Sunny Murray 511585 224886563 2008-07-10T21:10:30Z AllyD 262675 tidied and linked refs [[Image:Sunny_Murray.jpg|thumb|right|250px]] '''James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray''' (born [[Idabel, Oklahoma]] in [[1936]]) is one of the pioneers of the [[free jazz]] style of [[drum|drumming]]. Murray spent his youth in [[Philadelphia]] before moving to [[New York City]] where he began playing with [[Cecil Taylor]]: "We played for about a year, just practicing, studying - we went to workshops with [[Edgard Varèse|Varèse]], did a lot of creative things, just experimenting, without a job" <ref>{{cite book| last =Lock | first =Graham| title =Chasing the Vibration| publisher =Stride Publications| date =1994| location =Devon| pages =120| isbn=1873012810}}</ref> He featured on the influential 1962 concerts in [[Denmark]] released as ''[[Nefertiti the Beautiful One Has Come]]''. He was among the first to forgo the [[drummer]]'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" <ref>{{cite book | last=Wilmer|first=Val|authorlink=Val Wilmer | title=As Serious as your life | publisher=Quartet | year=1977 | id=ISBN 0-7043-3164-0}}</ref> After his period with Taylor's group, Murray's influence continued as a core part of [[Albert Ayler]]'s trio who recorded ''[[Spiritual Unity (album)|Spiritual Unity]]'': "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether." <ref>{{cite book | author=Litweiler, John | title=The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958 | publisher=Da Capo | year=1984}}</ref> He later recorded under his own name for [[ESP-Disk]] and then when he moved to Europe for [[BYG Actuel]]. ==Discography== '''as [[bandleader]]:''' * ''"The Hilversum Session"'' ([[Osmosis Records|Osmosis]]) * ''"Sunny's Time Now"'' * ''"The Lie"'' (DIW Records) * ''"Sunny Murray"'' ([[ESP Disk]]) * ''"Spiritual Infinity"'' (yet unreleased) ([[Columbia Records|Columbia]]) * ''"Big Chief"'' ([[EMI]]/[[Pathe Records|Pathe]]) * ''"Hommage To Africa"'' ([[BYG Actuel]]) * ''"Sunshine"'' ([[BYG Actuel]]) * ''"An Even Break (Never Give A Sucker)"'' ([[BYG Actuel]]) * ''"Aigu-Grave"'' (Marge) * ''"Live At Moers-Festival"'' (Moers Musc) * ''"Indelicacy"'' (Westwind) * ''"13# Steps on Glass"'' (Enja) '''as ''The Untouchable Factor'':''' * ''"Charred Earth"'' (Kharma) * ''"Apple Cores"'' ([[Philly Jazz]]) '''with [[Cecil Taylor]]:''' * ''"Cell Walk for Celeste"'' ([[Candid Records|Candid]]) * ''"Cecil Taylor Jazz Unit, The Early Unit 1962"'' (Ingo) * ''"Live At The Cafe Montmartre"'' ([[Debut Records|Debut]]) * ''"Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come"'' ([[Debut Records|Debut]]) * ''"It Is In The Brewing Luminous"'' ([[Hathut Records|hat Hut]]) '''with [[Albert Ayler]]:''' * ''"Holy Ghost"'' ([[Revenant Records|Revenant]]) * ''"Spirits"'' ([[Debut Records|Debut]]) * ''"Swing Low Sweet Spiritual"'' ([[Osmosis Records|Osmosis]]) * ''"Goin' Home"'' (Black Lion) * ''"Prophecy"'' ([[ESP Disk]]) * ''"Spiritual Unity"'' ([[ESP Disk]]) * ''"New York Eye And Ear Control"'' ([[ESP Disk]]) * ''"Ghosts"'' ([[Debut Records|Debut]]) * ''"Albert Ayler"'' (Philology 88) * ''"Bells"'' ([[ESP Disk]]) * ''"Spirits Rejoice"'' ([[ESP Disk]]) '''with [[Gil Evans]]:''' * ''"Into The Hot"'' ([[Impulse!]]) '''with [[Jimmy Lyons]]:''' * ''"Jump Up/What To Do About"'' ([[Hathut Records|hat Hut]]) '''with ''David Eyges'':''' * ''"Crossroads"'' (Music Unlimited) '''with [[Billy Bang]]:''' * ''"Outline No. 12"'' ([[Celluloid Records|Celluloid]]) '''with ''Khan Jamal'':''' * ''"Infinity"'' (Jam'Brio) * ''"Change of the Century Orchestra"'' (JAS) * ''"Speak Easy"'' ([[Gazell Records|Gazell]]) '''with [[Alexander von Schlippenbach]]:''' * ''"Smoke"'' ([[FMP Records|FMP]]) '''with [[Bill Dixon]] and [[Archie Shepp]]:''' * ''"Bill Dixon 7-tette/Archie Shepp And The New York Contemporary 5"'' ([[Savoy Records|Savoy]]) '''with ''Cheikh Tidiane Fall'' and [[Malachi Favors]]:''' * ''"African Magic"'' ([[Circle Records|Circle]]) '''with ''Burton Greene'' and [[Alan Silva]]:''' * ''"Firmanence"'' (Fore) '''with [[David Murray (jazz musician)|David Murray]]:''' * ''"A Sanctuary Within"'' ([[Black Saint Records|Black Saint]]) '''with [[Dave Burrell]]:''' * ''"High"'' (Douglas) * ''"Echo"'' ([[BYG Actuel]]) '''with [[Aki Takase]]:''' * ''"Clapping Music"'' (Enja) '''with ''The Reform Art Unit'':''' * ''"Subway Performances"'' (Granit) '''with [[Charles Gayle]] and [[William Parker (musician)|William Parker]]:''' * ''"Kingdom Come"'' (KFW) '''with [[Art Blakey]] and his [[Jazz Messengers]]:''' * ''"Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers/Sonny Murray Quartet-1968"''(JCD) '''with [[Archie Shepp]]:''' * ''"Live at the Panafrican Festival"'' ([[BYG Actuel]]) * ''"A Black Woman"'' ([[BYG Actuel]]) * ''"Black Gipsy"'' (America) * ''"Pitchin Can"'' (America) * '''St. Louis Blues"'' (PAO) '''with [[Gunter Hampel]]:''' * ''"Gunter Hampel And His Galaxie Dream Band: Journey To The Song Within"'' (Birth) '''with [[Sabir Mateen]]:''' * ''"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'':''' * ''"No Money No Honey"'' (Hum Ha) '''with ''Clifford Thornton'':''' * ''"Ketchaoua"'' ([[BYG Actuel]]) '''with ''Arthur Doyle'':''' * ''"Dawn of a New Vibration"'' (Fractual) * ''"Live at Glenn Miller Café"'' ([[Ayler Records|Ayler]]) '''with ''Francois Tusques'':''' * ''"Intercommunal Music"'' (Shandar) '''with [[Assif Tsahar]] and [[Peter Kowald]]:''' * ''"MA: Live at Fundacio Juan Miro"'' (Hopscotch) '''with ''The Contemporary Jazz Quartet'':''' * ''"The Contemporary Jazz Quartet featuring Sunny Murray: Action"'' ([[Debut Records|Debut]]) ==References== {{reflist}} 4. Sinclair, John and Robert Levin (1970). ''Going Outside''. '''''Music & Politics''. World''' 5. Rivelli, Pauline and Robert Levin (1979). ''Sunny Murray: The Continuous Cracking of Glass.''''Giants of Black Music''. Da Capo ISBN 0-306-80119-1 ==External links== * [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=503 Biography] {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Sunny}} [[Category:1936 births|Murray, Sunny]] [[Category:Living people|Murray, Sunny]] [[Category:Avant-garde jazz musicians]] [[Category:American jazz drummers|Murray, Sunny]] [[Category:Jazz drummers|Murray, Sunny]] [[Category:African American musicians|Murray, Sunny]] [[Category:Musicians from Philadelphia]] {{jazzfooter}} {{jazz-musician-stub}} {{drummer-stub}} [[de:Sunny Murray]] [[fr:Sunny Murray]]