Jazz Articles about David Murray

David Murray: Black Saint

by Russ Musto
February 6, 2008

The most widely recorded saxophonist of his generation, David Murray's brawny tenor has been heard in a dizzying array of configurations: solo recitals, piano-less trios, duets with pianists and drummers; with the World Saxophone Quartet and his own quintets, sextets and octets; fronting big bands and orchestras with string sections and Afro-Cuban percussion ensembles; in the company of poets, singers and dancers and guitarists from James Blood Ulmer to Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead; and most ...

David Murray: Sacred Ground

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 24, 2008

Album programmatico, Sacred Ground trae origine dalle musiche che David Murray ha scritto per il documentario ”Banished”, film di Marco Williams che racconta alcuni episodi oscuri della storia americana, legati all'espulsione (da cui il titolo del film) di migliaia di persone di colore in alcuni stati del Sud e del Midwest. Queste musiche sono state poi ulteriormente sviluppate da Murray, che ha incaricato il poeta Ishmael Reed di scrivere i testi per due tracce ("Sacred Ground" e “Prophet of Doom"), ...

David Murray Black Saint Quartet: Sacred Ground

by Troy Collins
July 23, 2007

With three decades of recording to his credit, multi-reedist and composer David Murray's oeuvre is a varied one; his dabbling in pan-global multi-ethnic fusions and ensembles has ranged from solo recitals to big bands.

Murray's tenth album for Justin Time Records, Sacred Ground is inspired by his recent film soundtrack for Marco Williams' Banished, which documents the rarely discussed expulsion of thousands of African-American families from their homes at the close of the Civil War through to The ...

David Murray 4tet & Strings: Waltz Again

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 21, 2007

Anche David Murray cede alla tentazione di comporre musica per quartetto jazz ed archi, un modello che negli ultimi anni sembra godere di rinnovato interesse. Lo fa con un lavoro dedicato al padre Walter, scomparso poco prima della registrazione e chitarrista amante dei walzer, da cui il titolo del lavoro. Accompagnato in quartetto da musicisti fidi e di grande levatura, come Jaribu Shahid al contrabbasso, Hamid Drake alla batteria e Lafayette Gilchrist al pianoforte, e circondato da un orchestra d’archi ...

David Murray Trio: 3D Family

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
November 11, 2006

I think of David Murray's long career in two phases: before and after Ming (Black Saint, 1980), the breakthrough album that signalled a substantial jump in maturity as well as a move toward jazz's musical center. But such a division betrays my age. From the distance of nearly thirty years, it's obvious that much of the “early" Murray--the pinnacle of which was Flowers for Albert (India Navigation, 1976)--could be heard in the “later" Murray. This includes notably the dizzying marriage ...

David Murray 4tet & Strings: Waltz Again

by Ollie Bivens
March 29, 2006

Saxophonist David Murray is arguably the most recorded jazz musician in history. In the last ten years alone he has released over thirty albums. During the course of his thirty-year career, Murray has played bebop, Latin jazz, swing, world music and free jazz, performing in almost every configuration imaginable--solo, duo, trio, quartet, quintet, octet and big band.

Waltz Again is a strings project with a Murray twist: a quartet with familiar associates (Hamid Drake, Jaribu Shahid, Lafayette Gilchrist) plus a ...

David Murray 4Tet & Strings: Waltz Again

by R. Emmet Sweeney
December 21, 2005

Waltz Again begins with a thick squall of strings and hyper-Ayler sax wailings, laying down a warning. The strings in this recording will not sit still as a plush backing for treacly balladeering, but will instead bob and weave in constant interplay with the quartet. And when the true ballads come, their beauty gleams off the frenzy that passed before and will rage after.After the squall there is mourning, a swirling dirge of violins that would have Bernard ...