TT 560 part two: The Hero, Albert Murray

Stomping the Blues

This week I’m re-editing and reposting material connected to the literary circle of Wynton Marsalis; for further context, see the first post.

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In the ferment of 1970, when Black Nationalism was at its height, Albert Murray’s thesis for The Omni-Americans was that all Americans are both black and white; that nobody here is racially pure no matter what neighborhood they are from. In some circles he was never forgiven.

Murray changed tactics slightly in Stomping the Blues from 1976, when he highlighted the primacy of the black experience in blues and jazz music. This shocked certain white critics and fans, and once again, in some circles he was never forgiven.

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I believe that anyone close to Wynton Marsalis has been instructed to read Albert Murray, especially Stomping the Blues. (As I have noted before, it is rare for a written text to be so foundational for a jazz musician’s musical aesthetic.) Murray was a co-founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and when the 20th anniversary edition of Stomping the Blues was released, the first executive director of JALC, Rob Gibson, supplied a passionate introduction.

The book is poetic and even fantastical, a wandering amongst ghosts. It is unique in the canon.

In terms of essential jazz books, Murray has at least one more entry, for he helped Count Basie write his memoir Good Morning Blues. It’s a fine read but perhaps a bit uneventful. One of Murray’s recurring themes was The Hero, and this Basie passage is charming:

There is also that little four-bar riff that my co-writer likes to run down. He says that as a child you are forever putting yourself in the place of the heroes in whatever storybooks you know about. So he says, “When you set out from home to seek your fortune in the world at large, you really are trying to accomplish something that will turn the bright-eyed little honeybunch or sly-eyed little rascal into a prince or king or duke, or even a Count.”

Thanks to Paul Devlin for shepherding valuable posthumous Murray books into publication including Murray on Music and especially Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones.

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I attended the Albert Murray memorial at JALC in September 2013 and took notes:

1. The opening slow drag “Flee as a Bird To the Mountain,” where Wynton Marsalis led the New Orleans-style marching band with traditional instrumentation, was utterly marvelous. This is some of Wynton’s most compelling music at the moment, when he takes it all the way back.

2. Loren Schoenberg, noted critic and director of The Jazz Museum in Harlem was in the parade; later, Loren blew a couple of tenor solos with the full band as well.

3. In response to LaTasha N. Nevada’s reading of Elizabeth Alexander’s “Omni-Albert Murray,” Aaron Diehl added some boogie to a personalized, delicate, una corda rendition of Willie the Lion’s “Echoes of Spring.”

4. Recollections were offered by Leon Wieseltier, Douglas Brinkley, Rob Gibson, Michelle Murray, Sidney Offit, and Erroll McDonald. Uniformly first-class, these diverse speakers gave us a broad portrait of Murray the man, the mentor, the martinet, the magician.

5. The US armed forces provided comic relief: Colonel Robert S. Spaulding III read a 1950’s-era letter from Murray to Ralph Ellison where Murray complained about both the job (“I like the Air Force less and less”) and the Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaborations (“no match for Ellington’s Such Sweet Thunder“).

6: Jimmy Heath read a terrific Murray bit about Columbus Circle and Harlem from South to a Very Old Place—while the audience looked out at Columbus through the huge windows in the Allen Room.

7. Dan Nimmer accompanied Joe Temperley on bass clarinet in Ellington’s “Single Petal of a Rose.” The audience adored the Temperley/Nimmer duo, and with good reason.

8. All the music was excellent, with the possible exception of Coltrane’s “Alabama,” done by Victor Goines and rhythm section, which was read from a chart in a rather literal and unpoetic manner. My favorite tune overall was a thrilling “Goin’ To Chicago” with Brianna Thomas and full band. Damn, that was really swinging. Ben Wolfe held it down wonderfully. Diehl, Christian McBride, and tasteful Ali Jackson essayed Monk’s “Epistrophy. ” Other band pieces included “Happy Go Lucky Local,” “C-Jam Blues” (great Marcus Printup trumpet chorus) and “Blues in Hoss’ Flat.” The concluding uptempo NOLA parade exit was comprised of “Oh, Didn’t He Ramble,” “In the Sweet Bye and Bye,” and “Over in the Gloryland.”

9. Wynton and Judith Jamison read moving excerpts from Murray’s semi-autobiographical novels. Unsurprisingly, the audience held the greatest number of prominent/significant black intellectuals I’ve ever been in a room with. Henry Louis Gates was there, etc.

10. I scanned the room carefully. Apologies if I missed someone, but as far as I tell, there were absolutely no “younger white experimental jazzers” present for this free afternoon event. Too bad for them! Their music would only get better if they explored a wider perspective.