Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Harry Miller was born Harold Simon Miller on April 25, 1941 in Cape Town, West Cape, South Africa. He began his career as a bassist with Manfred Mann, and settled in London. He became a central figure in the mixture of South-African township music and free jazz, which became dynamic on the London scene at the end of the Sixties and into the Seventies.
Miller recorded frequently with musicians such as Mike Westbrook, Chris McGregor, John Surnam, Mike Cooper, Louis Moholo, Keith Tippett and Elton Dean. He found work as a session player and appeared on the 1971 album Islands by the progressive rock band, King Crimson. For economic reasons at the end of the 1970s he moved to the Netherlands, working with musicians of Willem Breuker’s circle.
He recorded five albums between 1972 and 1983 for Cuneiform, Reel Recordings, and his Ogun Records that he founded with his wife Hazel Miller. The label was vital for documenting that period, and is still active today. Bassist Harry Miller passed away on December 16, 1983, in the Netherlands.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Omar Sosa was born on April 10, 1965 in Camaguey, Cuba and began studying marimba at age eight, then switched to piano and studied jazz while attending the Escuela Nacional de Musica in Havana.
In 1993 Omar moved to Quito, Ecuador, then San Francisco, California two years later. The following years saw him deeply involved in the local Latin jazz scene and a long collaboration with percussionist John Santos. He made a series of recordings with producer Greg Landau, including the groundbreaking Oaktown Irawo, featuring Tower of Power drummer Dave Garibaldi, Cuban saxophonist Yosvany Terry and Cuban percussionist Jesus Diaz.
Omar works outside jazz and Afro-Cuban traditions incorporating Latin rhythms, North African percussions, spoken word, rap and classical music. He music ranges from big band, improvisation and world to free jazz and avant-garde.
He won The 10th Annual Independent Music Awards in the Jazz Album category for Ceremony in 2011. Inspired by various musical elements and motifs from Kind Of Blue, Sosa wrote a suite of music honoring the spirit of freedom in Davis’ seminal work. The CD received a nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album at the 56th annual Grammy Awards.
In 2015 he returned to his Cuban roots with the release of Ilé. Joining him on the project were three musicians with whom Omar shares a close connection: fellow Camagüeyanos, Ernesto Simpson on drums, and Leandro Saint-Hill on alto saxophone, flute and clarinet, and Mozambican electric bassist Childo Tomas – collectively known as Quarteto AfroCubano. Pianist, composer and bandleader Omar Sosa has recorded with Carlos “Patato” Valdes, Pancho Quinto and numerous world musicians, worked on several film scores, and now lives in Barcelona, Spain.
