Trombonist and president of the Jazz Outreach Initiative Curt Miller and his wife Eliane, a former 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ dance instructor, recently made a generous gift to the 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Division of Jazz and Commercial Music. The gift will be used for endowed scholarships and studio upgrades.
"On behalf of the 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ School of Music, Jazz and Commercial Music Division, I am honored to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Curt and Eliane Miller for their generous donation in endowing our program to benefit our dedicated students with scholarships and other essential funding in perpetuity," said director Dave Loeb. "Curt and Eliane have made a lasting impact with their significant gift that will help sustain our award-winning program through many generations to come."
Curt studied jazz at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ between 1973-1977, before receiving the call to go on tour with Elvis Presley and several other gigs.
"It's a pay-it-forward thing," said Curt. "I gained so much musically from my time learning at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ, studying with (former professors) Frank Galliardi and Ken Hanlon. They were like life coaches to me."
He returned to 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ in late 1983 to help build the recording studio, at the request of professor Hanlon. He remained as a full-time lecturer until 1995.
"I learned discipline during my time at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ. Discipline of music brings discipline to life. It helped me with my music career, and in business, as well as just general life skills."
Eliane moved to Las Vegas in 1980 to perform as a dancer in Alcazar de Paris at the Desert Inn Hotel. Following its closing, she contacted the university to help teach dance for the young program. She remained at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ for 10 years, moving on to work in human resources with Cirque du Soleil for 20 years.
"I came from a very musical family - Frank Sinatra, big bands, dancing jitterbug, but I was a classically trained dancer. I encountered jazz dance at 15-years-old, and immediately thought 'This is me. Where has this been all my life?'"
Curt and Eliane met while both teaching at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ. Eliane connected with Curt to see if he would be interested in working with her to choreograph a jazz dance piece with live jazz musicians. They fell in love while working together.
"We want to leave a legacy, and positively affect the lives and careers of young jazz musicians."