David Murray | |
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Born | February 19, 1955 |
Origin | Oakland, California, U.S. |
Genres | |
Instruments | |
Years active | 1970s–present |
Labels | Motéma Music, Red Baron, Justin Time, Marge, PAO Records, Intakt Records, Black Saint, Columbia Epic, Indian Navigation, Disk Union |
David Keith Murray [1] (born February 19, 1955) [2] is an American jazz saxophonist and composer who performs mostly on tenor and bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically for many record labels since the mid-1970s. [3] He lives in New York City.
Murray was born in Oakland, California, United States. [2] He attended Pomona College for two years as a member of the class of 1977, ultimately receiving an honorary degree in 2012. [4] He was initially influenced by free jazz musicians such as Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman and Archie Shepp. He gradually evolved a more diverse style in his playing and compositions. Murray set himself apart from most tenor players of his generation by not taking John Coltrane as his model, choosing instead to incorporate elements of mainstream players Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Paul Gonsalves into his mature style. [5] Despite this, he recorded a tribute to Coltrane, Octet Plays Trane , in 1999.
Murray was a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet with Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill and Hamiet Bluiett. [6] He has recorded or performed with musicians such as Henry Threadgill, James Blood Ulmer, Olu Dara, Tani Tabbal, Butch Morris, Donal Fox, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Sunny Murray (no relation), Ed Blackwell, Johnny Dyani, Fred Hopkins, Don Pullen, Randy Weston and Steve McCall. David Murray's use of the circular breathing technique has enabled him to play astonishingly long phrases. [7]
In 2024, Murray released an album with his new quartet: Francesca, with Marta Sanchez (piano), Luke Stewart (bass) and Russell Carter (drums). His wife Francesca Cinelli Murray produced and directed a video animation for the title “Ninno”, in collaboration with painter and animator Nancy Ostrovsky.
Francesca was selected #2 2024 Best Jazz Album of the Year by the New York Times and among the best jazz albums of the year by Downbeat.
David Murray quartet next album will be released in spring 2025 with Verve Records.
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians.
Pharoah Sanders was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", Sanders played a prominent role in the development of free jazz and spiritual jazz through his work as a member of John Coltrane's groups in the mid-1960s, and later through his solo work. He released more than thirty albums as a leader and collaborated extensively with vocalist Leon Thomas and pianist Alice Coltrane, among many others. Fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world".
Joseph Salvatore Lovano is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. Though best known as a tenor saxophonist, Lovano has also recorded on alto clarinet, flute and drums, amongst other instruments. He has earned a Grammy Award and several mentions in Down Beat magazine's critics' & readers' polls. His wife is singer Judi Silvano, with whom he records and performs. Lovano was a longtime member of the late drummer Paul Motian‘s trio alongside guitarist Bill Frisell.
Mark Turner is an American jazz saxophonist.
Ascension is a jazz album by John Coltrane recorded in June 1965 and released in 1966. It is considered a watershed in Coltrane's work, with the albums recorded before it being more conventional in structure and the albums recorded after it being looser, free jazz inspired works. In addition, it signaled Coltrane's interest in moving away from the quartet format. AllMusic called it "the single recording that placed John Coltrane firmly into the avant-garde".
First Meditations (for quartet) is an album by John Coltrane recorded on September 2, 1965, and posthumously released in 1977. It is a quartet version of a suite Coltrane would record as Meditations two months later with an expanded group. Along with Sun Ship, recorded a week earlier, First Meditations represents the final recordings of Coltrane's classic quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Elvin Jones.
Bye Bye Blackbird is a live album by jazz musician John Coltrane recorded on November 19, 1962 at the Konserthuset in Stockholm and released in 1981 by Pablo Records.
Newport '63 is a live album by jazz musician John Coltrane recorded at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival, with one additional track recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1961. The album features the Coltrane quartet with drummer Roy Haynes substituting for Elvin Jones.
Selflessness Featuring My Favorite Things is a posthumous album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released in 1969. The album juxtaposes two tracks recorded live at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival with a single track ("Selflessness") recorded in a studio in Los Angeles in 1965.
Tenor Madness is an album by jazz musician Sonny Rollins released in October 1956 by Prestige Records. It is most notable for its title track, the only known recording featuring both Rollins and John Coltrane.
Steppenwolf is an album by the jazz group the World Saxophone Quartet released by the Justin Time label. The album features a live performance by Hamiet Bluiett, John Purcell, Oliver Lake and David Murray and was recorded at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on March 1, 1999. This was Purcell's final album with the group.
The Jazzpar Prize is an album by Pierre Dørge's New Jungle Orchestra with David Murray released on the Enja label in recognition of the awarding of the 1991 Danish Jazzpar Prize to Murray. The album was recorded in 1991 and released in 1992 and features performances by Murray, Pierre Dørge, Horace Parlan, Harry Beckett, Per Jörgensen, Jörg Huke, Jesper Zeuthen, Jacob Mygind, Irene Becker, Jens Skou Olsen, and Audun Kleive.
Octet Plays Trane is an album by the David Murray Octet, released in 2000 on Justin Time. The musicians include Murray, Rasul Siddik, Hugh Ragin, Craig Harris, James Spaulding, Ravi Best, D. D. Jackson, Mark Johnson and Jaribu Shahid. The album contains Murray's versions of compositions by John Coltrane, and is dedicated to Bob Thiele.
Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane is a 1987 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Impulse! label. It features performances by Tyner, tenor saxophonists David Murray and Pharoah Sanders, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Roy Haynes. The album received a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance in 1988.
Simon Richard Spillett is a British jazz tenor saxophonist. He has won the BBC Jazz Awards Rising Star (2007), Jazz Journal's Critics' Choice album of the Year (2009), the British Jazz Awards Top Tenor Saxophonist (2011), and Services to British Jazz award (2016).
The Best of John Coltrane is a 1970 compilation album released by Atlantic Records collecting recordings made by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. The album was released shortly after his death as a part of the "Atlantic Jazz Anthology"—a series of greatest hits compilations for Atlantic jazz artists—and features performances from his brief period recording for Atlantic with new liner notes by jazz journalist Nat Hentoff.
"26-2" is a musical composition written by American jazz musician John Coltrane. The song was recorded by Coltrane in 1960, but it released ten years later by Atlantic Records on an album entitled The Coltrane Legacy with a rhythm section composed of McCoy Tyner on piano, Steve Davis on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. The composition itself is a contrafact of Charlie Parker's tune "Confirmation", with harmonic alterations to the original chord changes used by Coltrane in a number of his compositions. This harmonic modification is commonly known as Coltrane Changes, which have been most notably used in Coltrane's "Giant Steps". "26-2" is one of several contrafacts by Coltrane, others including "Countdown", a contrafact of Miles Davis's "Tune Up"; and "Satellite" from the album Coltrane's Sound, which is based upon the chord progression of "How High the Moon". Coltrane plays the first statement of the melody on tenor saxophone and switches to soprano saxophone for the last statement of the melody on the recorded version.
Yes We Can is a live album by the jazz group the World Saxophone Quartet. It features Hamiet Bluiett on baritone saxophone, James Carter on soprano and tenor saxophones, Kidd Jordan on alto saxophone, and David Murray on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet. The album was recorded on March 28, 2009, at Kino Babylon in Berlin, and was released in 2010 by Jazzwerkstatt.