New York Times Book Review: Listening and Playing

“Murray Talks Music,” another of several new books about jazz, brings together some of the writer Albert Murray’s interviews and essays about music. In Apprise magazine in 1990, he talked about improvisation as a form of resilience, an ability to change and deal with new circumstances that was indicative of the American character. “If you’ve got it all nailed down, and you know where all the notes go, and you do all that, and all you have to do is have the director come up and tell you, ‘Do that,’ you’re not dealing with American experience, you see.”

Murray_Murray coverExcerpt:

“Murray Talks Music,” another of several new books about jazz, brings together some of the writer Albert Murray’s interviews and essays about music. In Apprise magazine in 1990, he talked about improvisation as a form of resilience, an ability to change and deal with new circumstances that was indicative of the American character. “If you’ve got it all nailed down, and you know where all the notes go, and you do all that, and all you have to do is have the director come up and tell you, ‘Do that,’ you’re not dealing with American experience, you see.”

Read the full article here.

Published in: New York Times
By: John Williams