Кіріспе
Американдық джаз дауылпаңы (1936–2017)
American jazz drummer (1936–2017)
Джеймс Марселл Артур "Санни" Мюррей (21 қыркүйек 1936 – 7 желтоқсан 2017) – американдық музыкант, және еркін джаз стиліндегі дауылпақ ойнаудың пионері болған.
James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray (September 21, 1936 – December 7, 2017) was an American musician, and was one of the pioneers of the free jazz style of drumming.
Стиль
Мюррей барабаншының дәстүрлі рөлінен, уақытты сақтаушы қызметінен, таза текстуралық ойнауға көшуді бастағандардың бірі болды. Вал Вилмер былай жазды:
Murray was among the first to forgo the drummer's traditional role as timekeeper in favor of purely textural playing. Val Wilmer wrote:
Murray's aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion. His concept relied heavily on continuous ringing stick work on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock cymbal (hi hat). He played with his mouth open, emitting an incessant wailing which blended into the overall percussion backdrop of shifting pulses [H]is playing often seems to bear little relation to what the soloist is doing. What he did do, though, was to lay down a shimmering tapestry behind the soloist, enabling him to move wherever he wanted." Concerning Murray's tenure with Albert Ayler, John Litweiler wrote: "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether." Amiri Baraka described Murray's playing as follows:
Watching Sonny play, as he swoops and floats, hovers, lunges, above and into the drums, it is immediate his body ness, his physicality in the music. Not just as a drum beater but as a conductor of energies, directing them this way and that way. Just scraping a cymbal this time, smashing it the next. Both feet straight out with the bass drums. His rolls and bombs the result of body mined spirit feel. He wants "natural sounds," natural rhythms. The drum as a reactor and manifestor of energies coursing through and pouring out of his body. Rhythm as occurrence. As natural emphasis
You hear him moaning behind his instrument, with his other beautiful instrument. His voice. The sound of feeling. The moan, a ragged body spasm sound, like some kind of heavy stringed instrument, lifting all the other sounds into prayers. Author Norman C. Weinstein wrote:
[Murray] radically rethinks the role of the drum kit, sees the kit as a kinetic sculpture The drums are a sculpture he dances around, giving the drum kit a numinosity like African drums utilized for ritual purposes. By dancing about the drums, not merely alertly sitting before them, he maximizes the force of his contact with all surfaces, not just skins but metal and wood as well. The sheer physicality of his approach assures a broader spectrum of timbres than those usually achieved by players utilizing conventional posture. Murray's dance in fast motion creates the illusion of several drummers performing simultaneously, a stuttering strobe effect akin to how Duchamp caused his nude to trip the light fantastic down a staircase The richness of Murray's cymbal crashes and vocals is beautifully reinforced by his drum attacks, particularly his sonorous tattoos on the bass drum. He has an astute gift for playing off extreme tonal contrasts, high pitched cymbals ringing in counterpoint to earth moaning bass drum tones He creates a sense of time which might be appreciated by a tradition minded African, not time measured by Timex, not shaped by a cymbal's metronomic insistences, but time as the poet Blake understood it, found in the pulsation of an artery. Murray acknowledged the influence of Hermann Helmholtz in developing his unique approach to the drum kit, stating that "Helmholtz gave me the technique I needed." Murray described his own musical goals as follows: "I work for natural sounds rather than trying to sound like drums. Sometimes I try to sound like car motors or the continuous crackling of glass not just the sound of drums but the sound of the crashing of cars and the upheaval of a volcano and the thunder of the skies." At one point he attempted to design a different kind of drum set that would be "more in touch with the human voice in terms of humming and screaming and laughing and crying."
Murray's aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion. His concept relied heavily on continuous ringing stick work on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock cymbal (hi hat). He played with his mouth open, emitting an incessant wailing which blended into the overall percussion backdrop of shifting pulses [H]is playing often seems to bear little relation to what the soloist is doing. What he did do, though, was to lay down a shimmering tapestry behind the soloist, enabling him to move wherever he wanted." Concerning Murray's tenure with Albert Ayler, John Litweiler wrote: "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether." Amiri Baraka described Murray's playing as follows:
Watching Sonny play, as he swoops and floats, hovers, lunges, above and into the drums, it is immediate his body ness, his physicality in the music. Not just as a drum beater but as a conductor of energies, directing them this way and that way. Just scraping a cymbal this time, smashing it the next. Both feet straight out with the bass drums. His rolls and bombs the result of body mined spirit feel. He wants "natural sounds," natural rhythms. The drum as a reactor and manifestor of energies coursing through and pouring out of his body. Rhythm as occurrence. As natural emphasis
You hear him moaning behind his instrument, with his other beautiful instrument. His voice. The sound of feeling. The moan, a ragged body spasm sound, like some kind of heavy stringed instrument, lifting all the other sounds into prayers. Author Norman C. Weinstein wrote:
[Murray] radically rethinks the role of the drum kit, sees the kit as a kinetic sculpture The drums are a sculpture he dances around, giving the drum kit a numinosity like African drums utilized for ritual purposes. By dancing about the drums, not merely alertly sitting before them, he maximizes the force of his contact with all surfaces, not just skins but metal and wood as well. The sheer physicality of his approach assures a broader spectrum of timbres than those usually achieved by players utilizing conventional posture. Murray's dance in fast motion creates the illusion of several drummers performing simultaneously, a stuttering strobe effect akin to how Duchamp caused his nude to trip the light fantastic down a staircase The richness of Murray's cymbal crashes and vocals is beautifully reinforced by his drum attacks, particularly his sonorous tattoos on the bass drum. He has an astute gift for playing off extreme tonal contrasts, high pitched cymbals ringing in counterpoint to earth moaning bass drum tones He creates a sense of time which might be appreciated by a tradition minded African, not time measured by Timex, not shaped by a cymbal's metronomic insistences, but time as the poet Blake understood it, found in the pulsation of an artery. Murray acknowledged the influence of Hermann Helmholtz in developing his unique approach to the drum kit, stating that "Helmholtz gave me the technique I needed." Murray described his own musical goals as follows: "I work for natural sounds rather than trying to sound like drums. Sometimes I try to sound like car motors or the continuous crackling of glass not just the sound of drums but the sound of the crashing of cars and the upheaval of a volcano and the thunder of the skies." At one point he attempted to design a different kind of drum set that would be "more in touch with the human voice in terms of humming and screaming and laughing and crying."
Мюррейдің мақсаты – солисті уақтың шектеулерінен толық босату, ал осы мақсатқа жету үшін ол үздіксіз дауылдайтын перкуссияны құрды. Оның тұжырымы негізгі тұрғысынан цимбалдың жиегіндегі үздіксіз соққылы таяқшалар, тұзаққа қарсы ретсіз стаккато шабуылдары, спазмодиялық бас-барабан акценттері және тұрақты, бірақ метрономдық емес, хай-хэттің (hi-hat) қолданылуына сүйенді. Ол аузын ашып ойнайтын, үнемі ағылып жатқан зарлы дыбыс шығаратын, ол перкуссияның жалпы фонымен үйлесетін. [H] Оның ойнауы көбінесе солистің не істеп жатқанымен байланысы жоқ сияқты. Дегенмен, ол солистің артында жылтыр жамылғы құрып, оған қалаған бағытта қозғалуға мүмкіндік берді. Джон Литвейлер Мюррейдің Альберт Айлермен бірлескен жұмысы туралы былай деп жазды: «Санни Мюррей мен Альберт Айлер тек такт сызықтарын бұзған ғана емес, оларды мүлдем жойды». Амири Барака Мюррейдің ойнауын былай сипаттады:
Murray was among the first to forgo the drummer's traditional role as timekeeper in favor of purely textural playing. Val Wilmer wrote:
Murray's aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion. His concept relied heavily on continuous ringing stick work on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock cymbal (hi hat). He played with his mouth open, emitting an incessant wailing which blended into the overall percussion backdrop of shifting pulses [H]is playing often seems to bear little relation to what the soloist is doing. What he did do, though, was to lay down a shimmering tapestry behind the soloist, enabling him to move wherever he wanted." Concerning Murray's tenure with Albert Ayler, John Litweiler wrote: "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether." Amiri Baraka described Murray's playing as follows:
Watching Sonny play, as he swoops and floats, hovers, lunges, above and into the drums, it is immediate his body ness, his physicality in the music. Not just as a drum beater but as a conductor of energies, directing them this way and that way. Just scraping a cymbal this time, smashing it the next. Both feet straight out with the bass drums. His rolls and bombs the result of body mined spirit feel. He wants "natural sounds," natural rhythms. The drum as a reactor and manifestor of energies coursing through and pouring out of his body. Rhythm as occurrence. As natural emphasis
You hear him moaning behind his instrument, with his other beautiful instrument. His voice. The sound of feeling. The moan, a ragged body spasm sound, like some kind of heavy stringed instrument, lifting all the other sounds into prayers. Author Norman C. Weinstein wrote:
[Murray] radically rethinks the role of the drum kit, sees the kit as a kinetic sculpture The drums are a sculpture he dances around, giving the drum kit a numinosity like African drums utilized for ritual purposes. By dancing about the drums, not merely alertly sitting before them, he maximizes the force of his contact with all surfaces, not just skins but metal and wood as well. The sheer physicality of his approach assures a broader spectrum of timbres than those usually achieved by players utilizing conventional posture. Murray's dance in fast motion creates the illusion of several drummers performing simultaneously, a stuttering strobe effect akin to how Duchamp caused his nude to trip the light fantastic down a staircase The richness of Murray's cymbal crashes and vocals is beautifully reinforced by his drum attacks, particularly his sonorous tattoos on the bass drum. He has an astute gift for playing off extreme tonal contrasts, high pitched cymbals ringing in counterpoint to earth moaning bass drum tones He creates a sense of time which might be appreciated by a tradition minded African, not time measured by Timex, not shaped by a cymbal's metronomic insistences, but time as the poet Blake understood it, found in the pulsation of an artery. Murray acknowledged the influence of Hermann Helmholtz in developing his unique approach to the drum kit, stating that "Helmholtz gave me the technique I needed." Murray described his own musical goals as follows: "I work for natural sounds rather than trying to sound like drums. Sometimes I try to sound like car motors or the continuous crackling of glass not just the sound of drums but the sound of the crashing of cars and the upheaval of a volcano and the thunder of the skies." At one point he attempted to design a different kind of drum set that would be "more in touch with the human voice in terms of humming and screaming and laughing and crying."
Murray's aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion. His concept relied heavily on continuous ringing stick work on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock cymbal (hi hat). He played with his mouth open, emitting an incessant wailing which blended into the overall percussion backdrop of shifting pulses [H]is playing often seems to bear little relation to what the soloist is doing. What he did do, though, was to lay down a shimmering tapestry behind the soloist, enabling him to move wherever he wanted." Concerning Murray's tenure with Albert Ayler, John Litweiler wrote: "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether." Amiri Baraka described Murray's playing as follows:
Watching Sonny play, as he swoops and floats, hovers, lunges, above and into the drums, it is immediate his body ness, his physicality in the music. Not just as a drum beater but as a conductor of energies, directing them this way and that way. Just scraping a cymbal this time, smashing it the next. Both feet straight out with the bass drums. His rolls and bombs the result of body mined spirit feel. He wants "natural sounds," natural rhythms. The drum as a reactor and manifestor of energies coursing through and pouring out of his body. Rhythm as occurrence. As natural emphasis
You hear him moaning behind his instrument, with his other beautiful instrument. His voice. The sound of feeling. The moan, a ragged body spasm sound, like some kind of heavy stringed instrument, lifting all the other sounds into prayers. Author Norman C. Weinstein wrote:
[Murray] radically rethinks the role of the drum kit, sees the kit as a kinetic sculpture The drums are a sculpture he dances around, giving the drum kit a numinosity like African drums utilized for ritual purposes. By dancing about the drums, not merely alertly sitting before them, he maximizes the force of his contact with all surfaces, not just skins but metal and wood as well. The sheer physicality of his approach assures a broader spectrum of timbres than those usually achieved by players utilizing conventional posture. Murray's dance in fast motion creates the illusion of several drummers performing simultaneously, a stuttering strobe effect akin to how Duchamp caused his nude to trip the light fantastic down a staircase The richness of Murray's cymbal crashes and vocals is beautifully reinforced by his drum attacks, particularly his sonorous tattoos on the bass drum. He has an astute gift for playing off extreme tonal contrasts, high pitched cymbals ringing in counterpoint to earth moaning bass drum tones He creates a sense of time which might be appreciated by a tradition minded African, not time measured by Timex, not shaped by a cymbal's metronomic insistences, but time as the poet Blake understood it, found in the pulsation of an artery. Murray acknowledged the influence of Hermann Helmholtz in developing his unique approach to the drum kit, stating that "Helmholtz gave me the technique I needed." Murray described his own musical goals as follows: "I work for natural sounds rather than trying to sound like drums. Sometimes I try to sound like car motors or the continuous crackling of glass not just the sound of drums but the sound of the crashing of cars and the upheaval of a volcano and the thunder of the skies." At one point he attempted to design a different kind of drum set that would be "more in touch with the human voice in terms of humming and screaming and laughing and crying."
Соннидің ойнағанын қадағалағанда, ол барабанның үстінен және астынан секіріп, тікелей оның денесінің, музыкадағы физикалық күшінің куәсі боласың. Ол тек барабан соққысы емес, энергияны басқаратын, оны осы бағытта, сол бағытта бағыттайтын дирижер. Бірде цимбалға сызып, бірде оны күшпен ұрады. Екі аяғы да бас-барабанға тікелей бағытталған. Оның ролдары мен жарылыстары – денедегі рухтың сезімінен туған нәтиже. Ол «табиғи дыбыстарды», табиғи ырғақтарды қалайды. Барабан – оның денесінен ағып өтіп, құйылатын энергияның реакторы және көрінісі. Ритм – оқиға ретінде. Табиғи акцент ретінде. Оның аспабының артында, өзінің тағы бір әдемі аспабымен – дауысымен зарлағанын естисіз. Сезімнің дыбысы. Зар, денедегі спазм сияқты, ауыр ішекті аспап сияқты, барлық басқа дыбыстарды дұғаға көтереді. Автор Норман К. Вайнштейн былай деп жазды:
Murray was among the first to forgo the drummer's traditional role as timekeeper in favor of purely textural playing. Val Wilmer wrote:
Murray's aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion. His concept relied heavily on continuous ringing stick work on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock cymbal (hi hat). He played with his mouth open, emitting an incessant wailing which blended into the overall percussion backdrop of shifting pulses [H]is playing often seems to bear little relation to what the soloist is doing. What he did do, though, was to lay down a shimmering tapestry behind the soloist, enabling him to move wherever he wanted." Concerning Murray's tenure with Albert Ayler, John Litweiler wrote: "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether." Amiri Baraka described Murray's playing as follows:
Watching Sonny play, as he swoops and floats, hovers, lunges, above and into the drums, it is immediate his body ness, his physicality in the music. Not just as a drum beater but as a conductor of energies, directing them this way and that way. Just scraping a cymbal this time, smashing it the next. Both feet straight out with the bass drums. His rolls and bombs the result of body mined spirit feel. He wants "natural sounds," natural rhythms. The drum as a reactor and manifestor of energies coursing through and pouring out of his body. Rhythm as occurrence. As natural emphasis
You hear him moaning behind his instrument, with his other beautiful instrument. His voice. The sound of feeling. The moan, a ragged body spasm sound, like some kind of heavy stringed instrument, lifting all the other sounds into prayers. Author Norman C. Weinstein wrote:
[Murray] radically rethinks the role of the drum kit, sees the kit as a kinetic sculpture The drums are a sculpture he dances around, giving the drum kit a numinosity like African drums utilized for ritual purposes. By dancing about the drums, not merely alertly sitting before them, he maximizes the force of his contact with all surfaces, not just skins but metal and wood as well. The sheer physicality of his approach assures a broader spectrum of timbres than those usually achieved by players utilizing conventional posture. Murray's dance in fast motion creates the illusion of several drummers performing simultaneously, a stuttering strobe effect akin to how Duchamp caused his nude to trip the light fantastic down a staircase The richness of Murray's cymbal crashes and vocals is beautifully reinforced by his drum attacks, particularly his sonorous tattoos on the bass drum. He has an astute gift for playing off extreme tonal contrasts, high pitched cymbals ringing in counterpoint to earth moaning bass drum tones He creates a sense of time which might be appreciated by a tradition minded African, not time measured by Timex, not shaped by a cymbal's metronomic insistences, but time as the poet Blake understood it, found in the pulsation of an artery. Murray acknowledged the influence of Hermann Helmholtz in developing his unique approach to the drum kit, stating that "Helmholtz gave me the technique I needed." Murray described his own musical goals as follows: "I work for natural sounds rather than trying to sound like drums. Sometimes I try to sound like car motors or the continuous crackling of glass not just the sound of drums but the sound of the crashing of cars and the upheaval of a volcano and the thunder of the skies." At one point he attempted to design a different kind of drum set that would be "more in touch with the human voice in terms of humming and screaming and laughing and crying."
Murray's aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion. His concept relied heavily on continuous ringing stick work on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock cymbal (hi hat). He played with his mouth open, emitting an incessant wailing which blended into the overall percussion backdrop of shifting pulses [H]is playing often seems to bear little relation to what the soloist is doing. What he did do, though, was to lay down a shimmering tapestry behind the soloist, enabling him to move wherever he wanted." Concerning Murray's tenure with Albert Ayler, John Litweiler wrote: "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether." Amiri Baraka described Murray's playing as follows:
Watching Sonny play, as he swoops and floats, hovers, lunges, above and into the drums, it is immediate his body ness, his physicality in the music. Not just as a drum beater but as a conductor of energies, directing them this way and that way. Just scraping a cymbal this time, smashing it the next. Both feet straight out with the bass drums. His rolls and bombs the result of body mined spirit feel. He wants "natural sounds," natural rhythms. The drum as a reactor and manifestor of energies coursing through and pouring out of his body. Rhythm as occurrence. As natural emphasis
You hear him moaning behind his instrument, with his other beautiful instrument. His voice. The sound of feeling. The moan, a ragged body spasm sound, like some kind of heavy stringed instrument, lifting all the other sounds into prayers. Author Norman C. Weinstein wrote:
[Murray] radically rethinks the role of the drum kit, sees the kit as a kinetic sculpture The drums are a sculpture he dances around, giving the drum kit a numinosity like African drums utilized for ritual purposes. By dancing about the drums, not merely alertly sitting before them, he maximizes the force of his contact with all surfaces, not just skins but metal and wood as well. The sheer physicality of his approach assures a broader spectrum of timbres than those usually achieved by players utilizing conventional posture. Murray's dance in fast motion creates the illusion of several drummers performing simultaneously, a stuttering strobe effect akin to how Duchamp caused his nude to trip the light fantastic down a staircase The richness of Murray's cymbal crashes and vocals is beautifully reinforced by his drum attacks, particularly his sonorous tattoos on the bass drum. He has an astute gift for playing off extreme tonal contrasts, high pitched cymbals ringing in counterpoint to earth moaning bass drum tones He creates a sense of time which might be appreciated by a tradition minded African, not time measured by Timex, not shaped by a cymbal's metronomic insistences, but time as the poet Blake understood it, found in the pulsation of an artery. Murray acknowledged the influence of Hermann Helmholtz in developing his unique approach to the drum kit, stating that "Helmholtz gave me the technique I needed." Murray described his own musical goals as follows: "I work for natural sounds rather than trying to sound like drums. Sometimes I try to sound like car motors or the continuous crackling of glass not just the sound of drums but the sound of the crashing of cars and the upheaval of a volcano and the thunder of the skies." At one point he attempted to design a different kind of drum set that would be "more in touch with the human voice in terms of humming and screaming and laughing and crying."
[Мюррей] барабан жиынтығының рөлін түбірінен өзгертеді, жиынтықты кинетикалық мүсін ретінде қарастырады. Барабан – ол билейтін мүсін, барабан жиынтығына африкалық ритуалдық барабандар сияқты құдіреттілік сыйлайды. Барабанның айналасында билеу арқылы, оның алдында тығырықтап отырмай, ол барлық беттермен байланыс күшін арттырады, тек барабан терісімен ғана емес, металл мен ағашпен де. Оның тәсілінің физикалық күші, дәстүрлі позаны қолданатын ойнаушыларға қарағанда кең ауқымды тембрлерді қамтамасыз етеді. Мюррейдің жылдам биі бірнеше барабаншының бір уақытта ойнап жатқандай сезім тудырады, бұл Дюшанның жалаңаш әйелін баспалдақтан төмен түсіріп, жарықпен ойнаған сияқты, дірілдеу эффектісін тудырады. Мюррейдің цимбалдың соққылары мен вокалының байлығы оның барабан шабуылдарымен, әсіресе бас-барабандағы дыбыстық татуировкаларымен күшейтіледі. Оның ерекше дарыны – жоғары жиілікті цимбалдардың дыбыстарын жердің зарлы бас-барабан дыбыстарымен үйлестіру. Ол дәстүрді сақтайтын африкалықтың бағалайтын уақыт сезімін жасайды, Timex сағатымен өлшенбейтін, цимбалдың метрономдық қайталауларымен қалыптаспайтын, ақын Блейк түсінгендей, артерияның соғуында табиғатта кездесетін уақыт. Мюррей өзінің барабан жиынтығына ерекше көзқарасын дамытуда Герман Гельмгольцтің ықпалын мойындады, «Гельмгольц маған қажетті техниканы берді» деді. Мюррей өзінің музыкалық мақсаттарын былай сипаттады: «Мен барабан сияқты естілу үшін емес, табиғи дыбыстар үшін жұмыс істеймін. Кейде мен машина қозғалтқыштарының немесе шынының сыңғырлап жарылуы сияқты дыбыстар шығаруға тырысамын. Бұл тек барабандардың дыбысы ғана емес, сонымен қатар машиналардың соқтығысуы, жанартаудың атқылауы және аспанның күркіреуі сияқты дыбыстарды да қамтиды». Бір кезде ол «адам дауысына, ырғаққа, айқайға, күлімдеуге және жылауға көбірек ұқсайтын» басқа да барабан жиынтығын жасауға тырысты.
Murray was among the first to forgo the drummer's traditional role as timekeeper in favor of purely textural playing. Val Wilmer wrote:
Murray's aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion. His concept relied heavily on continuous ringing stick work on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock cymbal (hi hat). He played with his mouth open, emitting an incessant wailing which blended into the overall percussion backdrop of shifting pulses [H]is playing often seems to bear little relation to what the soloist is doing. What he did do, though, was to lay down a shimmering tapestry behind the soloist, enabling him to move wherever he wanted." Concerning Murray's tenure with Albert Ayler, John Litweiler wrote: "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether." Amiri Baraka described Murray's playing as follows:
Watching Sonny play, as he swoops and floats, hovers, lunges, above and into the drums, it is immediate his body ness, his physicality in the music. Not just as a drum beater but as a conductor of energies, directing them this way and that way. Just scraping a cymbal this time, smashing it the next. Both feet straight out with the bass drums. His rolls and bombs the result of body mined spirit feel. He wants "natural sounds," natural rhythms. The drum as a reactor and manifestor of energies coursing through and pouring out of his body. Rhythm as occurrence. As natural emphasis
You hear him moaning behind his instrument, with his other beautiful instrument. His voice. The sound of feeling. The moan, a ragged body spasm sound, like some kind of heavy stringed instrument, lifting all the other sounds into prayers. Author Norman C. Weinstein wrote:
[Murray] radically rethinks the role of the drum kit, sees the kit as a kinetic sculpture The drums are a sculpture he dances around, giving the drum kit a numinosity like African drums utilized for ritual purposes. By dancing about the drums, not merely alertly sitting before them, he maximizes the force of his contact with all surfaces, not just skins but metal and wood as well. The sheer physicality of his approach assures a broader spectrum of timbres than those usually achieved by players utilizing conventional posture. Murray's dance in fast motion creates the illusion of several drummers performing simultaneously, a stuttering strobe effect akin to how Duchamp caused his nude to trip the light fantastic down a staircase The richness of Murray's cymbal crashes and vocals is beautifully reinforced by his drum attacks, particularly his sonorous tattoos on the bass drum. He has an astute gift for playing off extreme tonal contrasts, high pitched cymbals ringing in counterpoint to earth moaning bass drum tones He creates a sense of time which might be appreciated by a tradition minded African, not time measured by Timex, not shaped by a cymbal's metronomic insistences, but time as the poet Blake understood it, found in the pulsation of an artery. Murray acknowledged the influence of Hermann Helmholtz in developing his unique approach to the drum kit, stating that "Helmholtz gave me the technique I needed." Murray described his own musical goals as follows: "I work for natural sounds rather than trying to sound like drums. Sometimes I try to sound like car motors or the continuous crackling of glass not just the sound of drums but the sound of the crashing of cars and the upheaval of a volcano and the thunder of the skies." At one point he attempted to design a different kind of drum set that would be "more in touch with the human voice in terms of humming and screaming and laughing and crying."
Murray's aim was to free the soloist completely from the restrictions of time, and to do this he set up a continual hailstorm of percussion. His concept relied heavily on continuous ringing stick work on the edge of the cymbals, an irregular staccato barrage on the snare, spasmodic bass drum punctuation and constant, but not metronomic, use of the sock cymbal (hi hat). He played with his mouth open, emitting an incessant wailing which blended into the overall percussion backdrop of shifting pulses [H]is playing often seems to bear little relation to what the soloist is doing. What he did do, though, was to lay down a shimmering tapestry behind the soloist, enabling him to move wherever he wanted." Concerning Murray's tenure with Albert Ayler, John Litweiler wrote: "Sunny Murray and Albert Ayler did not merely break through bar lines, they abolished them altogether." Amiri Baraka described Murray's playing as follows:
Watching Sonny play, as he swoops and floats, hovers, lunges, above and into the drums, it is immediate his body ness, his physicality in the music. Not just as a drum beater but as a conductor of energies, directing them this way and that way. Just scraping a cymbal this time, smashing it the next. Both feet straight out with the bass drums. His rolls and bombs the result of body mined spirit feel. He wants "natural sounds," natural rhythms. The drum as a reactor and manifestor of energies coursing through and pouring out of his body. Rhythm as occurrence. As natural emphasis
You hear him moaning behind his instrument, with his other beautiful instrument. His voice. The sound of feeling. The moan, a ragged body spasm sound, like some kind of heavy stringed instrument, lifting all the other sounds into prayers. Author Norman C. Weinstein wrote:
[Murray] radically rethinks the role of the drum kit, sees the kit as a kinetic sculpture The drums are a sculpture he dances around, giving the drum kit a numinosity like African drums utilized for ritual purposes. By dancing about the drums, not merely alertly sitting before them, he maximizes the force of his contact with all surfaces, not just skins but metal and wood as well. The sheer physicality of his approach assures a broader spectrum of timbres than those usually achieved by players utilizing conventional posture. Murray's dance in fast motion creates the illusion of several drummers performing simultaneously, a stuttering strobe effect akin to how Duchamp caused his nude to trip the light fantastic down a staircase The richness of Murray's cymbal crashes and vocals is beautifully reinforced by his drum attacks, particularly his sonorous tattoos on the bass drum. He has an astute gift for playing off extreme tonal contrasts, high pitched cymbals ringing in counterpoint to earth moaning bass drum tones He creates a sense of time which might be appreciated by a tradition minded African, not time measured by Timex, not shaped by a cymbal's metronomic insistences, but time as the poet Blake understood it, found in the pulsation of an artery. Murray acknowledged the influence of Hermann Helmholtz in developing his unique approach to the drum kit, stating that "Helmholtz gave me the technique I needed." Murray described his own musical goals as follows: "I work for natural sounds rather than trying to sound like drums. Sometimes I try to sound like car motors or the continuous crackling of glass not just the sound of drums but the sound of the crashing of cars and the upheaval of a volcano and the thunder of the skies." At one point he attempted to design a different kind of drum set that would be "more in touch with the human voice in terms of humming and screaming and laughing and crying."