Big Muff

Itaal Shur launched his earliest solo projects under the pseudonym Big Muff, a name drawn from the classic Electroharmonix guitar distortion pedal. Those efforts, the 1998 release Music From the Aural Exciter and the 2000 follow-up Aurally Exciting Remixes, blended funk, techno, and hip-hop and produced the modest U.K. hit “My Funny Valentine.” Raised primarily in Seattle and Connecticut before settling in Manhattan, Shur absorbed his passion for music from his father, a noted composer of Israeli music who had originally emigrated from Russia. Not long after arriving in N.Y.C., he immersed himself in the Knitting Factory’s experimental jazz scene and soon began exploring acid jazz. During the ’90s he helped form Groove Collective and contributed to the ensemble’s first two albums, the self-titled 1993 debut and 1996’s We the People; he also co-wrote “Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder)” with Maxwell for the singer’s hit debut Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite. Shur first recorded under his own name with the 2001 album Milk & Honey: 10 Hits to Bliss. Beyond his own writing and recording, he established an artist development and production company that he intends to expand into broadcasting and computer animation.