B次元官网网址淭hey call me Big,B次元官网网址� he said. And in almost every way, he was.

There was the outsized physique, large enough to fill a telephone booth. There was the powerful, blues-shouting voice honed in jazz clubs and lounges across the continent.

But the biggest thing about Clarence (Big) Miller may have been the legacy he left in Edmonton, his adopted home.

B次元官网网址淏igB次元官网网址檚 legacy is there,B次元官网网址� said Edmonton musician and educator Charlie Austin, who often gigged with Miller. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 priceless beyond words, beyond any understanding B次元官网网址� the power, the feel, the spirit.B次元官网网址�

Clarence Horatius Miller was born in 1922 and grew up in Topeka, Kan. The son of a preacher, he was raised in the gospel tradition.

B次元官网网址淚 sang in church and played the tambourine,B次元官网网址� Miller told jazz scholar Leonard Feather in 1960.

But something else was going on as well.

In the 1930s, Kansas was the nucleus of an upbeat new sound, a swinging kind of jump blues that came to be known as the Kansas City sound. Miller was in the midst of it, soaking up shows by Count Basie, Lester Young and Herschel Evans.

He studied piano, played trombone in the school band and began singing one night on the bandstand when his group needed someone who could croon B次元官网网址淪tardust.B次元官网网址� At the same time, he was attending a different kind of school.

B次元官网网址淭he railroads would come in and they had guys with harmonicas and guitars and IB次元官网网址檇 sit around the coal chute listening to these guys sing these old blues songs,B次元官网网址� he told Feather.

By the early 1940s, he was on the road himself, playing trombone in bands and singing ballads in lounges. But for a three-year stint in the army, those travels would continue for almost three decades.

Miller played and sang with jazz royalty such as Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. He recorded four albums, including one with lyrics by Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. He toured with Jon HendricksB次元官网网址� show The Evolution of the Blues, a show that eventually brought him to Canada.

During a 1967 stop in Vancouver, the show folded, leaving Miller stranded. He began gigging around Western Canada and liked what he saw, especially the easier racial climate. He decided to settle in Edmonton.

B次元官网网址�(I said), I have to get myself together and find me a little stick so I donB次元官网网址檛 go down,B次元官网网址� he told a 1980 National Film Board documentary. B次元官网网址淭hat stick became Edmonton.

B次元官网网址淚 found myself a niche. I can be happy here. I can relax here. I can become my own man.B次元官网网址�

That he did, taking advantage of EdmontonB次元官网网址檚 thriving 1970s music scene.

B次元官网网址淭here were tons of gigs B次元官网网址� live bands in about a dozen rooms all along Jasper (Avenue),B次元官网网址� said Dave Babcock, a saxophonist who often shared the stage with Miller.

Miller sang everywhere, with a voice smooth as bourbon and powerful as a locomotive. He performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Tommy Banks Big Band (with which he won a Juno), and small-group shows in places such as Mayerthorpe, Alta., where he was happy to country up his sound if thatB次元官网网址檚 what people wanted.

B次元官网网址淗eB次元官网网址檇 take on any kind of song,B次元官网网址� Babcock recalls. B次元官网网址淚t didnB次元官网网址檛 matter what key, what song.B次元官网网址�

Babcock, now a bandleader in his own right, described his relationship with Miller as B次元官网网址渕aster-apprentice.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淗e was supportive, approachable, funny. He didnB次元官网网址檛 sit me down and tell me what to do. But any time weB次元官网网址檇 be talking, heB次元官网网址檇 make suggestions and talk about the music.B次元官网网址�

It was invaluable, Babcock said.

B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e getting it from the source. YouB次元官网网址檙e not listening to a record, youB次元官网网址檙e not hearing from a professor. YouB次元官网网址檙e talking to a living person whoB次元官网网址檚 done that.B次元官网网址�

Holger Petersen, owner of Stony Plain Records and host of CBC RadioB次元官网网址檚 Saturday Night Blues, said Miller linked Edmonton B次元官网网址� and all Canada B次元官网网址� to a blues tradition rooted in gospel and filtered through a lifetime.

B次元官网网址淗e really educated people and had a great influence on them. He was the real thing.B次元官网网址�

Every musician who worked with Miller imbibedsome of that, said Austin, who taught jazz for 30 years at EdmontonB次元官网网址檚 MacEwan University.

B次元官网网址淗e taught me a lot of things, kind of indirectly, about the music and the integrity of it. He was a profoundly powerful performer.B次元官网网址�

MillerB次元官网网址檚 voice was so strong he barely needed amplification. Austin recalls one show where he had to use the mike after Miller. He could barely be heard. Miller had turned the volume so low it was almost off.

Nor was MillerB次元官网网址檚 presence restricted to the bandstand.

He was a frequent visitor to Edmonton music classes, waving the baton in front of high-school bands or showing a young drummer how to swing a cymbal pattern.

B次元官网网址淗e was gentle with kids,B次元官网网址� Austin recalls. B次元官网网址淗e was trying his best to show them what to do and he had what they need.B次元官网网址�

Miller settled in to his new home, buying a house and setting up his model railroad in the basement.

Alberta adopted him as well. He was a fixture at the Edmonton Folk Festival and the cityB次元官网网址檚 jazz festival. He taught jazz at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Athabasca University gave him an honorary doctorate.

The provincial government of the time helped fund shows in small-town Alberta and sent Miller on a promotional tour of Japan. The NFB documentary captures a meeting he had with AlbertaB次元官网网址檚 then-minister of culture.

B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 an Albertan,B次元官网网址� he told Mary LeMessurier.

Miller died in Edmonton in 1992 of heart failure. The city named a small park in his honour, in which stands his statue B次元官网网址� suitably B次元官网网址� larger than life.

B次元官网网址淗e had a lot of love in this community,B次元官网网址� said Petersen. B次元官网网址�(Musicians) remember him fondly. A bit of him rubbed off.B次元官网网址�

Austin struggles a bit to define what Miller left behind. Something about commitment, something about joy.

B次元官网网址淲e talked about it once. He said, B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檓 into it from the downbeat. IB次元官网网址檓 gone.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淢y favourite memory is weB次元官网网址檇 be into a tune onstage and weB次元官网网址檙e all having fun and getting down. And he would look over at us like, B次元官网网址楬ey, weB次元官网网址檙e actually here! ItB次元官网网址檚 a celebration!B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

Miller himself may have laid it out best in that Feather interview.

B次元官网网址淓verybody has soul,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淓very race of people has something they call soul. We all have some type of soul and we all try to generate something.

B次元官网网址淚 think we should learn to equalize feelings and equalize understanding. And be together.B次元官网网址�

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press