Ming album cover
Ming

David Murray Octet

1980
Black Saint

One of David Murray’s best-loved groups comes roaring out of the gate on their 1980 debut. The front line consists of Murray on tenor sax and bass clarinet, Henry Threadgill on alto sax, Olu Dara on trumpet, Lawrence “Butch” Morris on cornet, and George Lewis on trombone, with pianist Anthony Davis, bassist Wilber Morris, and drummer Steve McCall in support. The five compositions, all by Murray, combine the fullness of Ellington with raucous free jazz intensity. Opener “The Fast Life” lives up to its title, exploding at punk-rock speed, and even the title piece, a romantic ballad written for Murray’s wife at the time, boils with intensity.

Phil Freeman

Who also suggested

If you select your preferred streamer here, we will save your preference and link to that platform if possible. This can always be changed in the Settings menu.

Apple Music

If you’d like to prioritize Bandcamp if available, tap the Bandcamp logo.

Since some albums are only available on one service, you’ll still see logos for other services if the album is only available on that service.

Next