[Dixielandjazz] Mulgrew Miller NHOP

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

I went through to Edinburgh and went with a friend to hear Mulgrew Miller and 
Niels-Henning Orsted-Pedersen on the two-man Ellington centenary tour, and the 
CD Marek mentions was a free gift at the door --  with an over-designerised Bang 
& Olufsen booklet, they sponsored the tour and recorded the duo beforehand. 

NHOP was wonderful, sitting on a stool with his bass at a 45 degree angle and 
virtuoso playing and clowning.  Mulgrew was rather deadpan, I remember him 
stiff-looking and apparently uncomprehending -- on a Betty Carter TV film of 
no overall interest to most participants in this list including me -- when he 
was doing the ten fingers on piano with Lionel Hampton doing the two fingers at 
the treble end.  Quite a good demonstration of the Hampton piano -- I gather 
there is a German drummer-vibist called Claus Zwanziger who does the same thing. 


The highlights of the NHOP - Mulgrew M duo live performance were many,  Miller's 
deadpan perfectly attuned to the NHOP clowning and cracking jokes.  The most 
amazing thing was in the middle of Sophisticated Lady, when the pianist played a 
straight solo rendition of LONDONDERRY AIR (aka DANNY BOY).      Deadpan, and 
absolutely on the chords and on the pulse of the performance, and if he'd done 
it before on the duo tour NHOP still found it hilarious. 

And it was all the better for being so sensitively played. Oh, for a DVD of one 
of the performances on the tour -- the CD recording is of just where they 
started. 

And when I received an e-mail from a friend in Denmark too few years later with 
news of NHOP's sudden death from heart failure I was poleaxed. NHOP SWUNG!



From: Marek Boym <marekboym at gmail.com>
To: Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Cc: Dixieland Jazz Mailing List <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] This night's jazz evening
Message-ID: <BANLkTinm_qLQoh57vjTFyMHn4dEqxNCTcw at mail.gmail.com>
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At our weekly jazz evening, we played a CD by Kenny Davern Big Three -
"Playing for Kicks" (JCD 197) .  In addition to Kenny, the trio are
Martin Litton on piano and listmate John Petters on drums.  What a
wonderful CD!  At less than 50 minutes, it was over much too soon!
John really is an excellent drummer, who matches the other two members
- and with Kenny Davern on board, that's saying a lot!
Another good CD, probably little known to members of this list, was
"Duets" by Mulgrew Miller and Niels Orsted Pedersen.  Mulgrew Miller
is hardly a household name for traditional jazz fans, although quite
well known in modern circles.  However, the CD in question, a tribute
to Duke Ellington, was wonderful, and a state of the art recording as
well.  Actually - better than that, considering that it was recorded
in 1999.  But then, it was issued by Bang & Olufsen, the manufacturers
of audio-visual equipment of the highest quality.
Cheers