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ROARING TWENTIES
Early Chicago jazz, 1922-27
CD "Roaring Twenties" available for $15 from:
World Arts Productions
P.O. Box 526362 Salt Lake City, UT 84152
Phone: (801) 548-7404

WATCH DOC MILLER'S CHICAGO JAZZ



LISTEN TO ROARING TWENTIES (4 min. mp3 demo).

Doc Miller, early Chicago jazz



LISTEN TO ROARING TWENTIES

CHICAGO JAZZ, original: early & mid 1920s

Louis Armstrong's Hot 5 and Hot 7 style:
Big Butter & Egg Man (60 sec. mp3).
12th Street Rag (75 sec. mp3).
Ballin' the Jack (25 sec. mp3).
St. James Infirmary (20 sec. mp3).
Hot 5 Tribute (60 sec. mp3).

Doctor Jazz: Jelly Roll Morton version (50 sec. mp3).
Dippermouth Blues: King Oliver version (40 sec. mp3).
Bill Bailey
(20 sec. mp3).

CHICAGO JAZZ, second generation

Darktown Strutters' Ball: Red Nichols style (48 sec. mp3).
Royal Garden Blues: Bix Beidebecke style (37 sec. mp3).
Jazz Me Blues: Bix Beidebecke style (60 sec. mp3).
Royal Garden Blues: late Chicago style (70 sec. mp3).

ABOUT ROARING TWENTIES

Exciting original Chicago jazz rarely heard today

      'Doc' Miller's Roaring Twenties band plays authentic Chicago jazz from the early 1920s. Early Chicago jazz came directly from the New Orleans tradition which was developed from various musical sources present in New Orleans around the turn of the century. 'Doc' Miller's dedication to honoring the true early tradition using vintage instruments with the correctv intstrumental and vocal tonality has earned him many bookings throughout Utah and neighbouring states. 'Doc' Miller was invited to sit in at Preservation Hall in New Orleans in 1991 where he played clarinet one night and piano the next.
      Miller won Intercollegiate Jazz Festival trophies three consecutive years in the 1960, the Sounds of Young America national composer trophy and several Utah Composers Guild prizes in the 90s. His reconstruction arrangements of vintage Chicago jazz have been premiered by Utah Symphony, Colorado Springs Symphony and Salt Lake Symphony. In the 1970s Miller hosted his own prime-time TV show on the main NIRTV network in Tehran.
      Roaring Twenties is a fun high energy band true to tradition like few others. Performances at the famed Days of '47 Parade viewed by millions on TV, at Utah's main festivals, many times at the Univerisy of Utah, Brigham Young University, various hotels and dozens of school performances add to the credibility of this exciting ensemble.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: What is special about Roaring Twenties?

A: They are one of the few surviving exponents of authentic early Chicago jazz as established by the original masters.

Q: What bands does Roaring Twenties replicate?

A: They play the Louis Armstrong Hot 5 and Hot 7 style and also sound of King Oliver's band, Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers, Bix Beidebecke & Red Nichols.

Q: What's in the Roaring Twenties repertoire?

A: They play music from around the 1920s. Up tempo tunes include: Dippermouth Blues, Royal Garden Blues, Big Butter and Egg Man, Ory's Creole Trombone, Jazz Me Blues, the Charleston, Ballin' the Jack, Won't You Come Home Bill Baily, etc. Slow tunes include: Careless Love, See See Rider, St. James Infirmary, 219 Blues, 12th Street Rag, Sister Kate, Salty Dog, St. Louis Blues, Darktown Strutters' Ball, Tin Roof Blues,, etc.


LISTEN TO 'DOC' MILLER'S CLARINET (60 sec. mp3).

BAND MEMBERS
      Lloyd 'Doc' Mille founded and leads the Roaring Twenties band. In addition to his role with Roaring Twenties, he leads SwingnJive & L.A.Blues and is the music director for IDT. Miller has been playing authentic Chicago jazz since 1950 on all the instruments of the tradition. He has scored traditional jazz world premiers for Utah Symphony, Colorado Springs Symphony and Salt Lake Symphony. He won Intercollegiate Jazz Festival trohpies three consecutive years in the 1960s and several recent Utah Composers Guild awards.
      Miller earned a PhD in Persian from the Univeristy of Utah with a dissertation on music and song texts which has been published by Curzon Press under the title Music and Song in Persia. He has developed a set of dozens of transcription/arrangements of traditional jazz standards which Roaring Twenties use in their performances. Although the musicians are skilled instrumentalists, using transcriptions of original performances helps to maintain authenticity.

Musicians Who Have Played With Roaring Twenties

      Musicians often seen performing with roaring Twenties include:Dick Skillicorn (cornet), Dan Henderson or Lisa Verzella (trumpet); Alisha Ard, Lee Fugal or Nate Seamans (trombone); Carey Hobbs (tuba); Jesse Crosby or Jared Pendley (banjo); Secily Saunders, Jenny Bangerter or Lacy Madsen (piano); Ben Johnson or Lars Yorgason (bass); Carey Hobbs or Steve Call (tuba); Lynn Brown, Ken Breinholt or Katherine St.John (drums) and Sister Maryam Muhammad (vocal). For special jazz history programs, Miller's scores have been performed by first chair instrumentalists from Utah Symphony or by U of U Jazz Studies director Henry Wolking, BYU jazz studies director Dr. Ray Smith, and other well respected members of Utah's jazz community.
     When on tour, 'Doc' Miller invites local musicians to perform with Roaring Twenties either as a opening act or as members of the band when they can read the transcriptions properly. As part of outreach activities in various communities, Miller trains junior instrumentalists to play traditional pieces in the Chicago style.

Miller's father (right) with the famous Doc Evans in
the 1927 Carleton College Algol

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