While still a kid, Justin enrolled in a seminar on orchestration
and arranging. At the end of the course, the teacher reviewed several
of Miller's exercises and said, "This young man had better find
something else to do with his life; he has broken every rule of
classical harmony and has no ear for music." Being a teenager, Justin
took this to be encouragement and proceeded to earn a living writing
arrangements for films, radio and television commercials, and a
ballet. (Along the way he also earned degrees at Yale and the
University of Chicago and wrote a slew of published articles on fun
topics like "Class and Cultural Values in Family Process" and that
lighthearted popular favorite, "Ubersetzen und Ubertragen bei Jung".)
Dr. Miller began interviewing many of the most important-and
fascinating-figures in American popular song writing including Irving
Berlin, Duke Ellington, and Eubie Blake (then 98 years old). He knows
-- and loves to tell -- the stories behind several hundred songs.
Justin has appeared on umpteen records playing piano, organ,
nylon-string guitar and mandolin. Most of his instruments are
custom-made to his specifications.
Beginning in 2002, he began touring extensively with his feature
nylon-string guitar show. He has produced two guitar/mandolin/stories
CDs and another is on the way.
Justin lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, Rosalind, an
English mathematician who introduced him to Gentleman's Relish,
Horlick's malt, and "proper" fried eggs.
