David Murray might not be among the best known jazz musicians out there but everyone who know about him seems to love him. Murray has his roots in free jazz but overall I wouldn't categorize him in one single sub-genre of jazz because he tends to experiment a lot with personnel and style. He often switches between octets, big bands, quartets etc. so there is always something interesting and new with each record.
Home is a particular favorite of mine from what I have heard of his work so far. The album was released back in 1981 with an octet. The recording is a loveable mix of swing, bebop and free jazz and it starts wonderfully with a blues piece aptly named Home as it invokes a very nostalgic feeling. It's melodic and it's soothing but as the album progresses from song to song it just gets wilder and wilder. The chains break free but not fully as there is always a stable rhythm section that back the whole thing up. There are coherent choruses and riffs but the solos and some chords are often dissonant and aggressive. Often you will find places in this album where a rhythm section plays this modern type of swing, the saxophones play two different (but intertwined) solos while the piano blasts some strange dissonant chords. It all comes together beautifully and daring. It's as if you got together a really old swing group that's just tired of playing the same songs over and over so they just go wild.
Absolutely love this album. Check it out!
Get it.
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Thanks for sharing this one. Never heard about Murray to be fair.
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