Sunny Murray

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Sunny Murray (2007)

Sunny Murray (born September 21, 1936 in Idabel , Oklahoma as James Marcellus Arthur Murray ; † December 7, 2017 in Paris .) Was an American jazz drummer. In the early 1960s Murray developed a meter-free drum style "that met the needs of free jazz " and became "trend-setting" for other drummers in the genre such as Steve McCall , Don Moye and Phillip Wilson .

Live and act

Murray, who comes from a musical family in Philadelphia, started playing drums when he was nine. In 1956, after moving to New York City, he played with Willie The Lion Smith and Henry "Red" Allen . After a short time in the bebop scene with Jackie McLean , Ted Curson and Rocky Boyd, he worked in various formations with Cecil Taylor from 1959 to 1965 . Through his innovative playing with Taylor ( Live at the Café Montmartre , 1962) and also with Albert Ayler ( Spiritual Unity and Bells ), he established himself as one of the leading drummers in free jazz; he also worked with the New York Contemporary Five by Archie Shepp , John Tchicai and Don Cherry .

In 1966 he was recognized in the Down Beat critical poll as a leading talent for drumming, which deserved further attention, and was able to record his first album as a band leader with Jacques Coursil and Byard Lancaster . In 1968 he went temporarily to France, where he founded his spiritual ensemble . In 1969 he played three albums in Paris with primarily American musicians, but was also involved in an album by François Tusques . After staying in Philadelphia for part of the 1970s, he returned to Europe in 1979 with his group Untouchable Factor , which included musicians as diverse as Byard Lancaster, Khan Jamal or Monnette Sudler , where he also made a highly regarded appearance on the Moers Festival with the then still young David Murray (not related). After further European festival appearances in different constellations, he founded the ensemble Drums Inter-Actual in New York at the end of 1981 with his drum colleagues Ed Blackwell , Dennis Charles and Steve McCall ; then he worked u. a. on recordings by Billy Bang (with Frank Lowe ). In 1986, after a temporary retreat, he returned to Europe - for example at the German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt . He then lived in Paris and also recorded with Alexander von Schlippenbach ( Smoke , 1989). He also played with Alan Silva , Sabir Mateen , Aki Takase , Tchangodei and Assif Tsahar . In recent years he has performed with Tony Bevan and John Edwards .

meaning

Murray, who played alone on a minimally equipped drum set with bass drum , snare , cymbal and (rarely used) hi-hat , already renounced the traditional time-keeping with Cecil Taylor in favor of a constantly increasing and decreasing rhythm fabric of continuous cymbal play and Accents on the bass drum. He creates a swinging pulse in rhythmic arcs and no longer emphasizes the time units. Characteristic for him is a particularly springy game.

With this innovative game, Murray creates “space, color and movement”, according to his colleague Jack DeJohnette . Jazz writer (and former drummer) Stanley Crouch put him in a row with Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis : "He can play a sound so full of music because it is played in exactly the right place with just the right touch."

Despite his stylistic innovation, Murray, who proudly placed himself in the tradition of jazz, emphasized a hierarchical division of labor in the band and saw the role of sideman as the “main task” of the drummer.

Discographic notes

Filmography

Lexigraphic entries

swell

  1. ^ Obituary , accessed December 9, 2017
  2. ^ A b Pierre Crépon Playing the Theory of Relativity: Sunny Murray in Europe 1968-72 . The Wire December 2018
  3. ↑ a b Martin Kunzler Jazzlexikon, p. 914
  4. ↑ Drummer Sunny Murray Dies at 81: Free-jazz pioneer redefined the role of the kit JazzTimes , December 8, 2017
  5. ↑ Both quotations from Kunzler, Jazzlexikon, p. 914.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Murray, Sunny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Murray, James Marcellus Arthur (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz drummer
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Idabel , Oklahoma
DATE OF DEATH 7th December 2017
Place of death Paris