Grammy winning reed man and co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet David Murray has recorded prolifically over the past fifty years. He was born in Oakland, California on February 19, 1955 and today lives and works in New York City.

Murray was greatly influenced early in his career by free jazz players Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman, but over the years has developed a more diverse style. While the lion’s share of tenor saxophone players of his generation chose John Coltrane as their model, Murray chose top follow earlier players like Coleman Hawkins, Paul Gonsalves and Ben Webster when developing his personal style.

David Murray’s first album as a leader, “Flowers for Albert,” was released when the saxophonist was only 21 years of age. A year later he was a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet along with Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake and Hamiet Bluiett. All told, Murray has appeared on 97 records as a leader or co-leader. In 1989 he won a Grammy for his group’s album Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane. That same year Murray was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

More recently, Murray’s new quartet produced the album “Francesca,” for which his wife, Francesca Cinelli Murray produced and directed a video animation for the song Ninno, in collaboration with painter and animator Nancy Ostrovsky.

Here is a link to the video Ninno from the 2024 record “Francesca:”

"NINNO"