After Phil’s death on 18th October 2017 the Keeper of the Archives at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire expressed an interest in archiving what he called “The Phil Miller Collection” making Phil the Archive’s third Jazz Composer in the Conservatoire’s collection. The Collection would comprise all his recorded work on tapes, vinyl, CDs, manuscripts, band parts and all documents related to his career.
Phil’s work was known to the Conservatoire through the workshops he had conducted in the Jazz Department, using his compositions, These workshops had come about through Fred Thelonius Baker, one of the lecturers at the Conservatoire who was also the bass player in Phil’s band.
I was so pleased with the interest the Conservatoire showed in preserving Phil’s music that I decided to make an endowment to the Conservatoire of the money that Phil had left me in his will which was mainly the proceeds from selling his parent’s house after they had died. The interest from this endowment was to be paid into the Phil Miller Fund to be used to keep Phil’s music alive.
Fred and I thought of several ways to do this and initially tried to give it as a guitar prize. Covid 19 interfered with this and it proved difficult for Fred to organise when he took on the role of bass player for the jazz/rock band Soft Machine.
Last year we initiated another of our ideas: a student band to play the music of Phil Miller. The Phil Miller Legacy Band was formed and had its debut performance in the East Side Jazz Club in February. We were so excited with their performance that, later that year we had a big meeting at the Conservatoire and decided that from now on we would concentrate solely on the band. We have drawn up an exciting program of rehearsals and have plans for concerts and recording sessions and we are hoping to have them play at a prestigious Jazz Festival in this New Year. I will keep you posted about this and other upcoming gigs.
The lineup for the band will change over time as some students finish their courses and new comers will take their places but it will be great to have them learning and performing Phil’s compositions.
When Phil formed his band In Cahoots in 1983 the publicity that went out stated “In Cahoots play the music of Phil Miller”. The Phil Miller Legacy Band will keep his music alive in the same way.
Here is the first lineup in the East Side Jazz Club playing their debut performance.