The Jazzcat

Sammy Miller & The Congregation

“Music that feels good”

Sammy Miller and the Congregation: Bringing the Joy Back to Jazz

Performing Next Month at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy Club Coco-Cola

New York, New York, December 7, 2012 – A native of Los Angeles, 21
year-old Sammy Miller has become known for his unique maturity and relentless
focus on making music that “feels good”, whether he’s holding down the drumset
with Jazz legends like Johnny O’Neal or leading his own group, Sammy Miller & The
Congregation.

Next month, Miller will bring the Congregation’s fresh and swinging sound to
Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy Club Coco-Cola for five nights (January 22-26; 11:30pm
set time). The group includes some of New York’s most sought after young jazz talent,
including bassist Josh Crumbly (Terence Blanchard, Taylor Eigsti) and pianist Kris
Bowers (Marcus Miller, Kanye West).

Although nobody in the sextet is older than 22, the group channels the spirit of
jazz from an earlier age. “I know a lot of young musicians are looking to play odd-time
signatures, with misleading harmony, and disorientating melodies, but I am not interested
in that,” says Miller. “Jazz is about the spirit of bringing people together. It is a joyful
music. That is what we are trying to do.”

Sammy Miller received his BA from the New School and is currently a Masters Student at
The Juilliard School. These days, you can find him every Saturday at Smoke Jazz holding
the drum seat with the great Johnny O’Neal (Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown). At
the ripe old age of 21, Sammy has already performed/recorded with the likes of Wynton
Marsalis, Christian Scott, Bobby Watson, David Benoit, and Ozomotli, and has received
a list of accolades that includes the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s Shelly Manne Award, the
Dolo Coker Scholarship, and the 2009 Los Angeles Music Center’s Spotlight Award.