In 1975, David Murray hit New York's jazz scene like a bolt of lightning. As a saxophone soloist, his dynamic tenor achieves a rare orchestral range; his signature "power grooves" are charged with bold altissimo leaps and buzz with purposeful multi-phonic drones. As a dedicated bass clarinetist, he draws deep and surprising revelations on an instrument rarely explored by a master jazz improviser. His art exemplifies the spirit of intense spontaneity, yet his discipline also confirms the value of deeply rooted jazz styles.

David Murray's improvisations on a ballad may spring from the legacy of Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young or Ben Webster. Up tempo musical flights may contain an essence of Mingus, Ayler, or Hendrix in their high octane concepts. R & B, gospel, Motown, African and Latin rhythms and urban influences also figure into the evolution of his jazz. Murray's also a co-founder of the ground-breaking World Saxophone Quartet.

His world class touring ensembles including four duos, a "power" quartet, octet and big band, Murray explores a solid cutting edge of composition and improvisation in every performance. Other creative projects in process include principal collaborations on a theatrical and movie musical score, a PBS documentary as well as work on a grand jazz opera. As a special guest of the Grateful Dead and The Jerry Garcia Band, he recently electrified two sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden.

David Murray has recorded 150 albums as a loader. Two recent CDs David Murray: Special Quartet (DIW) and David Murray/Milford Graves(DIW) were voted two of the best jazz recordings of 1993 (Village Voice) His Live at Sweet Basil Vol.ll (Black Saint) was a critic's pick of the decade (Jazziz).

David Murray's awards include a Grammy, a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Bird Award and the Danish Jazzpar Prize, He was named Musician of the Decade (1980s) by the Village Voice. In 1992 he was named Musician of the Year by New York Newsday.

In addition to international touring and compositional projects David Murray's 1993 accomplishments include awards and honors in both critic's and reader's polls in Downbeat, Jazz Times, Jazziz and The Village Voice, a WGBH/PBS show with classical pianist Donald Fox and special appearances at Lincoln Center and The Smithsonian Institute.

David Murray Discography

Compiled by Bill Hery, et. al

Here is an update to the David Murray "short form" discography (really just a list of known album releases) that I posted a few years ago, including input from the following fellow netters: Marcel Simon (mingus@usl.com) John Bell (jeb@unix.cis.pitt.edu) Olof Bjorner (olof@enea.se) I also collected information from my own collection, Cadence, the NMDS catalog, and a discography included in the October 1985 downbeat article on Murray, and comments from Murray and Hugh Ragin at gigs and in interviews. I abbreviated and shortened titles in places to get the entries to fit on one line, but there should be enough info to find the recordings. Some of the duet recordings might be found under the other artist's name. This discography makes no claim to completeness, just what I could find. Any updates will be appreciated. Please EMAIL any updates to hery@att.com and I will post a revised discography if appropriate. To save net.bandwidth, please DO NOT POST updates. Thanks to Marcel, John, and Olof for their input. But if there are any errors, blame me not them. The asterisk (*) on many of the listings is for my personal information, indicating the recordings that I have. Bill Hery David Murray Discography (Partial)

As Leader/Co-leader:

 *Low Class Conspiracy       Adelphi       1976      Hopkins, Wilson
*Flowers For Albert         India Nav     1976      Dara, Hopkins, Wilson
Wildflowers 4               Douglas       1976      Murray quartet/1 cut
Live At Peace Church        ?             1976      Hopkins, Crouch
*Penthouse Jazz             Circle        1977      Pullen, B Morris, Hopkins,
                                                    Crouch
*Holy Siege On Intrigue     Circle        1977      Pullen, B Morris, Hopkins,
                                                    Crouch
*Flowers For Albert         West Wind     1977      CD version of above 2 LPs
*Ocean Club, V I            India Nav.    1977      Bowie, Hopkins, Wilson
*Ocean Club, V II           India Nav.    1977      Bowie, Hopkins, Wilson
Solomon's Sons              Circle        1977      solo & duet w/ J Newton
*3D Family, V I             hat ART       1978      Dyani, Cyrille
*3D Family, V II            hat ART       1978      Dyani, Cyrille
*Conceptual Saxophone       Cadillac       1978      Solo
Sur-real Saxophone          Hora          1978      Solo
Organic Saxophone           Palm          1978      Solo
*Last of the Hipman         Red           1978      B Morris, Dyani, G Brown
Let The Music Take You      Marge         1978      Same session as above
*The London Concert         Cadillac       1978      B Morris, C Clark,...
*Interboogieology           Black S       1978      B Morris, Dyani,...
*Sweet Lovely               Black S       1979      Hopkins, McCall
Solo V I                    Cecma         1980      Solo
Solo V II                   Cecma         1980      Solo
*Ming                       Black S       1980      Octet
*Home                       Black S       1981      Octet
*Murray's Steps             Black S       1982      Octet
*Wilber Force               DIW           1983      W Morris, D Charles
*Morning Song               Black S       1983      Hicks, Workman, Blackwell
*Children                   Black S       1984      Pullen, Ulmer,...
*At Sweet Basil, V I        Black S       1984      Big Band
*At Sweet Basil, V II       Black S       1984      Big Band
*Sketches of Tokyo          DIW           1985      Hicks (duets)
*New Life                   Black S       1985      Octet
*In Our Style               DIW           1986      Hopkins, DeJohnette
*David Murray               DIW           1986      Ulmer, Hopkins, S Murray
*I Want To Talk About You   Black S       1986      Hicks, Drummond, Peterson
*The Healers                Black S       1987      Randy Weston (duets)
*The Hill                   Black S       1987      R Davis, J Chambers
*Hope Scope                 Black S       1987      Octet
*The Peoples Choice         Cecma         1988      Ragin, Wadoud, Hopkins
*Lovers                     DIW           1988      D Burrell, Hopkins, Peterson
*Deep River                 DIW           1988      D Burrell, Hopkins, Peterson
*Ballads                    DIW           1988      D Burrell, Hopkins, Peterson
*Spirituals                 DIW           1988      D Burrell, Hopkins, Peterson
Lucky Four                  Tutu          1988      D Burrell, W Morris, V Lewis
*Ming's Samba               Portrait      1988      Hicks, Drummond, Blackwell
*Daybreak                   Gazell        1989      Dave Burrell (duets)
Golden Sea                  Sound Asp.    1989      duet with Kahil El Zabar
*Sunrise, Sunset            Red Baron     1990      Hicks, McBee, Cyrille
*Tea For Two                Fresh Sounds   1990      duet w/George Avanitas
*Remembrances              DIW           1990      5tet w/Ragin, Burrell
*Special Quartet            DIW/Sony      1990      Tyner, Hopkins, E Jones
*Sanctuary Within           Black S       1991      El'Zabar, Cyrille
*Black and Black            Red Baron     1991      5tet w/M Belgrave, Lightsey
*Shakil's Warriors          DIW/Sony      1991      4tet w/Pullen, Cyrille
*DM Big Band                DIW/Sony      1991      Big Band
In Concert                  Victo         1991      duet w/D Burrell
(1) Quartet + 1             DIW           1991?     quartet + B Marsalis (1 cut)
(2) ?                       DIW?          8/1991    quintet w/James Newton
(3) ?Sideman Suite          DIW           1991?     5tet w/Bradford
*MX                         Red Baron     1992      6tet w/Bradford Marsalis,
                                                    R Coltrane, Hicks
(4) ?                       ?             11/1992   duet w/D Burrell
                                                    (JR Morton comps)
Mental Strain at Dawn       Stash         1992?     Doc Cheatham...
                                                    (music of Armstrong)
(5) ?                       ?             ?         9/92
(1)   seen in a CD shop in London
(2)   described by Murray in a radio interview; he played a pre-mix cut
(3)   described by Murray at a gig w/Bradford
(4)   described by Murray in a radio interview the day of the session
(5)   described to me by Hugh Ragin (who's on the record) in a conversation 
 
WITH Others: 
 
*Sentiments               Ra            1976    Synthesis/Blythe, Dara,...
*New York City Wildlife   Anima         1978    Curtis Clark
Clarity                   Bija          1976    M G Jackson/Leo Smith/Lake
*Outline # 12             India Nav     1982    Billy Bang, DM (bcl), F Lowe,
                                                Charles Tyler,W Morris,
                                                Khan Jamal, Sunny Murray...
Reality Unit Concepts     Reality U     1975    William Hooker trio
*Point of No Return       Moers         1978    World Sax Quartet
*Steppin                  Black S       1978    World Sax Quartet
*WSQ                      Black S       1980    World Sax Quartet
*Revue                    Black S       1980    World Sax Quartet
*Live in Zurich           Black S       1981    World Sax Quartet
*Live at Brooklyn Acad.   Black S       1985    World Sax Quartet
*Plays Duke Ellington     Elektra       1986    World Sax Quartet
*Dances and Ballads       Elektra       1987    World Sax Quartet
*Rhythm and Blues         Elektra       1988    World Sax Quartet
*Metamorphosis            Elektra       1990    WSQ & African Drums
*Live at Moers Fest       Moers         1979    Sunnay Murray quartet
*Wildflowers 1            Douglas       1976    Sunny Murray
*Wildflowers 5            Douglas       1976    Sunny Murray
Renaissance Man           Gramavision   1983    J Tacuma (DM on 1 track)
Free Lancing              Columbia      1981    Ulmer
Are You Glad To           Artist Hse    1980    Ulmer
   Be In America
No Wave                   Moers         1980    Ulmer/Music Revelation Ens
Music Revel. Ens          DIW           1988    Ulmer, RS Jackson, Tacuma
Electric Jazz             DIW           1990    Ulmer/MRE
*After Dark               DIW           1991    Ulmer/MRE
*Blues for Coltrane        MCA           1987    Tyner, Sanders...
*44th St Suite            Red Baron     1991    Tyner, Blythe,...
*Special Edition          ECM           1980    DeJohnette's Special Edition
*Album Album              ECM           1984    DeJohnette's Special Edition
*Public Th.               India Nav     1984    Clarinet Summit
Public Th., V II          India Nav     1984    Clarinet Summit
*Southern Bells           Black S       1987    Clarinet Summit
Plays James Brown         JMT           1989    Cold Sweat/Harris, Dara...
AT the Th. Boulogne...    Soul Note     1989    Big Band Mingus
Where You Lay Your Head   Verve         1989    Bill Cosby and friends
Presents the Fo'Tet       Blue Note     1989    Ralph Peterson
(6) ?                     ?             1990?   Pierre Dorge Orch.

(6) seen in a CD shop in London

SPOKEN WORD AND VOCAL:  
 
New Music/New Poetry      India Nav     1980    Amiri Baraka
*Conjure                  Amer Clave    1983    Kip Hanrahan/Ishmael Reed
Vertical's Currency       Amer Clave    1984    Kip Hanrahan

Cab Calloway Stands...    Amer Clave    1988    Conjure (Hanrahan)