Harry Miller

Born in South Africa, bassist Harry Miller first performed in rhythm-and-blues and rock ensembles that included Manfred Mann, then moved to England and took a post playing aboard cruise ships that sailed to New York, where he absorbed performances by Coltrane, Taylor, and Monk between 1961 and 1964. Once he left Geraldo’s Navy he began working with Mike Westbrook, Mike Osborne, and John Surman, already a fixture on the scene when the Blue Notes arrived. With his wife Hazel he launched the still-active Ogun imprint to document South African and contemporary European musicians, and he also helped establish the Lambeth New Music Society together with its Grass Roots Jazz Club. Chris McGregor invited him into the Brotherhood of Breath; he further appeared in a trio with Osborne and Louis Moholo, in Keith Tippett’s large ensemble Centipede and its smaller counterpart Ovary Lodge, in Alan Skidmore’s quintet, and alongside Stan Tracey. As a leader Miller focused on exploratory work, releasing a solo album, two duet recordings with trombonist Radu Malfatti, and two trios with Peter Brötzmann and Moholo, both issued by FMP. In Conference, an Ogun sextet date from 1978, featured Willem Breuker, while Family Affair, issued by the same label in 1980, remains the only document of his own band Isipingo. He spent time in Berlin, where he made Berlin Bones for FMP in 1981, and later in Holland, where he recorded Down South for Varajazz in 1983 with Bennink, Charig, Wierbos, and Bergin. Miller died in a car crash in Holland in 1983; his four Ogun albums and Down South were later collected in the 1999 Ogun box set Collection, accompanied by an extensive and detailed booklet.