Big Miller

Clarence Horatius "Big" Miller (December 18, 1922 – June 9, 1992) was an American jazz and blues singer and trombonist, chiefly associated with the Kansas City blues style.

Biography Early years Miller was born in Sioux City and grew up in Topeka, Kansas. His mother was descended from black slaves and his father was a preacher, of mixed black and Lakota origin. Miller was 193 cm in height (6 ft., 3.5 inches) and weighed more than 115 kilograms (over 250 lb.). He acquired the nickname "Big" while playing football as a teenager. After performing with John Hendricks's revue, The Evolution of the Blues, Miller signed with Columbia Records and released several full-length albums,

Edmonton Discouraged by racial tensions in the mainland United States, he began touring other countries and lived for a while in Australia and then Hawaii. He became a Canadian citizen in 1973

He had a short side career as an actor, appearing in Big Meat Eater (1982), A Name for Evil (1973), and a cameo in the comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

"Big" Miller died in 1992 in Edmonton at the age of 69, of a heart attack.

Awards 1979 Juno Award – Best Jazz album: Jazz Canada Montreux 1978 (Tommy Banks Big Band with Guest Big Miller)

Legacy Tributes to Miller include a piano solo piece by Jay McShann entitled "Big Miller's Blues", and a track by the Canadian band Shuffle Demons called "Never Be the Same: Big Miller Blues".

The city of Edmonton named the park outside the Yardbird Suite jazz club after Miller.

Discography As leader Did You Ever Hear the Blues? (United Artists, 1959) Revelations and the Blues (Columbia, 1961) Sings, Twists, Shouts and Preaches with Bob Florence (Columbia, 1962) "Big" Miller (Radio Canada International, 1978) Live from Calgary (Black Bear, 1982) Live at Athabasca University (Stony Plain, 1990) Last of the Blues Shouters (Southland, 1992) Big Miller and the Tommy Banks Band and Quartet (Century II, 1997)

As guest Tommy Banks, Jazz Canada Montreux 1978 (Radio Canada International, 1978) Rex Stewart, Henderson Homecoming (United Artists, 1959)