Clayton Miller Band updates its name to fit its play list for Riverfront Jazz & Blues

A lot has happened to the members of the Clayton Miller Band since playing the annual Riverfront Jazz & Blues Festival a year ago.

First, the band of brothers and their bass-playing dad, Larry, recently streamlined their name by dropping the "Blues" out of it. The change makes the band's name less of a mouthful and allows the addition of rock sounds to their blues base in their most recent songwriting. Clayton moved to Indianapolis. Middle brother Cole has taken up four-wheeling and has the bumps to prove it, and 9-year-old L.D. grabbed national exposure by making it to the finals of NBC's The Search for America's Most Talented Kid in March.

The whole family, which includes mother and manager Tammy, followed L.D. to Hollywood and were shown on the show, too. Clayton said the recognition from L.D.'s three appearances on the Star Search -like program has carried over through the summer.

"A lot of people still recognize us at the gas station or getting food all over the country," said guitarist and vocalist Clayton. "It's been good exposure and a lot people have found out about the band."

The Clayton Miller Band is currently preparing for a few months of fall touring and will make its fourth straight Riverfront Jazz & Blues Festival at 9 p.m. Saturday. The festival runs from 4 p.m.-midnight and is centered around downtown Lafayette's Riehle Plaza.

A fourth grader at New Community School, L.D. has found school the same as it was before he was on television. Multiplication tables and long division could give anyone the blues.

However, Lafayette's favorite blues boy beamed over his own signature series of harmonicas which also have a drawing of him and the Clayton Miller Band's logo on it. They will be selling them at Saturday's show. "I love them," L.D. exclaimed.

This fall will be the Millers' second national tour. Larry said he and his family are more at ease with this tour as they know what to expect and are better prepared to deal with the curveballs a small touring band receives while on the road.

The Tony Zamora Jazz Ensemble has been performing at the Riverfront Jazz & Blues festival since L.D. was in diapers. Led by Zamora's saxophone, the group of veteran players allow room for guest artists during their festival set. Saturday's set will feature New York pianist Donald Smith, who also sat in with Zamora at the festival in 2001, and Indianapolis vocalist Vickie Daniel, who will make her Riverfront debut.

A singer since she was 5 who was exposed to live music early on thanks to her uncle's band and blues hall of famers Eddie Snow and the Snowflakes, Daniel uses her voice for medicinal purposes as a private registered nurse.

"Music really has a healing effect," Daniel said. "If you don't feel well, music's a great way to lift you up and change your mood. It can change you on a cellular level."

Daniel has performed around Indianapolis for years as a "jazz poet" and as a spoken word artist. As most of Zamora's band currently lives in Indianapolis, Daniel met Zamora at a few shows in recent years. She has performed with him once before at a Greater Lafayette show.

Daniel describes her voice as "ever-growing" and "ever developing." She said her main influences are Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday and old-time big band singers.

"I listen to everybody, but it's all about combining all of these voices into my own voice," Daniel said.

The festival headliner is longtime B.B. King bassist Big Joe Turner. The 59-year-old Memphis, Tenn., native now living in Mississippi will be bringing his band, the Memphis Blues Caravan, as backup. He broke into music with King's help in the early 1970s and played on and off the blues legend until 1993.

Turner gets asked "What exactly are Memphis blues?" practically every day. He said the sound is very different than Chicago or Southern blues but hard to put into words.

"The best way to answer is to say you have to listen for yourself," Turner said. "It's something that's very hard to put a finger on. I know what it is because I grew up there. ... There's a definite style. I've been trying to figure it out myself."

Turner has played all over the world with King and supporting other notable bluesmen including Albert King and Little Milton. He lived in Europe for more than a decade reforming his band and playing in France, Britain and an unlikely stint on one of Spain's Canary Islands .

"It (the band) was made up of all Americans," Turner recalled. "We were playing on top of this mountain of all the places in the world."

While he hasn't played with B.B. King in 10 years, he still considered his more than two decades of laying rhythm down for Lucille, one of the most famous guitars in recorded history, a career highlight.

"I don't think you can top that," Turner said. "With the King, it doesn't get much better."