Allison Miller Named the 2025-2026 Ken Pullig Visiting Scholar in Jazz Studies

Acclaimed jazz drummer, composer, and bandleader Allison Miller will join Berklee College of Music’s Harmony and Jazz Composition Department as the Ken Pullig Visiting Scholar in Jazz Studies during the 2025–2026 academic year. 

The New York Times describes Miller as “a player of extraordinary power and imagination.” She is the fourth musician to be invited to hold the position, which was established in honor of Pullig, the former chair of jazz composition, who retired in 2012 after leading the department for more than 30 years.

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome Allison as our Ken Pullig Visiting Scholar for the upcoming academic year,” said Ayn Inserto, assistant chair of the Harmony and Jazz Composition Department. “An extraordinary musician and innovative thinker, Allison brings a fresh and dynamic perspective that will enrich and complement our program. We are excited for the Berklee community to engage with her artistry, insight, and unique voice, and look forward to the inspiration she will undoubtedly share.”

In addition to an artistic career spanning more than 30 years, Miller is also a leading educator. She is a 2025 recipient of the Capitol Hill Foundation’s DC Jazz Leaders in Service Award and Yamaha’s Educational Legacy Award, which honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the jazz scene in Washington, DC, and a lasting impact on the field of music education. Miller has taught and led master classes at several institutions, including the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute, where she also serves on the faculty, Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz, Focusyear, Stanford Jazz Workshop, and the Elbphilharmonie Jazz Academy in Hamburg, Germany. In 2017, Miller became the artistic director of Jazz Camp West in California, and she is currently serving on Jazz Education Network’s Board of Directors.  

"It is an honor to be named the 2025–2026 Ken Pullig Visiting Scholar,” said Miller. “I look forward to working with the collective student body, as well as guiding each individual on their unique journey to access the truth behind their compositional voice.” 

Miller will approach teaching through a series of prompts, improvisation games, biomimicry, vocalizing, and analysis. Each student will be challenged to explore why they compose, discovering their authentic voice through new compositional ideas. Her objective is to incentivize students to compose with an open mind and foster equal opportunities.

Described by Paste as a “modern jazz icon in the making,” Miller has released 17 albums as a leader or coleader, including the acclaimed recordings Boom Tic Boom (2010), Otis Was a Polar Bear (2016), and Glitter Wolf (2019), the last of which was hailed by NPR and DownBeat for its inventive composition and genre-defying sound. She is also a contributor to the groundbreaking book New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers, created by Terri Lyne Carrington, the artistic director and founder of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice.

About Allison Miller

New York City–based drummer, composer, and teacher Allison Miller engages her deep roots in improvisation as a vehicle to explore all music. Over the course of her career, she has collaborated with an array of international artists and institutions, such as Brandi Carlile, Ani DiFranco, Natalie Merchant, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Camille A. Brown, the Oakland Symphony, the American Ballet Theater, Cloud Chamber, and others. A proud member of the critically acclaimed Bluenote recording supergroup, Artemis, Miller has been featured on NPR and in the New York Times and DownBeat. She has topped critics’ and reader polls in JazzTimes and DownBeat and received Chamber Music America’s 2024 Interdisciplinary Collaboration of the Year Award for her original song cycle, Rivers In Our Veins (2023). The New Yorker writes “...Miller’s craftiness as a percussionist is met by her ingenuity as a composer and group conceptualist.” For more information, visit allisonmiller.com.