Miller, Eddie (originally, Muller, Edward Raymond)

Miller, Eddie (originally, Muller, Edward Raymond), tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, singer; b. New Orleans, June 23, 1911; d. Los Angeles, April 1, 1991. He played his first local gigs while still in his early teens. He joined the New Orleans Owls in 1928, subsequently moved to N.Y.,. where he worked on his alto sax with various bandleaders for eight months. He switched to tenor sax after joining Ben Pollack’s band in September of 1930, remaining with the band until it broke up in 1934. Miller became the founding member of the band that eventually became Bob Crosby’s Band; he remained with the group until it disbanded in late 1942. From early 1943, he led his own band on the West Coast (featuring several ex-Bob Crosby musicians). After brief service in the army during August 1944, Miller returned to Calif. to lead his own band again, before becoming a studio musician. The band was featured in the Donald O’Connor film You Cant Ration Love (1943), where Miller was also prominently featured as a soloist on many film soundtracks, including:The Girls He Left Behind, Mr. Big, You Were Meant for Me, No Way Out, and Panic in the Streets. Miller took part in many Bob Crosby reunions during the 1950s and 1960s. He traveled to Japan with Bob Crosby in late 1964, and also dates in Las Vegas and N.Y. Miller occasionally worked in New Orleans during the 1960s, and was also featured at many jazz festivals, including the first New Orleans Jazz Festival in 1969. Miller was with Pete Fountain during the early 1970s, and toured Europe with World’s Greatest Jazz Band (1977). He continued to play through the mid-1980s in Calif., and was less active until his death in 1991.

Discography

Uncollected Eddie Miller & His Band (1943); Eddie Miller-George Van Eps (1946); Tenor of Jazz (1967); Portrait of Eddie (1971); It’s Miller Time (1979).

—John Chilton, Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter