Allison Miller (born 1974 or 1975) is an American, New York City-based

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and teacher.

Early life

Miller is descended from a long line of musicians on the maternal side of her family. Her grandmother was a professional organist in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, whose sister was a professional singer. Her mother is a classical pianist and choral director. Miller has a cousin who she described as "a very famous opera singer". Miller was raised in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

area, and began playing drums at the age of 10, studying with Walter Salb. She attended

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

Career

5 years after graduating from West Virginia University, she moved to New York City to study with

Michael Carvin Michael Wayne Carvin (born December 12, 1944) is an American jazz drummer. Biography Born in Houston, Texas, Carvin began his musical training at the age of six with his father, one of the top drummers in Houston. By the age of twelve, Carvin be ...

and

Lenny White Leonard White III (born December 19, 1949) is an American jazz fusion drummer who was a member of the band Return to Forever led by Chick Corea in the 1970s. White has been called "one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion". White has won thre ...

, and began her career as a freelance drummer. Because of this, she's earned gigs with artists like

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influenc ...

Brandi Carlile Brandi Marie Carlile (born June 1, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and producer. Her music spans different genres, including folk rock, alternative country, Americana, and classic rock. Throughout her career, she has received eleven Gramm ...

, and more. She has also worked as a producer, composer, and teacher. She has recorded six albums as a leader: ''5 AM Stroll'', ''Boom Tic Boom'', ''No Morphine-No Lilies'', ''Live at Willisau'', ''Otis Was a Polar Bear'', and ''Glitter Wolf'' as well as working as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

. Her work with bands have included ''Honey Ear Trio'' with Rene Hart and Erik Lawrence, ''Holler and Bam'' with Toshi Reagon, and her own band, ''Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom, ''composed of Todd Sickafoose, Marty Ehrlich, and Dan Tepfer''.'' Miller has performed with songwriting vocalists

Natalie Merchant Natalie Anne Merchant (born October 26, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter. She joined the band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and was lead vocalist and primary lyricist for the group. She remained with the group for their first seven albums before ...

, and

Erin McKeown Erin McKeown (pronounced ) is an American multi-instrumentalist and folk-rock singer-songwriter. McKeown's music encompasses pop, swing, rock, folk, and electronic music, as well as several other genres. Music career They grew up in Frede ...

, and toured with avant-garde saxophonist Marty Ehrlich, organist Doctor Lonnie Smith and folk-rock singer

. Some of Miller's music has been featured in Showtime series, "The L Word". She is also a three-time Jazz Ambassador for the United States State Department, having traveled to East Africa, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia.

Personal life

Miller identifies as a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

. In 2013, she contributed an essay to ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' describing her

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

process and her experiences as a female, lesbian, and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

in the male-dominated jazz world.

Discography

* ''5am Stroll'' (Foxhaven Records) (2005) * ''At The End of The Day'', Agrazing Maze (Foxhaven Records) 2006 * ''Boom Tic Boom'' (Foxhaven Records) (2010) * ''Boom Tic Boom:'' Live at Wilisau (Foxhaven Records) (2012) * ''No Morphine No Lilies'' featuring Boom Tic Boom (The Royal Potato Family) (2013) * ''Otis Was a Polar Bear'' featuring Boom Tic Boom (The Royal Potato Family) (2016) * ''Science Fair'' with Carmen Staaf (

Sunnyside Records Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record company and label initially established by François Zalacain in 1982 to release an album by pianist Harold Danko. Albums by Kirk Lightsey and Lee Konitz soon followed, beginning a sequence of releases ...

) (2018) * ''Glitter Wolf'' featuring Boom Tic Boom (The Royal Potato Family) (2019) * ''Rivers in Our Veins'' (The Royal Potato Family) (2023)

Other projects

* ''Steampunk Serenade'' - Honey Ear Trio (Miller, Rene Hart, Erik Lawrence) (2011) * ''Swivel'' - Honey Ear Trio (2016) * ''Lean'' - Lean (Miller, Jerome Sabbagh, Simon Jermyn) (2016) * ''Parlour Game'' - Parlour Game (Jenny Scheinman, Miller, Carmen Staaf, Tony Scherr) (Royal Potato Family, 2019) * ''ARTEMIS'' - ARTEMIS (an all-female jazz supergroup) (2020,

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

) * ''In Real Time'' - ARTEMIS (2023,

) * ''Tues Days'' (Duet with Jane Ira Bloom) (2021)

As side musician

Miller's work as a session musician includes: * ''Betty 3'' - Betty (1999) * ''No Walls'' - Virginia Mayhew (2000) * ''Phantoms'' - Virginia Mayhew (2003) * ''At The End of The Day'' - Agrazing Maze (2005) * ''Fingerprint'' - Eric Deutsch (2007) * ''Heart and Soul Live in San Francisco'' - Kitty Margolis (2005) * ''Tiny Resistors'' - Todd Sickafoose (2008) * ''Jungle Soul'' - Dr. Lonnie Smith (2008) * '' Red Letter Year'' -

Ani Difranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influenc ...

(2008) * '' Bear Creek'' -

(2012) * '' ¿Which Side Are You On?'' -

(2012) * ''The Stars Look Very Different Tonight'' - Ben Allison (2013) * ''Out and About'' - Will Bernard (2016) * ''Last Things Last'' - Greg Cordez (2017) * ''An Eight Out of Nine'' - SLUGish Ensemble, Steven Lugerner (2018) * ''Lioness'' - Lioness (all woman group) (2019) * ''Redshift'' – Josh Deutsch (2020) * ''Occasionally'' – Pat Donaher (2021)

References

External links

* *
All About Jazz: Meet drummer Allison Miller

2012 Audio Interview with Allison Miller from Podcast "I'd Hit That"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Allison 1970s births Living people American women singer-songwriters American rock songwriters American rock singers West Virginia University alumni American folk musicians American lesbian musicians American LGBTQ singers American LGBTQ songwriters American women drummers American rock drummers Year of birth missing (living people) Jazz musicians from New York City Lesbian singers Lesbian songwriters 20th-century American drummers 21st-century American drummers American jazz drummers 20th-century American women musicians 21st-century American women musicians 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people Singer-songwriters from New York (state) Singer-songwriters from Washington, D.C. Drummers from New York City