Word: murrayism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Pianist/composer Fox is well-regarded as a leader in the contemporary fusion of jazz and classical music. Murray is one of the the foremost tenor saxophonist of his generation, notable for his mastery of the avant-garde "free jazz." An eager crowd gathered in Holmes Hall Living Room on this cloudy afternoon, many present for the chance to enjoy these musicians for free, others, including several Harvard student musicians, anxiously awaiting the opportunity to make and learn music in the company of these masters...
...this happened, an unassuming David Murray made a quiet late entrance. Ambling up to the stage, he looked a little tired. He explained he'd been performing until late the previous night at Madison Square Garden with none other than the Jerry Garcia Band. But within a few minutes Murray had assembled his saxophone and begun to lead the musicians away. The two men led the group through various exercises, including Fox's compositions, the Thelonious Monk ballad " `Round Midnight, " and the Charlie Parker blues "Billie's Bounce." There was plenty of advice for the student musicians, sometimes technical...
Just a few minutes into the workshop it became clear that all jazz--even all of the music industry--would be topic for discussion. Murray and Fox spent much time discussing what both saw as the problems facing jazz today. For Fox, the greatest danger was the "tendency now in jazz to be re-creative, to read [jazz solos] as if they are Beethoven scores." Murray echoed by warning against becoming like those musicians who "learned all these notes and... forgot to develop their own sound...
...Murray said that jazz musicians should not simply limit themselves to one style of jazz, or even to the genre itself. "Jazz musicians should play other forms of music. I mean I play with [Indian sitar player] Ravi Shankar... I play with everybody." Asked whether he could play such sophisticated, rich music with Jerry Garcia, Murray responded, "Well, we got into some deep stuff last night. I thought it was pretty good, it was just [for] more people...
There was a little more music, but the bulk of the latter half of the workshop was devoted to answering more questions. How long should jazz musicians' solos be? Murray responded, "When everybody in the band has went to the bar and came back...you should be finished by then...