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Interviews
Mulgrew Miller: Reshaping the Familiar
AAJ: Your latest disc is dedicated to the late James Williams, whom I know was a good friend of yours. I wonder, do you have any favorite James Williams compositions that particularly come to mind when thinking of James?
MM: Really, so many of his compositions. One that I think is hauntingly beautiful is called "Take Time for Love. It's a ballad, and that when I heard it played it caught my ear. I didn't realize it was such a short tune—it's only about 12 bars. It's really beautiful. There are some other tunes—very fine songs that I love—"Focus that is kind of a straight-ahead minor blues, "Foreplay and all of those things. James was a brilliant composer, and all of his tunes have a kind of lyrical stamp on them.
AAJ: It's interesting how these Memphis pianists—James, Donald Brown, yourself, have also built reputations as being rather strong composers. I'm curious to know, would you rather be known for your composing or your piano playing?
MM: I would love to be known as both, but I don't think I would be known as being as prolific in the compositional arena as those other two guys were. I would probably be remembered more as a pianist-composer, as opposed to a composer-pianist.
AAJ: You're clearly part of a generation of musicians who were some of the last to play with "the greats —you having played with both Art Blakey, Tony Williams and Betty Carter among others. Other musicians in this generation who come to mind are Wallace Roney, Kenny Garrett, and Steve Nelson. Are you conscious of being a part of this generation, and what does it mean to be so if you are? Further, how do you think the outlook of this generation is different from the younger musicians on the scene now?
MM: That is the way that I would distinguish guys from my generation. Some of the younger guys will not have the chance to play as many of the greats as we had, because there are just not many alive today. That being said there are some very fine young musicians who play with Roy Haynes and, you know, those legends that are left. Some played with Elvin Jones in his last days. There were a couple of bands that played with Art Blakey after I left. You have a gentleman like Anthony Wonsey who played with Elvin.
AAJ: It's been more than ten years since you recorded Hand in Hand, which a lot of musicians point to as a great example of contemporary writing and arrangement. I'm curious how you look back on that record.
MM: Well, it was a challenge first of all. I remember conscientiously, taking on the challenge of writing a record of all original music. I was fortunate enough to get the quality of musicians that would help me bring it off successfully. There was an element of economics that came into play though. Joe Henderson could only appear on a couple of tunes. It was during the time that he got that big push, and his management would only allow him to do a couple of tracks.
AAJ: Any plans to record with Wingspan again?
MM: We're talking about that right now. We do have one more live date in the can, from the Kennedy Center. Maybe after that a Wingspan project or another special project..
AAJ: At this point in your career, are you thinking there are any special projects you would like to pursue that you have not been able to prior to now? Any musicians you would especially like to collaborate with?
MM: Yeah there are some.. I wanted to do a recording with Little Milton, who was a big R&B star when I was growing up in the Delta in Mississippi. I had somewhere in my mind to do something with him, but he died last month, so that was a dream that got away. I still would like to do something in that order.
AAJ: That's interesting, because I remember reading an interview of McCoy Tyner where he had said that he would really like to take a similar departure—to do a blues record, and in fact he mentioned specifically that he wanted to work with Robert Cray.
MM: (Gasps...) Well, I didn't see that interview but Robert Cray was actually the guy I had in mind. (hearty laughter)
AAJ: How do you feel like your playing has changed over time? I think someone who is familiar with your recording and playing from the '80s would certainly recognize you playing now, but that there are certainly also some differences.
MM: I think I have sought to become a more melodic player, and a more lyrical player than I was in those days. I think those were the main points that would distinguish my playing now from then.
AAJ: How is your relationship with MaxJazz?
MM: The relationship with MaxJazz is great. I feel the people who run the company—Richard McDonald and his son, are people who really care about the music, and they do a great job of getting the music out there, and getting it on the radio, and distributed...it's probably all-around the best relationship I've had yet with a record company.
