Jamal Millner is a guitarist from West Virginia who was a member of the band 5x5 led by Corey Harris.
Early life
Millner was given his first "kid guitar" at the age of three. His parents went to "lots of shows". When he was four they took him to a Taj Mahal show and he got up on stage and played his plastic guitar. This was his very first "gig". As a five-year-old he appeared playing banjo in a Yale Universitydocumentary entitled Banjo Man with musicians Taj Mahal and Afro-Appalachian banjoist Uncle John Homer. Jamal also spent a considerable amount of his childhood in Newark, New Jersey where he was exposed to early hip hop culture — rhyming, breakdancing, and graffiti — as well as jazz. Jamal studied blues guitar and vocals with West Virginia blues musician Nat Reese. Millner made his professional debut performance at age 14 with keyboardist and trumpeter Deaton Jones. He was a member of the Bluefield State Collegejazz ensemble under the direction of Don Caruth while still attending Bluefield High School.
Music
Millner received his degree from The University of Virginia in African-American Studies/Music in 1993. He studied with Nat Reese, John Jackson, Howard Armstrong, Martin Williams, Roland Wiggins, Walter Ross, Scott DeVeaux, Judith Shatin and John D'earth. As a member of the 5x5, he toured extensively throughout Europe, Canada, Africa, and Australia. He has been the one of the regular guitarists for the John D'earth ensemble since 1995 and is a founding member of the band Phatness.
Discography
As leader
Phatness
As sideman
2018 To Everyone in All the World: A Celebration of Pete Seeger John McCutcheon Guitar 2009 Chioggia Beat Morwenna Lasko Engineer, Guitar 2003 Box of the Blues Producer, Guitar 2003 Mississippi to Mali Corey Harris Engineer, Photography 2003 Sleeping Lines Plink Guitar 2002 Downhome Sophisticate Corey Harris Producer, Arranger, Composer 2001 Untethered Gar Ragland Composer 1999 Live at the End of the World Baaba Seth Producer 1997 Phatness Jamal Millner Primary Artist 1996 Between White and Black Barbara Martin Bottleneck Guitar Live! From Turtle Island Corey Harris Composer
