing is shocking and a wake up call for us all to savor every moment down this road. Rest In Peace.”

If you want to read more about Dan's impact on jazz here, there and seemingly everywhere, here is an appreciation of his work that I wrote last September.

Still adventurous after all these years

Trumpeter Terumasa Hino, at age 79 a jazz dynamo and elder statesman in his native Japan, divides his time between his homeland and the U.S. He worked steadily in New York starting in the mid-1970s, playing and recording in the bands of saxophonist Jackie McLean and drummer Elvin Jones, among others.

Terumasa Hino

This hard-bop player, whose musical forays have ranged from jazz-rock fusion to the avant garde, became a snowbird four years ago. He was attracted to Southwest Florida primarily to golf in the winter and spring, returning to Japan for concert tours and club dates for about half of the year.

Hino was the special guest of the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra for the quintet's Wednesday, January 12 All That Jazz concert at Artis-Naples' Daniels Pavilion. By his recollection, this was Hino's first performance in the U.S. as a bandleader or featured player in more than 10 years.

And what an interesting performance it was, revealing Hino's trumpet mastery, range, playfulness and enthusiasm as he found ways to interact musically with each of the quintet members. They included tenor saxophonist and artistic director Lew Del Gatto, trumpeter Dan Miller, pianist Jerry Stawski, bassist Kevin Mauldin and drummer Mike Harvey.

A trumpeter’s legacy of paying it forward

The fine trumpeter Bobby Shew, now one of the horn’s elder statesmen, gave Dan Miller an unforgettable present on his protégé’s 30^th birthday.

As Miller recalls 22 years later, those sage words of wisdom went like this: “You don’t want to be a sideman all your life. You’re going to turn 50 years old and the phone is going to stop ringing. It is not because you can’t play well, it’s because there are two younger generations of players who are working with all the big acts. You have to become your own boss. You have to book your own gigs. You have to teach. You have to do clinics. You have to travel. You have to lead your own bands. You have to diversify how you work in music.” 

Dan Miller

Miller has done all that with an energy that seems tireless. While he keeps busy as a player, bandleader and trumpet ambassador, the jazz education side of his career seems most satisfying. More so lately in the pandemic environment and being sidelined for the past two months after surgery on a broken foot.

He grew up in Chicago, immersing himself in the Windy City’s jazz scene as a listener and student player. Then he headed to the University of North Texas in 1987, where he found even more mentors, including brass instructor Don Jacoby, before going on the road with the Woody Herman Orchestra two years later.

In 1991, Miller moved to New York City with his brother, trombonist David Miller. Whenever Dan was in town, he made sure to go to pianist Barry Harris’ Tuesday night jazz workshops to soak up more ideas on the art of improvisation. Harris, at 91, still runs his workshops. 

The thirst for live jazz performances is back

Thursday night, July 8, saw another full house at The Barrel Room at Twisted Vine Bistro in downtown Fort Myers for the Dan Miller-Lew Del Gatto Quartet. It was the band's fifth week back at the rathskeller-style room after a 15-month lull because of the pandemic.

Lew Del Gatto, Tony Vigilante

The band is top-notch, featuring trumpeter Miller, tenor saxophonist Del Gatto, bassist Brandon Robertson and drummer Tony Vigilante. On this night, they had one guest musician sit in for most of the evening: Terumasa Hino.

Two Trumpets, No Waiting

Los Angeles-based trumpeter Chuck Findley was the Naples Philharmonic Jazz Orchestra’s special guest on Wednesday, February 27 as part of the sextet’s 2018-19 concert series. Amid all of the polished playing and musical firepower, he and trumpeter Dan Miller quickly turned the evening into a mutual admiration event at Artis-Naples' Daniels Pavilion.

Chuck Findley

That feeling was most apparent as the band tackled Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island,” trombonist (and longtime Findley collaborator) Matt Finders’ blues composition “Two Trumpets, No Waiting,” and Findley and Miller’s more-nuanced exploration of "Joy Spring." This version of trumpeter Clifford Brown’s jazz classic teamed them with just the rhythm section. 

 

Dan Miller

All evening, as one of the trumpeters took a solo, the other watched and listened in rapt admiration. Their unison work on melodic lines was exquisite.

Findley was featured on several tunes, playing the mellower flugelhorn on the Bruno Martino ballad “Estate” and on the standard “Star Eyes.”

Findley, Miller

The band also dug into Jerome Kern’s “The Song is You,” Miles Davis’s arrangement of Monk’s “Well You Needn’t” and “What a Wonderful World.” The NPJO includes Miller, tenor saxophonist and artistic director Lew Del Gatto, violinist Glenn Basham, pianist Jerry Stawski, bassist Kevin Mauldin and drummer Mike Harvey.

Findley, a longtime studio ace, began his career with stints in the Jimmy Dorsey Band and the Buddy Rich Band before joining “The Tonight Show Band” led by Doc Severinsen during the Johnny Carson era. He also played in “The Tonight Show Band” led by Branford Marsalis and later Kevin Eubanks during the Jay Leno era.

Findley, Del Gatto

He has known 25-year “Saturday Night Band” alumnus Del Gatto for many years, but this was the first time they’d seen each other, or played together, since 1966. Back then, Findley was in the Buddy Rich Band and Del Gatto had joined the band as a two-week substitute.

Miller had met Findley several times over the years but this splendid night, bringing out the best in each soloist, was the first time they had performed together.

Kevin Mauldin

Glenn Basham

Lew Del Gatto

The sextet's next concert, on Wednesday, April 24, features rising-star singer Veronica Swift.

Jazz at sea with healthy doses of Latin flavor

Anybody who didn’t hear enough music aboard the 2019 edition of The Jazz Cruise only has themselves to blame. The offerings were plentiful and varied, with music running from 11:30 a.m. to after 1 a.m., with staggered programming in five different performance spaces. There were more than 100 jazz musicians in the lineup, and about 2,000 passengers aboard the m/s Celebrity Infinity.

The cruise departed Fort Lauderdale FL on Saturday, January 19 and returned a week later after brief stops in St. Croix, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Labadee, Haiti. Clearly, most folks aboard were there for the music. It was the 19th annual cruise, and more than a few passengers have been on most of them. 

Valdés, DeFrancesco, Shaheed

This year’s personal treats:

Covering the jazz waterfront

After forty-plus years on the New York jazz scene, trumpeter Randy Sandke has made himself a new home base in Southwest Florida. He moved to Venice a few months ago and has settled into the fertile area jazz scene.

Randy Sandke

While he has had some gigs as a sideman, Sunday, January 6 brought his first area concert as a bandleader. And a fine one it was. His quintet included saxophonist Peter BarenBregge, pianist Joe Delaney, bassist Don Mopsick and drummer David Pruyn – with Sandke acknowledging them as “stalwarts of the Florida jazz scene.”

Digging into classic Miles

James Suggs

Twenty-five years after he left the planet, Miles Davis's music lives on. His classic jazz material was on full display Wednesday night at the Venice Art Center in a concert by trumpeter James Suggs' quintet. The band dug into material from his cool, modal and hard bop periods from the 1950s and early 1960s.

The band's performance, co-sponsored by the South County Jazz Club, drew a full house of 160 in the center's main gallery. Suggs' band include tenor saxophonist Jeremy Carter, pianist John O'Leary, bassist Alejandro Arenas and drummer Mark Feinman.

Boxing Miles

Miles Davis, 1986*

Jazz legend Miles Davis passed away 25 years ago today at age 65. On September 28, 1991, less than eight weeks after historic concerts in Montreux, Switzerland and Paris in which he revisited classic material, he died in a southern California hospital of pneumonia and heart failure. In addition to being a trumpeter, bandleader and style shaper, he had a strong interest in boxing - and worked out in the ring to keep fit.It hardly seems possible he’s been gone a quarter century. 

One reason is the continued high profile of his music. Within five years of his passing, the labels with which Davis was affiliated began reissue projects of just about everything available from his multi-faceted career. The prolific variety of at least 25 boxed sets and reissues may seem overwhelming to casual fans, but the relentless boxing of Miles is a delight to the jazz world’s compleatists, or at least the Davis contingent. And for that, Miles might smile, or not.

A lengthy rundown of those projects follows.

The Miles Davis legacy, still vibrant after all these years

Trumpeter, bandleader and jazz innovator Miles Davis would have turned 90 today (May 26), had he not passed away nearly 25 years ago. That quarter-century absence from the jazz scene arrives on September 28, 2016.

His music continues to resonate for lovers of his various styles of performance: bop, cool bop, modal jazz, hard bop, electronic fusion, and instrumental pop music. He was one of the pivotal figures in modern jazz. Miles was a charming, frustrating enigma – blessed with one of the sweetest tones ever heard on trumpet and dogged by a "Prince of Darkness" persona that was as much a buffer guarding his private space as it was a mystique.

On this Milestone day, here’s an opportunity to check out or revisit the 4,000-word profile I prepared just before his 60^th birthday. The four-hour interview experience was quite illuminating about the man and his music. I’m also sharing a few images from that April 7, 1986 afternoon in Manhattan.

 

Happy 90^th, Miles. wherever your spirit resides today. It certainly resides in countless musical hearts, given the relentless interest in the music.

 Photos © Ken Franckling 1986, all rights reserved.