Article

Clarence Horatio Miller

Published Online April 9, 2008

Last Edited February 4, 2014

Clarence Horatio Miller, "Big," jazz musician, blues singer, trombonist, educator (born 18 December 1922 in Sioux City, Iowa; died 9 June 1992 in Edmonton, AB). By 1960 Big Miller had sung with the Jay McShann and Duke Ellington orchestras and recorded with Bob Brookmeyer, Rex Stewart and Jon Hendricks.

Clarence Horatio Miller, "Big," jazz musician, blues singer, trombonist, educator (born 18 December 1922 in Sioux City, Iowa; died 9 June 1992 in Edmonton, AB). By 1960 Big Miller had sung with the Jay McShann and Duke Ellington orchestras and recorded with Bob Brookmeyer, Rex Stewart and Jon Hendricks. Miller made his Canadian debut in 1962 and took up residence in Vancouver in 1967 before settling in Edmonton by 1970. He subsequently led a variety of small jazz and blues bands in western Canada but also toured nationally with Phil Nimmons' Nimmons 'N' Nine Plus Six and travelled abroad as a soloist. He taught at the Banff Centre and Grant MacEwan College (Edmonton) and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Athabasca University in 1985. The subject of the National Film Board documentary Big and the Blues (1980), Miller recorded several albums during his Canadian years, including the Juno Award-winning Jazz Canada Montreux with the Tommy Banks Orchestra (1978), Live from Calgary (1982) and Live at Athabasca College (1989). Big Miller with Tommy Banks' Big Band was released posthumously (1997).