David Murray Takes Flight
Gregg Greenwood
David Murray turned 70 in February. That feels wrong somehow, not because I’m unaware that time only moves in one direction but because Murray doesn’t fit the mold of an elder statesman. Since his arrival in New York in the mid-’70s, he’s been on a unique creative path, releasing a torrent of material — his Discogs page lists close to 300 credits — in contexts ranging from solo recitals to big bands to collaborations with musicians from all corners of the globe. He never seems to stop moving, and he’s never stayed on a single path for any length of time. Typically, when a jazz musician gets this far into their career, they settle down. Even fire-breathing radicals get predictable. But Murray is still taking chances, as his new album Birdly Serenade proves.
David Murray was born in California and raised in the Church of God in Christ; he grew up playing gospel music alongside his parents, his brother, and a cousin, and the church is still very audible in his music. His first instrument was the alto saxophone, but he switched to tenor and also played guitar. He went to Pomona College where he studied with trumpeter Bobby Bradford, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, and poet and sometime drummer Stanley Crouch. As a teenager, he came to New York on an independent study program and interviewed John Cage, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and McCoy Tyner, meeting many other jazz musicians in the process.
“They were all in their own way very helpful to me in entering in my career, you know, people associated with them,” Murray told me the first time we spoke, in 2018. “I met Billy Higgins and Dewey Redman; Dewey was the guy that said, put down the pencil and pick up the saxophone. Which I was going to do anyway… I wanted to be some kind of writer or poet at that time, too, which I didn’t pursue, but I think I could have had two careers, but the music took over. Next thing I know, I’m making records and this and that, and then more records and more tours…”
In about 1975, Murray began performing on New York’s loft scene and drew a lot of attention very quickly. Some of his earliest work can be heard on the compilation Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions, recorded at Sam Rivers’ RivBea Studio in the summer of 1976.) Writing in the Village Voice, Gary Giddins recalled, “When he first showed up in New York — a 20-year-old student on furlough from Pomona College, playing ‘Flowers for Albert’ in Stanley Crouch’s Bowery loft — he had two big things going for him.” Those were a sound unlike anyone else’s, one that mixed free jazz squalling with an old-school romanticism derived from players like Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, and Paul Gonsalves, and “an exceedingly legato approach to time, the obverse of the usual free-jazz assault.” Giddins noted that “Murray’s inclination to play free and even ecstatic was tempered by a desire to play pretty,” and that’s remained true to this day.
Murray has recorded for a stunning array of labels over the years, starting with indies like India Navigation, Circle, Cadillac, and Red and moving to imprints like Black Saint and, for most of the 1990s, DIW. Later, he recorded for Justin Time and Motéma, and he’s just made his first album for Impulse! Records. Birdly Serenade, out this week, features his current quartet of pianist Marta Sánchez, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Russell Carter, a group that debuted on last year’s Francesca (named for Murray’s wife and collaborator, Francesca Cinelli).
The album is being released under the aegis of the Birdsong Project, and was produced by Randall Poster and Stewart Lerman. The Birdsong Project began in 2022 with a 20LP box, For The Birds, which featured nearly 250 tracks of original music and bird-related poetry from a stunning array of artists across every possible genre, including Shabaka Hutchings, Makaya McCraven, Yoko Ono, Mark Mothersbaugh, John Cale, and many, many others. Birdly Serenade is the project’s first single-artist release and includes five instrumental pieces with titles like “Bird’s The Word,” “Capistrano Swallow,” and “Bald Ego” and three with vocals: “Birdly Serenade” and “Song Of The World (For Mixashawn Rozie)”, both performed by Ekep Nkwelle, and “Oiseau de Paradis,” featuring Cinelli.
The album’s gestation began at a retreat at Blue Mountain Center in New York’s Adirondack mountains, where Murray and Cinelli lived and worked for 10 days. When I spoke with him by phone earlier this month, he told me that the music was inspired by the poems she wrote, rather than the other way around, as might be expected.
“I’ve had a lot of experience with words,” he said, “because I’ve worked in the past with the great Amiri Baraka, with Ishmael Reed, with Ntozake Shange, and I’ve worked in theater as well, with Joe Papp and the Public Theater. And when you write something from words, even if you take the words away, that song is more powerful, because when you know the words that are behind the song, it almost feels like an anthem to me. And even if I take the words out, I still hear the words, even if I’m playing an instrumental.”
Murray’s current quartet has come together gradually over a period of several years. Russell Carter was in his previous group along with his brother, the bassist Rashaan Carter. Luke Stewart, possibly best known as a member of Irreversible Entanglements, was brought in by Cinelli; Murray said, “He reminds me of the sound I used to have with Fred Hopkins. And he’s even taken it further.” Marta Sánchez, from Madrid, is the most recent addition to the group — she and Murray first performed together in July 2022, when she guested with his quartet and then played a duo show with him the following night.
Murray is clear that this is a working band with a collective identity. He says, “To put them all together and really form a unit is very important to me because they’re younger than me. And they listen to me. And I’m inspired by them. And they push me, yes. I want to be pushed. And it keeps me young to be with these young people. It keeps my spirit — how can I say? It keeps my spirit ready for anything that’s coming my way.”
The group’s sound has evolved quite a bit from its first album to its second. Where Francesca was a set of big, brash tunes with hooks for days and relatively old-school solos, Birdly Serenade is significantly more out. His own playing is wilder, full of squawks and growls, and everyone else is swinging harder and driving the music skyward. “Black Bird’s Gonna Lite Up The Night” in particular is old-school ecstatic free jazz, on a level with the David S. Ware Quartet’s 1990s albums. “The quartet is growing, we’re becoming freer and more elastic than we were at that time when we did the preceding album,” Murray told me. “So I’m sure that the next one will be even freer than this one.”
I asked Murray if there was a gradual transition from playing with peers to the position he now occupies, leading a band of musicians decades younger than himself, or if it was sudden. “Well, first of all, most of the musicians I used to play with are not with us anymore. So they had to be replaced at some point,” he said. But he doesn’t seem particularly interested in playing with those musicians in his peer group who are still around. “I know a lot of musicians that are my age that are all just retiring from their very comfortable teaching positions all over the world. They call me all the time and want to be in my band, but in so many words I just kind of let them know that, well, you’re too old to be in my band.”
He added, “And as far as picking musicians, it’s very obvious in my mind when I get to the point where I analyze why I’ve chosen this musician to fill in certain spots, because you want a piano player that has actually studied the people that I really have liked in the past. I mean, Marta has obviously studied Don Pullen, she’s studied John Hicks, she’s studied Randy Weston, Duke Ellington.” The various backgrounds of the current quartet members are also important to him. “Luke is from Mississippi, Russell is from Washington, and she’s from Madrid. I mean, you have to bring all these aspects of an international kind of a band that can appeal to, first of all, to my ear, and secondly to my international audience and have the strength to push me.”
Appealing to the audience is vital to Murray, and live performance is a major crucible for his music. He likes to take a band on the road before making an album, to allow the new tunes to sink into their bones. “By the time we get into the studio, that music is off the paper and it’s in our minds. We’re playing the music. We’re not just reading the music in the studio. We’ve done that already. We’ve played through the written charts until the songs have become seamless. And when songs become seamless behind me, I mean the band giving that support, then I’m allowed to be free, which frees them up too.”
Then, once the album’s in the can and he can go back out on the road to promote it, Murray wants to give people a genuinely memorable experience. “Someone said about my music once, I think it was Russell’s brother’s girlfriend said, when you go to a David Murray concert, you’re going to dance. And that’s what I want. I want them to dance, scream and holler like they were in the juke joint. Even if I’m playing in a concert, more of a staid kind of concert setting, I want to bring the feeling, I want people to feel like even though they can’t, that they want to dance. I’m dancing, so they should dance too. And scream and holler when there’s something good to holler about. That spurs me on. It gives me energy when I’m on stage to see that the people are enjoying the music enough to move their bodies.”
TAKE 10
Alabaster DePlume - "Oh My Actual Days"
Alabaster DePlume is a difficult artist to classify. He’s a saxophonist (tenor and baritone), but he also plays acoustic and electric guitar, bass, and synth, and sings and recites poetry. A lot of the songs on this new album, which was preceded by the three-track Cremisan: Prologue To A Blade EP, have a gentle, singer-songwriterish feel, the simple pulsing grooves augmented by strings and the whole thing washed in reverb to create a dreamlike intimacy. Other members of the ensemble sing as well, sometimes wordlessly. “Oh My Actual Days” opens the album, and serves as a kind of overture — DePlume’s saxophone comes floating in slowly, over stark piano from John Ellis and a beat like someone stomping their foot on the floor of an empty house. Strings rise like morning mist and the whole thing comes together into a kind of folky version of spiritual jazz, simultaneously blissful and mournful. (From A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, out now via International Anthem.)
El Léon Pardo - "Viaje Sideral"
Jorge Emilio Pardo Vásquez, aka El Léon Pardo, is a trumpeter and composer from Cartagena, Colombia, who also plays the kuisi, an ancient flute dating back to the pre-Columbian era. On this album, that flute is heard as part of an ensemble that includes clarinet, flugelhorn, guitar, bass, multiple synths, and percussion. The title translates to Space Travel, but these pieces are journeys inward as much as outward. Pardo’s trumpet is fed through effects; the synths and percussion create an almost amniotic floating feel; the vocals on various tracks are chanted like rituals recorded deep in the Colombian jungle. The nasal chanting on the title track draws you in before the slow, thumping rhythm and shimmering horn, which periodically dissolves into ripples of echo, create a kind of psychedelic trance jazz that’s equal parts Jon Hassell, Tangerine Dream, and uniquely Latin surrealism of the Alejandro Jodorowsky/Gabriel García Márquez school. (From Viaje Sideral, out now via AYA.)
Sultan Stevenson - "A Region In My Mind"
Pianist Sultan Stevenson released his debut album, Faithful One, on Whirlwind in 2022. This follow-up features the same core band — bassist Jacob Gryn and drummer Joel Waters — and trumpeter Josh Short, who also guested on the last record. They’re joined on three tracks by saxophonist Soweto Kinch. Stevenson is a fleet, skillful player with more than a splash of gospel and R&B in his sound. He reminds me of a few other contemporary players like Gerald Clayton and Christian Sands and maybe Victor Gould, who are operating in blurry modern zones that put jazz on an equal plane with other forms, without prioritizing or flattering one more than others. “A Region In My Mind” is one of three tracks on El Roi to feature the horns, and Stevenson plays in a restrained manner throughout, leaving plenty of room for Short and Kinch, especially Kinch, to take flight with passionate solos. (From El Roi, out now via Edition.)
Myra Melford - "Freewheeler"
I love lots of abstract painting — Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman — but not Cy Twombly. His vast canvases covered in what look to me like the scribbles of a methed-up preschooler drive me into a rage. Pianist Myra Melford loves Twombly, though, and finds his art highly inspirational. Splash is her third set of Twombly-inspired compositions in a row, played here by a new trio with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer and vibraphonist Ches Smith. “Freewheeler” kicks off with a manically repeated, almost mechanical piano line punctuated by hard, slamming chords as bass and drums rattle and boom. It keeps going and going like that, like a machine getting ready to spin out of control and fly apart, but then it begins to slow down and by the end it’s meditative and beautiful. What this has to do with Cy Twombly, I don’t know, but I’m into it. (From Splash, out now via Intakt.)
Hiromi - "Yes! Ramen!!"
Jazz keyboardist Hiromi Uehara, who just goes by Hiromi, is a ferociously talented player who embraces high-energy, flashy fusion like no one since Chick Corea. In addition to leading her own groups, she also played with bass legend Stanley Clarke on 2009’s Jazz In The Garden and 2011’s The Stanley Clarke Band; the latter release won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Her current band features trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, bassist Hadrien Feraud, and drummer Gene Coye; this is their second album, following 2023’s Sonicwonderland. “Yes! Ramen!!” has all the energy the three exclamation points in its title suggest — it combines a complex fusion melody played at breakneck speed with Asian flourishes, a ska beat, wildly squiggly synths, a twiddly bass solo, and some fire-breathing trumpet from O’Farrill. And that’s all before it gets really bugnuts in its second half. It’s A Lot. Plus, the video will make you hungry. (From Out There, out now via Concord Jazz.)
Larry Ochs, Joe Morris, & Charles Downs - "Yay-Hiddee-Yonk-Yo"
Saxophonist Larry Ochs is best known as a founding member of the Rova Saxophone Quartet (he’s the “O” in their name), but he’s also recorded a dozen or so albums as a leader. This set is part of a series on the ESP-Disk’ label where artists who’ve never worked together before are teamed up. In this case, Ochs is working with bassist Joe Morris and drummer Charles Downs, fka Rashid Bakr. Morris and Downs have a long history together going back to the 2000s as part of the Flow Trio with saxophonist Louis Belogenis. Despite the goofy track titles, this album is neither a surreal art prank nor an hour of undisciplined free blare. “Yay-Hiddee-Yonk-Yo” is the opener, and it quickly establishes a three-way musical relationship based on careful listening and attendance to structure. Nobody ever seems lost, though Ochs’ playing reminds me of Sonny Rollins at his most exploratory. (From Every Day -> All The Way, out now via ESP-Disk’.)
Altin Sencalar - "17 West"
Trombonist Altin Sencalar has made three albums to date for the Posi-Tone label. Here, he’s joined by Behn Gillece on vibes, Bruce Williams and Greg Tardy on saxophones, clarinet, and flute, Boris Kozlov on bass and E.J. Strickland on drums. Given a title like Unleashed, you might be expecting an album that blasts off and stays soaring for its entire running time, but this is actually a really thoughtful, complex record that swings hard while also showcasing intriguing arrangements and probing solos. I mean, the first sound you hear isn’t the trombone, it’s the vibes, bringing you into the album’s world with a gentle shimmer. The same is true on “17 West,” which kicks off with a repetitive figure halfway between Eric Dolphy and Steve Reich before skidding sideways, the trombone-clarinet interplay giving it an off-kilter feel in the spirit of mid ’60s Blue Note avant-garde hard bop. Brilliant stuff. (From Unleashed, out now via Posi-Tone.)
Kannaste4 - "New Life"
Finnish tenor saxophonist Jussi Kannaste — previously a member of Antti Lötjönen’s Quintet East and 3TM, among other groups — is making a statement with his first album as a leader. He’s joined by trumpeter Tomi Nikku, bassist Petter Eldh, and drummer Joonas Riipa for a set of seven original compositions, plus one tune by Riipa, but it’s clearly meant to be experienced as a full album. For example, the LP’s second side begins and ends with versions of the tune “It’s All Good,” effectively turning the whole 20-minute side into a suite. Meanwhile, on the album’s first track, “New Life,” after a fanfare-like head, Kannaste takes an unaccompanied solo that incorporates pieces of each of the other compositions, like an overture before a symphony. The music is moody and fascinating; Kannaste’s not just a writer of melodies, but a skilled arranger who gives each member of the quartet space to express themselves. (From Out Of Self And Into Others, out 4/25 via We Jazz.)
Charles Tolliver & Music Inc. - "Felicite"
Trumpeter Charles Tolliver and pianist Stanley Cowell co-founded the Strata-East label in 1971 and ran it until the end of the decade, putting out dozens of incredible albums. Their catalog has been reissued several times in piecemeal fashion, but now, thanks to a deal with Mack Avenue, almost everything is coming back digitally and in some cases physically. The two volumes of Live At Slugs’ by Music Inc., a quartet featuring Tolliver, Cowell, bassist Cecil McBee, and drummer Jimmy Hopps, have been combined onto a single CD, and the digital edition features over 40 minutes of never-before-released bonus tracks. Tolliver is a fantastic trumpeter with a rich, full, almost flugelhornish sound, and “Felicite” is a deep blues ballad that places McBee’s booming bass right up front in the mix, with Cowell seemingly playing from the next room and Hopps keeping gentle time with brushes. (From Live At Slugs’, Vol. I & II, out 4/25 via Strata-East/Mack Avenue.)
Kamasi Washington - "Vortex"
Are you familiar with the work of director Shinichirō Watanabe? He’s the director behind the anime series Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo, and now he’s got a new show, Lazarus, airing on Toonami and Max. I’ve only seen a few episodes of Cowboy Bebop and none of Samurai Champloo, but I used to own soundtracks for both. The Cowboy Bebop music, composed by Yoko Kanno, is legendary — it’s high-energy big band jazz that gives the show, which is a pretty decent sci-fi adventure series, an unexpected edge.
For Lazarus, Watanabe hand-picked three artists he wanted to create music for the show: electronic musician Bonobo, composer Floating Points (who collaborated with the late free spiritual jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra on 2021’s Promises), and saxophonist Kamasi Washington. Each of the three has now released a separate soundtrack album.
I’ve heard all three records. The Bonobo disc does the least for me. It’s a 45-minute collection of soft-focus synth pieces that sometimes have a thumping beat, but often swoosh by like a kind of New Age synthwave. There are also two tracks with vocals that feel really out of place.
The Floating Points album is the shortest of the three, just six tracks in 34 minutes, but it’s really good, mostly thanks to the guests. FP himself (real name: Samuel Shepherd) contributes keyboards and sonic textures, but harpist Miriam Adefris, bassist Zongamin (real name: Susumu Mukai), and drummer Valentina Magaletti are the MVPs. Magaletti, who’s in Vanishing Twin with Zongamin, and whose work with producer Al Wootton as Holy Tongue is a fantastic take on psychedelic postpunk dub, lays down the thunder throughout, shifting between taut Krautrock grooves and rattling polyrhythms.
Washington, as always, goes big. His soundtrack is a 78-minute double LP, performed with his usual crew of collaborators, though there are some new elements to the immediately recognizable KW sound. Amid the strings, choirs, soaring horn lines, swinging rock rhythms from the double drummers, and double and triple keyboards (piano, electric piano, and synth). But we also get some screaming electric guitar, and some unexpected swerves — “Cold Slaw” is set to a bouncing New Orleans beat. And if this clip is any indication, the music is used very well within the context of the show.
“Vortex” opens with strings and choir, which are almost immediately placed in service of a punk-funk beat and a fiery trumpet solo that almost forces Washington himself to make a more subtle entrance. But before long, he’s in full testifying mode with the choir raising him up. I didn’t love Washington’s soundtrack to Belonging, the Netflix documentary about Michelle Obama. It felt like work for hire. This album, though, doesn’t feel at all like a cash-in; the heads are solid, everyone’s playing at the peak of their powers, and there are some new and unexpected sonic touches. Lazarus belongs on the shelf right beside every one of Washington’s “real” albums. If it gets a physical release, I’ll buy it. (From Lazarus Soundtrack, out now via Milan/Sony Music.)
OUTWARD BOUND
