Max Miller (jazz musician)

Edward Maxwell Miller (November 17, 1911 – November 13, 1985) was an American jazz pianist and vibraphone player.

In 1927 he switched to guitar, performing mostly dixieland with bands in Indiana and Michigan.

He moved to Chicago in the early 1930s and worked as a drummer and string bassist.

At this time he started experimenting with the vibraphone.

He worked with bands around Chicago, playing guitar, piano, and vibes, including with pianist Frank Melrose and drummer Dave Tough.

He went on tour as a guitarist and vibraphonist for the Vincent Lopez Orchestra with Betty Hutton as vocalist.

In 1937, at age 26, he left Lopez to become musical director at WIND radio in Chicago, where he stayed for two years, performing 21 live shows a week, often his compositions.

In 1939 he performed at Carl Cons' Off Beat Club with Anita O'Day as vocalist.

He is credited as hiring O'Day for her first singing job.

This is documented in her autobiography, High Times/Hard Times.

He had a forty year career that peaked in the 1940s and '50s.

Many of his compositions use extended chord harmonies, polyphony, and polytonality and were influenced by Stravinsky, Bartók, and Hindemith.

Miller was born in East Chicago, Indiana.

At an early age he learned banjo and played it in the high school band.

At sixteen he joined the Musicians Union and began to play professionally.

His quintet performed at the Three Deuces club in 1940 until the club burned down later that year.

Alto saxophonist Johnny Bothwell was a member of the group.

He became musical director for the Boyd Raeburn Band.

In 1943 he co-led a quartet with trumpeter Shorty Sherock that included Jimmy Raney on guitar.

Miller met Sidney Bechet in 1944 when he, Smith, and Paul Edward Miller traveled to Springfield to hear Bechet perform.

They sat in with the band into the night.

Miller became friends with Bechet, and they recorded together; their first recording sessions were in 1944 and included Tony Parenti on clarinet, Zilner Randolph on trumpet, Bill Funkey on alto and tenor sax, and Ken Smith on drums.

Billboard magazine's December 15, 1945 issue reviewed Miller's concert with Bechet and Parenti.

In 1945 he became the first jazz musician to perform at Chicago's Orchestra Hall, primarily presenting his compositions, with Muggsy Spanier part of his group.

On October 13, 1946 he performed in a concert presented by Green Recordings at the Civic Opera House as pianist for the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet, the Sidney Bechet Sextet, and his trio.

The concert featured Bud Freeman, Jimmy McPartland.

and George Barnes.

During Bechet's visit to Chicago, Miller booked time in Bachman Studios on Carmen Avenue and recorded private sessions with him.

In 1947 he spent a year and a half working in California, with engagements at the Swanee Inn, the Red Feather, Angelino's, and the Haig.

He returned to Chicago to perform at the Blue Note, then worked in Milwaukee and Minneapolis.

They worked together again in 1948, including the Rag Doll in Chicago, the Continental in Milwaukee, the Flame in St. Paul, again in Chicago in 1949, and in other clubs during the 1950s.

In 1950 he recorded at least six songs for Life Record Company.

This was primarily original material that he had performed at the Orchestra Hall concert, including "Heartbeat Blues", "Sunny Disposition", "Fantasia of the Unconscious", and "Lumbar Ganglion Jump".

He recorded for Gold Seal Records in the 1950s.

He signed to a five-year contract with MCA, but he bought his way out when he learned he would lose the rights to his material.

In 1951 Columbia released an album of Miller playing jazz standards as part of its "Piano Moods" series.

He was backed by Earl Backus on guitar, Bill Holyoke on bass, and Remo Belli (of Remo Drum heads) on drums.

In 1952, he returned to Life Records, recording at least four more sides before the company closed.

In 1953 he performed with Bechet.

In a 1958 interview she said, "My musical co-worker since 1939. To me, Max Miller is the swingin' end. I'd love to do an album with Max."