Sunny Murray

Sunny Murray stood among the avant-garde’s most inventive and influential drummers, shaping the instrument’s place in free improvisation more than most of his contemporaries. Although he could generate swing with exceptional force, he frequently stepped away from the drums’ customary role as timekeeper. Rather than maintaining a fixed pulse, he might accent and shade the soloist’s phrases or enter into direct exchanges with fellow players, responding and contributing through an alert, reciprocal awareness. Born James Marcellus Arthur Murray in Idabel, Oklahoma, in 1936, he took up drumming at nine and relocated to New York in 1956. Early work came with established figures such as Red Allen and Willie “The Lion” Smith before he moved into freer settings alongside Jackie McLean and Ted Curson. His decisive opportunity arrived in 1959 when he entered Cecil Taylor’s ensemble, gaining the chance to improvise at a markedly higher level. During a European tour with Taylor he encountered Albert Ayler and became a member of Ayler’s group in 1964; through 1967 he performed on the majority of the saxophonist’s landmark free-jazz recordings. Additional associations included Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and John Tchicai. Murray’s initial leader dates were 1965’s Sunny’s Time Now, issued on Jihad, and 1966’s Sunny Murray Quintet, released on ESP; the latter earned him Down Beat’s New Star Award. He journeyed to France in 1968, collaborating there with Archie Shepp and cutting sessions under his own name for Affinity and BYG Actuel. After returning to the United States in 1971 he established residence in Philadelphia and assembled the Untouchable Factor, directing the ensemble intermittently through shifting personnel. He later revisited New York City only to move once more to Europe, where he lived until the end of his life. During the late 1970s and 1980s he led a strong quintet and continued appearing on numerous recordings throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium. Murray died in Paris in December 2017 at the age of 81.