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Marcus Miller

Marcus Miller

About Artist

Marcus Miller, winner of the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album of 2001, was born in Brooklyn in 1959. He came from a musical family and he displayed an early affinity for all types of music. By the age of 13 he was already proficient on the clarinet, piano, and bass guitar and had begun composing music. The bass guitar, however, was his love and by the age of fifteen, he was working regularly in New York City with various bands. Soon thereafter, he was playing bass and writing music for flutist Bobbi Humphrey and keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith.

Miller spent the next few years as a top call New York studio musician, working with Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, Grover Washington Jr., Bob James and David Sanborn, among others. He has appeared as a bassist on over 400 records including recordings by artists as diverse as Joe Sample, McCoy Tyner, Mariah Carey, Bill Withers, Elton John, Bryan Ferry, Frank Sinatra, and LL Cool J.

In 1981, he joined his boyhood idol Miles Davis and spent two years on the road with the fabled jazzman. Then for more than twenty years, Miller has also enjoyed a musical relationship with R&B legend, Luther Vandross and he has contributed countless hits to Vandross repertoire both as a producer and writer. After spending many years as a producer and session musician, Miller focused on his solo career in late 1993.

In the past several years, Miller has also turned his attention to film scoring as well. Whether he's making music for kids or longtime fans, keeping it real is the criteria that steers all of Marcus Miller's music.

 

Comments

The great bassist made the basses purr, finishing his concert in apotheosis at Juan-Les-Pins with an orgiastic reprise of Miles’ Tutu.”
Le Figaro

At the Olympia, the genius bassist showed the scope of his talent to an enthusiastic, enthralled audience. Three and a half hours of very high level performance.”
Le Monde

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