Artist Name: David Murray Artist Biography: Born January 19, 1955 in Oakland, CA, David Murray has emerged as a true giant of the avant-garde. Upon moving to New York in 1975, Murray became involved with the Greenwich Village/Lower East Side-based loft jazz movement. He founded the World Saxophone Quartet in 1976 and has worked with innumerable luminaries of the free jazz scene: Sunny Murray, James ³Blood² Ulmer, Jack Dejohnette, Lester Bowie and Ronald Shannon Jackson, to name a few. However, Murray is best known as a leader; his groups have ranged from freewheeling quartets to spirited big band and a critically acclaimed octet, all of which showcase his wide-ranging abilities as a composer, arranger, and improviser. Murray“s huge-toned tenor sound is at the center of all of these projects; he plays ballads with a lush, gruff lyricism; he inevitably rasps and screeches in other contexts. Murray has an enormous discography, having recorded extensively for Black Saint, Hat Hut, DIW and other domestic and international labels; his 1980 octet recording Ming (Black Saint) is a perfect point of entry to this great body of work. E-mail:   Web Site: