With his new, young quartet, tenor saxophonist David Murray has really found his groove. The band’s first album Francesca came out in 2024 on the Swiss Intakt label, and before the year was up, the band was already back in the studio for a follow-up that will drop on Verve. Not that Murray was sitting still in the past; throughout his long career, this jazz giant has made hundreds of recordings, both as a bandleader and a guest musician. Along the way, the California native has taken his listeners through gospel, free jazz, Afro-Caribbean music, blues, soul, and classic jazz. Born in 1955, he set himself apart from his tenor-playing peers by not choosing John Coltrane as a role model but incorporating elements from Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster instead. With his unique, rich sound, Murray soon became a leading saxophonist. Now he’s giving three budding musicians all the space they need to blossom in his new David Murray Quartet, which mainly plays original compositions.
