Sunny Murray: On Taking the Leap from One Reality to Another

Robert Levin

Contributor since 2010

Robert Levin is the author of "When Pacino's Hot, I'm Hot."

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Published: July 18, 2010

"One time, these dudes came and looked in my compartment, opened the door, smiled, and then closed the door. I had some smoke and I threw it out the window. I didn't know what was going on and I took this little Swedish dagger out and kept it near me all the time. When we got to the port the dudes changed clothes, man, and they came out dressed like sailors—and they weren't no sailors. This really messed up my head because what happened then was they changed into civvies again. And when I got off the train I saw the dudes cross the platform and get on a fucking train that was going back! It was too much, man.

"But that wasn't even it. On the boat, about three days at sea, a dude cuts into me and he says, 'You know the next boat that was leaving the day after this one? Everybody on that boat is just about dead, man.' I said, 'What happened?' He said, 'There was an epidemic of spinal sclerosis or something. Somebody snuck a sick person on the boat, and he died on the boat.' They had taken about four people off the boat in helicopters. So I'm thinking, damn, if I'd went over to this broad's house and laid up an extra day in her crib and caught the other boat, I'd be dead."

"Jesus, man."

"Yeah. But then—it was weird—all these attempts on my life just suddenly stopped. I've never been able to figure it out. I remember that it was around the time that J.C. Moses came into town and tried to play like me in the new system—and, right after him, Paul Motian. That made three 'New Thing' drummers. Right about then is when that shit broke up. Since around that time I ain't had no more hassles with people trying to kill me with violence. Since around that time I've been cool."

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