Wall of Sound

This page features a series of posts on the jazz saxophonist David Murray. It’s part of a long-term project to chronicle and analyse Murray’s work. If you’re a Murray fan I hope you find what I have to say straightforward and interesting, even if some of it is written for academic publication.

Firstly, there’s the drafts to a fairly lengthy analysis of Murray’s career. This is followed by analyses of his recorded output. I’ve identified getting on for 200 LPs, so it’s going to take time to build up the complete set. After that there’s some posts on rather random aspects of Murray’s career usually written in response to assumptions about Murray’s career that I find unconvincing. As I get round to it you’ll also be able to read some interviews with people who offer interesting insights into Murray’s career.

David Murray: the making of a progressive jazz musician

These are drafts of an article that should be coming into publication soon. They aren’t polished, finished pieces, but the final article needed cutting down, so these drafts often feature lengthier sections on matters that interest me, even if the overall argument is harder to follow.

First here’s a discussion of the idea of progress in jazz discourse using David Murray (and a comparison with Coleman Hawkins) as an example.

Coleman Hawkins and David Murray, and the idea of the progressive musician

The next three links are to a full version of the article, which extends and distills earlier drafts. This is not the final version, as I hope this will soon be published in the Jazz Research Journal. If you want more detail on some aspects it is worth reading the drafts as well.

Just click on the link to go to the topic.

David Murray: the making of a progressive jazz musician (Part One)
David Murray: the making of a progressive jazz musician (Part Two)
David Murray: the making of a progressive jazz musician (Part Three)
Bibliography

The drafts:

David Murray Part One
David Murray Part Two
David Murray Part Three

If you want to find out more the bibliography should give you plenty more to read.

David Murray’s recorded output

My ultimate aim here is to produce a detailed survey of Murray’s whole recording career. You’ll find surveys of different decades of his work, and I’m building up a series of posts based upon close analysis and contextual discussion of his recordings. I’m starting with the earlier and hard to find releases.

I’ve also posted the first of a series of guides to Murray’s prodigious output if you want to buy and listen to more. I’ll extend and add to them over time. Here’s what’s available so far:

A listener’s guide to David Murray’s records in the 1990s

I’ve been collecting Murray records for a few decades now, and recently I came to believe that had had all but a few of his recordings as leader or co-leader. This is quite an achievement because there are around 150 of them. You can count down the final additions to my Murray record collection through these posts:

150

151

The records

Ted Daniel: In The Beginning (featuring David Murray) 1975
Live At The Peace Church 1976
Live At The Lower Manhattan Ocean Club 　Vol.1& 2 1977
Solomon’s Sons 1977
Conceptual Saxophone 1978
track by track: ‘Home’ ‘Come Sunday’ ‘Flowers for Albert’

Organic Saxophone 1978
Sur-Real saxophone 1978
Last of the Hipman 1978

Popular misconceptions

You can also read about Murray’s comments about Albert Ayler as an influence (he isn’t much of one) in a series of posts

Does Flowers for Albert suggest Murray was influenced by Ayler?

Flowers for Albert (reprised)

Misunderstanding Flowers for Albert

Flowers for Albert (yes again)

Interviews

I have conducted a series of interviews with people involved in Murray’s career. As I write them up you’ll be able to read them here:

Interview with John Jack owner of Cadillac Records in London. Read it here.