Sunny Murray
Encyclopedia
Idabel, Oklahoma
Idabel is a city in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,658 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of McCurtain County. The town is located in the tourist area Kiamichi Country.-History:...
) is one of the pioneers of the free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
style of drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
ming.
Biography
Murray spent his youth in Philadelphia before moving to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where he began playing with Cecil Taylor
Cecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
: "We played for about a year, just practicing, studying - we went to workshops with Varèse
Edgard Varèse
Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, , whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
, did a lot of creative things, just experimenting, without a job" He was featured on the influential 1962 concerts in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
released as Nefertiti the Beautiful One Has Come
Nefertiti the Beautiful One Has Come
Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come is an album by the Cecil Taylor Unit, recorded live at the Café Montmartre in Copenhagen, Denmark on November 23, 1962...
.
He was among the first to forgo the drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
's traditional role as timekeeper in favor of purely textural playing. "Murray's aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion ... continuous ringing stickwork on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock-cymbal"
After his period with Taylor's group, Murray's influence continued as a core part of Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
's trio who recorded Spiritual Unity
Spiritual Unity (album)
Spiritual Unity is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler . It was recorded for the ESP-Disk label and was a key free jazz recording which brought Ayler to international attention as it was so "shockingly different"...
: "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether."
He later recorded under his own name for ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk is a New York-based record label, founded in 1964 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.From the beginning, the label's goal has been to provide its recording artists with complete artistic freedom, unimpeded by any record company interference or commercial expectations—a philosophy summed-up by the...
and then when he moved to Europe for BYG Actuel
BYG Actuel
BYG Actuel was a French record label specializing in free jazz. The label also released a small number of non-jazz recordings by artists such as Musica Elettronica Viva, Freedom and Gong.-History:...
.
As leader
- 1965: Sunny's Time Now
- 1966: Sunny Murray (ESP Disk)
- 1968: Big Chief (EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
/PathePathé RecordsPathé Records was a France-based international record label and producer of phonographs, active from the 1890s through the 1930s.- Early years :...
) - 1969: Hommage To Africa (BYG ActuelBYG ActuelBYG Actuel was a French record label specializing in free jazz. The label also released a small number of non-jazz recordings by artists such as Musica Elettronica Viva, Freedom and Gong.-History:...
) - 1969: Sunshine (BYG Actuel)
- 1969: An Even Break (Never Give A Sucker) (BYG Actuel)
- 1978: Charred Earth (Kharma)
- 1979: Live At Moers-Festival (Moers Musc)
- 1980: Apple Cores (Philly JazzPhilly JazzPhilly Jazz was a small record label from Philadelphia. Sunny Murray's Apple Cores features Cecil McBee on bass, Frank Foster on soprano saxophone, pianist Don Pullen and guitarist Monnette Sudler. Hamiet Bluiett, Fred Hopkins, Arthur Blythe, and Oliver Lake also each appear on one track...
) - 1987: Indelicacy (West Wind RecordsWest Wind RecordsWest Wind Records was a jazz record label, releasing albums by many notable musicians during the 1980s.Some of these albums were previously issued on labels such as Circle Records .-Discography:*001 Anthony Braxton - The Coventry Concert 1980...
) - 1996: 13 Steps on Glass (Enja RecordsEnja RecordsEnja Records is a German jazz record label based in Munich, Germany. It was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971....
)
As sideman
with Cecil TaylorCecil Taylor
Cecil Percival Taylor is an American pianist and poet. Classically trained, Taylor is generally acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an extremely energetic, physical approach, producing complex improvised sounds, frequently involving tone clusters and...
- Cecil Taylor Jazz Unit, The Early Unit 1962 (Ingo)
- Live At The Cafe Montmartre (DebutDebut RecordsDebut Records was a United States jazz record label, which was founded in 1952 by bassist Charles Mingus, his then-wife Celia and drummer Max Roach.This short-lived label was an attempt to avoid the compromises of working for major companies...
) - Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come (1962)
- It Is in the Brewing LuminousIt is in the Brewing LuminousIt is in the Brewing Luminous is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded at Fat Tuesdays, NYC, on February 8 & 9, 1980 and released on the Hat Hut label. The album features performances by Taylor with Jimmy Lyons, Ramsey Ameen, Alan Silva, Jerome Cooper and Sunny Murray...
(1980)
with Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
- Holy Ghost (RevenantRevenant RecordsRevenant Records is a record label based in Austin, Texas, which concentrates on folk and blues. Revenant was formed in 1996 by John Fahey and Dean Blackwood...
) - Spirits (DebutDebut RecordsDebut Records was a United States jazz record label, which was founded in 1952 by bassist Charles Mingus, his then-wife Celia and drummer Max Roach.This short-lived label was an attempt to avoid the compromises of working for major companies...
) - Swing Low Sweet Spiritual (Osmosis)
- Goin' Home (Black Lion)
- Prophecy (ESP Disk)
- Spiritual Unity (ESP Disk)
- New York Eye and Ear ControlNew York Eye and Ear ControlNew York Eye and Ear Control is an album of group improvisations recorded by an augmented version of Albert Ayler's group to provide the soundtrack for Michael Snow's film of the same name....
(ESP Disk) - Ghosts (DebutDebut RecordsDebut Records was a United States jazz record label, which was founded in 1952 by bassist Charles Mingus, his then-wife Celia and drummer Max Roach.This short-lived label was an attempt to avoid the compromises of working for major companies...
) - Albert Ayler (Philology 88)
- Bells (ESP Disk)
- Spirits Rejoice (ESP Disk)
with Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
- Into the Hot (Impulse!)
with Jimmy Lyons
Jimmy Lyons
Jimmy Lyons was an alto saxophone player. He is best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit.-Biography:...
- Jump Up/What To Do About (hat HutHathut RecordsHathut Records is a Swiss record label specialising in jazz and contemporary classical music.Founded in 1975 by Werner X. Uehlinger to document the work of saxophonist / trumpeter Joe McPhee...
)
with David Eyges
- Crossroads (Music Unlimited)
with Billy Bang
Billy Bang
Billy Bang was an American free jazz violinist and composer.-Biography:...
- Outline No. 12 (CelluloidCelluloid RecordsCelluloid Records, a French/American record label, founded by Jean Georgakarakos operated from 1976 to 1989 in New York, and produced a series of eclectic and ground-breaking releases, particularly in the early to late 1980s, largely under the auspices of de facto in-house producer Bill...
)
with Khan Jamal
- Infinity (Jam'Brio)
- Change of the Century Orchestra (JAS)
- Speak Easy (Gazell)
with Alexander von Schlippenbach
Alexander von Schlippenbach
Alexander von Schlippenbach is a German jazz pianist and composer.-Biography:...
- Smoke (FMP)
with Cheikh Tidiane Fall and Malachi Favors
Malachi Favors
Malachi Favors was a noted American jazz bassist best known for his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago.-Biography:...
- African Magic (Circle Records (Germany)Circle Records (Germany)Circle Records was an Germany based record label specializing in jazz, established in 1976. -Discography:Circle Records was an Germany based record label specializing in jazz, established in 1976. -Discography:...
)
with Burton Greene and Alan Silva
Alan Silva
Alan Silva is an American free jazz double bassist and keyboard player.-Biography:...
- Firmanence (Fore)
with David Murray
David Murray (jazz musician)
David Murray is an American jazz musician. Murray plays mainly tenor saxophone and sometimes bass clarinet. He has recorded prolifically for many record labels since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
- A Sanctuary WithinA Sanctuary WithinA Sanctuary Within is the fifteenth album by David Murray to be released on the Italian Black Saint label. It was released in 1992 and features performances by Murray, Sunny Murray, Kahil El'Zabar and Tony Overwater.-Reception:...
(Black Saint)
with Dave Burrell
Dave Burrell
Davis Burrell is an American jazz instrumentalist, most notably on the piano. He has worked for many jazz musicians including Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Marion Brown and David Murray.- Biography :...
- High (Douglas)
- EchoEcho (Dave Burrell album)Echo is a studio album released by jazz pianist Dave Burrell. It was recorded on August 13, 1969 and first released as an LP album by BYG Actuel...
(BYG ActuelBYG ActuelBYG Actuel was a French record label specializing in free jazz. The label also released a small number of non-jazz recordings by artists such as Musica Elettronica Viva, Freedom and Gong.-History:...
)
with Aki Takase
Aki Takase
is a critically acclaimed, award-winning Japanese jazz pianist and composer.-Biography:Raised in Tokyo, she studied music at Tohogakuen Music University. Starting in 1978, she performed and recorded in the USA with Lester Bowie, David Liebman, John Zorn and others...
- Clapping Music (Enja)
with The Reform Art Unit
- Subway Performances (Granit)
with Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle
Charles Gayle is a free jazz saxophonist, pianist, bass clarinetist, and percussionist.-Biography:Charles Gayle was born in Buffalo, New York. Some of Gayle's history is unclear. He was apparently homeless for approximately twenty years, playing saxophone on street corners and subway platforms...
and William Parker
William Parker (musician)
William Parker is an American free jazz double bassist, poet and composer.-Biography:Parker was not formally trained as a classical player, though he did study with Jimmy Garrison, Richard Davis, and Wilbur Ware and learned the tradition. Parker is one of few jazz bassists who regularly plays arco...
- Kingdom Come (KFW)
with Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
and his Jazz Messengers
- Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers/Sonny Murray Quartet-1968(JCD)
with Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
- Live at the Pan-African FestivalLive at the Pan-African FestivalLive at the Pan-African Festival is a live recording of Archie Shepp's performance in Algiers on July 29–30, 1969, when his free jazz band was complemented by a section of traditional North-African musicians.-Track listing:All songs arranged by Shepp....
(BYG ActuelBYG ActuelBYG Actuel was a French record label specializing in free jazz. The label also released a small number of non-jazz recordings by artists such as Musica Elettronica Viva, Freedom and Gong.-History:...
) - Yasmina, a Black WomanYasmina, a Black WomanYasmina, a Black Woman is a jazz album by Archie Shepp, recorded in 1969 in Paris for BYG Actuel records. It features musicians from the Art Ensemble of Chicago...
(BYG ActuelBYG ActuelBYG Actuel was a French record label specializing in free jazz. The label also released a small number of non-jazz recordings by artists such as Musica Elettronica Viva, Freedom and Gong.-History:...
) - Black GipsyBlack GipsyBlack Gipsy is an album by jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp recorded in Europe in 1969 for the America label. The album was also issued by the Prestige label under the title Black Gypsy. The Allmusic review by Sean Westergaard states "This music gets intense, but melody is always at its core: this is...
(America) - Pitchin CanPitchin CanPitchin Can is an album by jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp recorded in Europe in 1969 and 1970 for the America label. The album features one track by Shepp with Clifford Thornton, Noah Howard, Julio Finn, Leroy Jenkins, Dave Burrell, Earl Freeman, Sunny Murray and Chicago Beau and one extended track...
(America) - Bill Dixon 7-tette/Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5Bill Dixon 7-tette/Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5Bill Dixon 7-tette/Archie Shepp and the New York Contemporary 5 is an album released on the Savoy label originally featuring one LP side by Bill Dixon's septet and one LP side by the New York Contemporary Five featuring saxophonist Archie Shepp...
(SavoySavoy RecordsSavoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part in popularizing bebop.Savoy Records is an American record label specializing in jazz, R&B and gospel. Starting in the mid 1940s, Savoy played an important part...
)
with Gunter Hampel
Gunter Hampel
Gunter Hampel is a German jazz vibraphonist, clarinettist, saxophonist, flautist, pianist and composer born in Göttingen, Germany, perhaps best-known for his album "The 8th of July 1969" that included fellow musicians Anthony Braxton, Willem Breuker and Jeanne Lee...
- Gunter Hampel And His Galaxie Dream Band Journey To The Song Within (Birth)
with Sabir Mateen
Sabir Mateen
Sabir Mateen is a musician and composer from Philadelphia who plays primarily in the avant-garde jazz idiom. He plays tenor and alto saxophone, B♭ and alto clarinet, and flute....
- We Are Not At The Opera (Eremite)
with Christian Brazier
- Peregrinations (Bleu Regard)
with Walter Malli
- Geh' langsam durch die alten Gass'n (PAO)
with Kenny Millions
- Loved By Millions (Leo)
- Mayhem In Our Streets (Waterland)
- No Money No Honey (Hum Ha)
with Clifford Thornton
Clifford Thornton
Clifford Thornton was an American free jazz trumpeter and trombonist. Born in Philadelphia in 1939, he studied with trumpeter Donald Byrd in the mid-1950s and worked with various players such as tuba player Ray Draper. After a stint in the army, Thornton moved to New York City...
- Ketchaoua (BYG ActuelBYG ActuelBYG Actuel was a French record label specializing in free jazz. The label also released a small number of non-jazz recordings by artists such as Musica Elettronica Viva, Freedom and Gong.-History:...
)
with Arthur Doyle
Arthur Doyle
Arthur Doyle is an American jazz saxophonist, flutist, zanzithophonist and vocalist. He currently resides in Birmingham, Alabama.-Arthur Doyle:-Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble:-Recordings as co-leader:...
- Dawn of a New Vibration (Fractual)
- Live at Glenn Miller Café (AylerAyler RecordsAyler Records is a record label which specializes in free jazz and improvised music recordings.Founded in 2000 in Sweden by Jan Ström and painter Åke Bjurhamn, it has gained recognition among free jazz fans over the years by releasing both archive and contemporary recordings from artists as diverse...
)
with Francois Tusques
- Intercommunal Music (Shandar)
with Assif Tsahar
Assif Tsahar
Assif Tsahar is an Israeli tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist. He has lived in New York City since 1990.He has performed with Cecil Taylor, Butch Morris, William Parker, Mat Maneri, Hamid Drake, Peter Kowald, Susie Ibarra, Rashied Ali, Warren Smith, Wilbur Morris, Le Quan Ninh, John Tchicai,...
and Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald was a German free jazz musician.A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with a large number of European free jazz and American free-jazz players during his career, including Peter Brötzmann, Irène Schweizer, Karl Berger, Fred...
- MA Live at Fundacio Juan Miro (Hopscotch)
with The Contemporary Jazz Quartet
- The Contemporary Jazz Quartet featuring Sunny Murray Action (DebutDebut RecordsDebut Records was a United States jazz record label, which was founded in 1952 by bassist Charles Mingus, his then-wife Celia and drummer Max Roach.This short-lived label was an attempt to avoid the compromises of working for major companies...
)
with Telectu
Telectu
Telectu is a Portuguese experimental, avant-garde music duo formed in 1982 by Vítor Rua and Jorge Lima Barreto, a jazz musician and musical essayist. Their music incorporates a variety of elements from free jazz, rock, electronica, minimalism and concrete music. They are arguably the most...
- QuartetosQuartetosQuartetos is a three-disc album released on Clean Feed Records in 2002 by Telectu. It was recorded live between May and December 2001 featuring different collaborators at different jazz festivals.-Track listing:#Untitled -60:41...
(Clean FeedClean Feed RecordsClean Feed Records is a jazz record label. The company was founded in 2001 in Lisbon, Portugal. , the label has issued more than 200 albums and one DVD. Its roster of artists includes Ken Vandermark, Dennis González, Scott Fields, Mark Dresser, Tim Berne, Charles Gayle, Peter Evans, Tony Malaby,...
)