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William Paterson University Mourns Death of Mulgrew Miller, Director of Jazz Studies Program

Mulgrew Miller

William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. mourns the death of Mulgrew Miller, the internationally acclaimed jazz pianist and composer who served as director of the University’s Jazz Studies Program. He was 57.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our faculty member and colleague Mulgrew Miller,” says Kathleen Waldron, president of William Paterson University.  “Mulgrew was an incredibly talented musician whose impact on our students is immeasurable, and we are grateful for how generously he shared his talents and knowledge in engaging with these budding musicians.  He was a wonderful member of our University community and we will miss him.”

“Mulgrew was a great friend, a dedicated and committed colleague, and had truly fallen in love with his students and with the Jazz Program here at William Paterson,” says David Demsey, professor of music and coordinator of jazz studies at William Paterson. “He was one of the most influential jazz pianists in the world and continued to have an enormous worldwide career, but when he was with our students every week, it was about what he could do to help them at that moment.  Each opportunity to perform with him was a life-changer for me musically, but I also learned a great deal from him as a teacher as I watched his intensity, passion and dedication to our students on a day-to-day, hourly basis.”

Miller was appointed as director of jazz studies at William Paterson in 2005.  The University’s jazz program is among the most respected jazz programs in the country with students coming from all parts of the United States and all corners of the world to study with William Paterson’s artist/faculty of world-class New York-area jazz professionals. The program recently celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Miller brought his array of musical and life experiences to the William Paterson campus each day. As an active performer and educator, he taught with a unique perspective that greatly benefited his students.

“The value to students of having a professor who has a performing career and is an educator is that it shows them being a musician is a life,” Miller said during an interview in 2012.  “Jazz is a living art form, and like anything that lives, it is subject to the laws of change and evolution. I want to keep the students attuned to that process, to see new trends while at the same time making sure they appreciate the roots and tradition of the music.”

Miller was a veteran of tours and recordings with such ensembles as Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, three years with the Woody Shaw Quintet, three with the Mercer Ellington Orchestra and over six years with the Tony Williams Quintet. He has been featured on over 400 recordings, made his first recording as a leader for producer Orrin Keepnews' former label, Landmark, and later recorded on the RCA Novus label. He toured throughout the world and in 1997, was invited to tour Japan with an assembly of some of the most prestigious names in jazz piano--a group of ten pianists called “100 Gold Fingers” including Tommy Flanagan, Ray Bryant and Kenny Barron. He was also a member of the Contemporary Piano Ensemble, a unique group consisting of four pianists performing with a rhythm section. Other innovative projects included his duos with Danish jazz bassist, Neils-Henning Ørsted Pederson, his commission to compose a special work for the Dayton Dance Company and his student workshops. He was currently performing worldwide with his own Trio, and his five-piece group Wingspan, as well as with the groups of bassists Ron Carter and Dave Holland.

A native of Greenwood, Mississippi, Miller was picking out melodies on the piano by ear at age six. 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 met fellow students including the late pianist James Williams. 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 and in 2006 he was awarded an honorary degree by Lafayette College, where he served as artist-in-residence in 2008-09.

Visiting hours will be held on Thursday, June 6, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Strunk Funeral Home, 2101 Northampton Street, Easton, PA, 18042; funeral home phone: 610-258-7211.  The funeral will be held on Friday, June 7, at 12 noon, with visiting from 11 a.m. to noon, at Greater Shiloh Church, 403 Davis Street, Easton, PA, 18042; church phone: 610-252-5640.

Donations can be made to The Mulgrew Miller Memorial Scholarship, William Paterson University, payable to:
“William Paterson University Foundation – Mulgrew Miller Memorial Scholarship”

Mailed to:
Office of Institutional Advancement
William Paterson University
Wayne, NJ 07470

Donations can also be made online at http://www.wpunj.edu/giving/. Under the “Select Gift Designation” menu, select “Other,” then go to the “Other Designation” window below and type “Mulgrew Miller Memorial Scholarship.”