Sunny Murray - Homage to Africa

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Sunny Murray - Homage to Africa
The song ‘Homage to Africa’ is the third installment in the BYG Actuel collection. Sunny Murray, an avant-garde jazz drummer, came to France to perform for Affinity and BYG after three years as a part of Albert Ayler's group (1964-1967). Roscoe Mitchell, Grachan Moncur III, Archie Shepp, Alan Silva, Lester Bowie, Jeanne Lee, Clifford Thornton, and Kenneth Terroade star in BYG's incredible Homage to Africa, which was performed on August 15, 1969 (Bakriges, 100).
The two-component track 'Suns of Africa' has many players. Most of them are well-known figures in free jazz, in a massive gloppy composition that, although well-recorded, would certainly not stand up to multiple samplings. A second, less than a two-minute segment of this song appears to have been constructed from how the engineer could catch when he turned the record (Wilmer, 3). The second segment is a considerably more compelling presentation; however, the sound from the trumpet and other things, such as the leader's drums, is severely hampered by poor recording. 'R.I.P.' is among Murray's best pieces; it is simple but well-crafted.
There are undoubtedly counter-arguments to this notion, but Sunny Murray is the first entirely free drummer in free jazz. Murray's performance is hyper-stylized, immersing his personality and behavior into a cacophony of textured drumming rather than merely timekeeping (Wilmer, 3). Given his status in the free jazz pantheon, it is predictable that he began his career with the Cecil Taylor Unit and subsequently the Albert Ayler Trio and Quartet, some of the most influential ensembles in the creation of the genre (Bakriges, 100). While his contributions to such bands' recordings, particularly the Albert Ayler Trio's searing Ghosts, are widely praised, his activity as a bandleader is frequently neglected.
Murray made three records for Actuel, the first of which, Hommage to Africa, is the first to encapsulate Paris's social and experimental atmosphere in 1969 correctly. Side one, which comprises two halves of the work "Suns of Africa," has thirteen players (Bakriges, 101). Arthur Jones on gong and bells, Earl Freeman on bells and tympani, Art Band of Chicago colleague Jeanne Lee on vocals and bells, and Kenneth Terroade on tenor saxophone and flute comprise the backbone of the ensemble (Waters, 160). Most crucially, three of the Art Ensemble's four people appear on the album, marking the first time the New York and Chicago modern jazz camps have collaborated.
By the end of the 1960s, several New York players were stuck in a rut due to a decade of production and exposure and the loss of stars. Great albums and presentations continued to be released, but sound and compositional breakthroughs were slow to arrive (Wilmer, 4). With their use of small devices and leads to negative space and austere works, the AACM in Chicago was discreetly overturning free jazz ideology. The entrance of Chicago players in Paris and then New York a few decades previously reinvigorated free jazz overall and the overlooked loft jazz movement of the 1970s (Bakriges, 101). It all began here on "Suns of Africa" in terms of historical documentation.
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