Francesca

Tenor saxophonist David Murray, the giant of modern jazz, fuses all the great things that black music has produced: Gos- pel sounds, free jazz, Afro-Caribbean, blues, soul as well as the beautiful standards of classic jazz. Murray's colorful tone, unsurpassed intonation, sense of swing, melancholy tones, improvisational power and ingenuity make him one of the most important voices in music today. His new quartet, which mainly plays his own compositions, gives the three young musicians plenty of space. "Jazz legend David Murray is back with the next generation of geniuses", writes the Washington Post about the new quartet. And Derek Schilling writes in the liner notes to the fantastic album Francesca: "David Murray's compositional signature today lies in conjoning distinct styles whose encounter makes for the sound of surprise. The specific choice of these styles (and corresponding meters or textures) matters, for sure. More crucial still is the way Murray makes the transition from one to another seem natural, necessary even. If you can move with ease from funk to Latin rhythms, from waltz time to four-on-the-floor, from R&B to free and back again, it's because music knows no boundaries. When it's be- ing played right, it reaches beyond itself even as it affirms the continuity of tradition. The sound of surprise results when mu- sicians forge, in the moment, that unity-in-diversity. The real deal." A masterpiece!