COMPOSERS: Murray,Zabar
LABELS: Black Saint
WORKS: A Sanctuary Within
PERFORMER: David Murray Quartet: David Murray (ts, b-d); Tony Overwater (b); Sunny Murray (d); Kahil El' Zabar (perc, voc)
CATALOGUE NO: 120145-2 (dist. Harmonia Mundi)
Although his prolific output includes a good deal of more straight-ahead music (standards, spirituals, the odd blues), David Murray's heart, judging by the passion evident throughout this album, is firmly in freer jazz. Not that all the material here is abstract - Kahil EP Zabar's single composition is a simple, repeated bass figure and many of Murray's own compositions are similarly straightforward in concept - but it is, in general, loose enough in form to allow Murray complete freedom to demonstrate his extraordinary technique and imaginative improvisational range. There are few, if any, more impressive soloists in contemporary jazz. Chris Parker