Steve Miller, Jimmie Vaughan & Charlie Musselwhite at the Rose Theater

Steve Miller (left) and Jimmie Vaughan

Steve Miller was born into a family of musicians in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and at age five learned his first guitar chords from his godfather, electric guitar pioneer Les Paul. In 1950, the Miller family moved to Dallas, Texas, where blues legend T-Bone Walker taught the nine-year-old Steve to play lead guitar. As a young man, Miller moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he further developed his blues chops, playing with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, and Paul Butterfield. After leading several blues-rock bands, in 1966 Miller formed the Steve Miller Band (initially called the Steve Miller Blues Band) and enjoyed a series of hits in the 1970s. Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.The Steve Miller Band's 17th and most recent studio album is 2011's Let Your Hair Down.

Miller moved to New York three years ago and is the curator for a series of nine blues concerts for Jazz at Lincoln Center. The third program, entitled The Blues Triangle: Memphis, Texas, Chicago, sold out two consecutive nights at the Rose Theater and featured a shared collaboration with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan (The Fabulous Thunderbirds) and harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite. They were joined by pianist Shelly Berg, organist Mike Flanigin, trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, alto saxophonist Patrick Bartley, tenor saxophonist Craig Handy, baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and drummer Sonny Emory. Together, they took the audience through a concert program inspired by Miller's own musical footsteps. Between songs, Miller offered a condensed history of the blues and explained the differences between the music created in the three blues hubs decades ago. Hence, rather than showcasing new songs and flashy musical prowess, the program was committed to the education and preservation of an American art form. As such, the program succeeded, in that Miller and company ably performed personalized treatments of obscure and vintage compositions.