Diedre Murray
Encyclopedia
Diedre Murray is an American
cellist
and composer specializing in jazz
, improvised music, opera, and contemporary classical music
. She is also active as a producer, and curator. She lives in Queens
, New York.
As a performer she has worked with the Henry Threadgill
Sextett, Leroy Jenkins, Julius Hemphill
, James Brown
, Muhal Richard Abrams
, Archie Shepp
, Fred Hopkins
, Jason Kao Hwang
, and Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson
, in addition to leading a number of her own ensembles.
in Minnesota for the Music in Motion program; Flashes, a structured improvised collaboration with choreographer Blondell Cummings and musicians Jeanne Lee and Pauline Oliveros
for The Firewall Festival 1993; and, music for Helen Thorington's radio piece Dracula's Wives for broadcast.
In 1994, Murray's works included The Voice Within, an a cappella theater piece for ten voices with text by Marcus Gardley, at Aaron Davis Hall
; a tour of Flashes to the Taklos Festival in Switzerland; and, a dramatized version of Unending Pain, with text by Laurie Carlos, at P.S. 122 in New York City. Her work as a composer was intermixed with an extensive concert schedule as a band leader and concert soloist.
In 1996 her projects included: You Don't Miss the Water, a music-theater piece, in collaboration with noted poet Cornelius Eady
, produced by the Music Theatre Group; and the premiere of Women In The Dunes, a dance piece created by Blondel Cummings for the Japan Society and Mu Lan-Pi. Her dance theatrescape commissioned by District Curators and performed in Washington, D.C.
by The Ajax Moving Dance Company.
In 1998 Murray developed the highly acclaimed jazz opera Running Man, for which she wrote the original story, score, and book with collaborators Cornelius Eady and Diane Paulus
. Murray won an Obie
for her score and, with Eady, was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Murray also conceived Songbird: The Life and Times of Ella Fitzgerald, for which she wrote the original music. She received a grant from The Commissioning Project to write Eleven Elements of Joy for orchestra which debuted in June 1999. In 2000 she wrote a new chamber and choral piece for The Commissioning Project.
In 2001 she wrote the music arrangements for the musical Eli's Coming, for which she won her second Obie. In 2002 she composed the score for Brutal Imagination, a verse play by Cornelius Eady. Other works include Strings Attached, a dance piece by choreographer Risa Jaroslow; Best of Both Worlds created by Randy Weiner and Diane Paulus; and a collaboration with Sonoko Kawahara on Name of The Flower, a music-theater piece; "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" with Kathryn Walker.
Murray collaborated with Diane Paulus
on the musical The Best of Both Worlds
. Recent projects include a collaboration with Carl Hancock Rux on The Blackamoor Angel, a full length opera, a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage
on a musical for children's musical entitled Sweet Billy and the Zooloos, and year-long residency at Harlem Stages with playwright Marcus Gardley.
Murray is married to Lawrence Murray, Vice President and Director of Youth Programs at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
. Murray is currently managed by Abram's Artists Agency.
With Muhal Richard Abrams
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and composer specializing in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, improvised music, opera, and contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
. She is also active as a producer, and curator. She lives in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
, New York.
As a performer she has worked with the Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....
Sextett, Leroy Jenkins, Julius Hemphill
Julius Hemphill
Julius Arthur Hemphill was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone; less often soprano and tenor saxophones and flute.-Biography:...
, James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
, Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...
, Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, Fred Hopkins
Fred Hopkins
Fred Hopkins was a Chicago double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz movement. He was a member of the avant garde jazz trio Air and David Murray's Low Class Conspiracy; he frequently worked with the cellist Diedre Murray...
, Jason Kao Hwang
Jason Kao Hwang
Jason Kao Hwang is a Chinese American violinist and composer.A versatile performer, Hwang focuses primarily on jazz and improvised musics, and has a particular interest in cross-cultural projects...
, and Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson
Hannibal (musician)
Hannibal Marvin Peterson, born in Smithville, Texas, United States, November 11, 1948; later Hannibal Lokumbe, is an American jazz trumpeter and composer.He attended North Texas State University from 1967 to 1969, then moved to New York in 1970....
, in addition to leading a number of her own ensembles.
Biography
In 1993 Murray received commissions to create: a score for the inaugural concert at the Danny Kaye/Sylvia Fine Playhouse entitled "Five Minute Tango," performed by the Manhattan Brass Quintet; The Conversation for the Seattle-based New Performance Group at the Walker Art CenterWalker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
in Minnesota for the Music in Motion program; Flashes, a structured improvised collaboration with choreographer Blondell Cummings and musicians Jeanne Lee and Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....
for The Firewall Festival 1993; and, music for Helen Thorington's radio piece Dracula's Wives for broadcast.
In 1994, Murray's works included The Voice Within, an a cappella theater piece for ten voices with text by Marcus Gardley, at Aaron Davis Hall
Aaron Davis Hall
Aaron Davis Hall is a Performing Arts Center in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City.Aaron Davis Hall was founded in 1981 and is located on the campus of the City College of New York, between West 133rd and 135th Streets on Convent Avenue. Convent Ave. is one block east of Amsterdam Avenue...
; a tour of Flashes to the Taklos Festival in Switzerland; and, a dramatized version of Unending Pain, with text by Laurie Carlos, at P.S. 122 in New York City. Her work as a composer was intermixed with an extensive concert schedule as a band leader and concert soloist.
In 1996 her projects included: You Don't Miss the Water, a music-theater piece, in collaboration with noted poet Cornelius Eady
Cornelius Eady
Cornelius Eady is an American poet focusing largely on matters of race and society, particularly the trials of the African-American race in the United States. His poetry often centers around jazz and blues, family life, violence, and societal problems stemming from questions of race and class...
, produced by the Music Theatre Group; and the premiere of Women In The Dunes, a dance piece created by Blondel Cummings for the Japan Society and Mu Lan-Pi. Her dance theatrescape commissioned by District Curators and performed in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
by The Ajax Moving Dance Company.
In 1998 Murray developed the highly acclaimed jazz opera Running Man, for which she wrote the original story, score, and book with collaborators Cornelius Eady and Diane Paulus
Diane Paulus
Diane Paulus is an American director of theater and opera who became Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University in 2009. Paulus was nominated for the Best Director Tony Award for her revival of Hair...
. Murray won an Obie
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for her score and, with Eady, was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Murray also conceived Songbird: The Life and Times of Ella Fitzgerald, for which she wrote the original music. She received a grant from The Commissioning Project to write Eleven Elements of Joy for orchestra which debuted in June 1999. In 2000 she wrote a new chamber and choral piece for The Commissioning Project.
In 2001 she wrote the music arrangements for the musical Eli's Coming, for which she won her second Obie. In 2002 she composed the score for Brutal Imagination, a verse play by Cornelius Eady. Other works include Strings Attached, a dance piece by choreographer Risa Jaroslow; Best of Both Worlds created by Randy Weiner and Diane Paulus; and a collaboration with Sonoko Kawahara on Name of The Flower, a music-theater piece; "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" with Kathryn Walker.
Murray collaborated with Diane Paulus
Diane Paulus
Diane Paulus is an American director of theater and opera who became Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University in 2009. Paulus was nominated for the Best Director Tony Award for her revival of Hair...
on the musical The Best of Both Worlds
The Best of Both Worlds (musical)
The Best of Both Worlds is a musical with book and lyrics by Randy Weiner, music by Diedre Murray, and additional scenes by Diane Paulus, loosely based on William Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale.- Productions :...
. Recent projects include a collaboration with Carl Hancock Rux on The Blackamoor Angel, a full length opera, a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage
Lynn Nottage
Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often deals with the lives of women of African descent, African Americans and women. She was born in Brooklyn and is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama. She received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005, and a MacArthur Genius...
on a musical for children's musical entitled Sweet Billy and the Zooloos, and year-long residency at Harlem Stages with playwright Marcus Gardley.
Murray is married to Lawrence Murray, Vice President and Director of Youth Programs at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Murray is currently managed by Abram's Artists Agency.
As leader
- 1992 - Firestorm
- 1993 - Stringology (Black Saint Records, with Fred HopkinsFred HopkinsFred Hopkins was a Chicago double bassist who played a major role in the development of the avant-garde jazz movement. He was a member of the avant garde jazz trio Air and David Murray's Low Class Conspiracy; he frequently worked with the cellist Diedre Murray...
)
As sidewoman
With Henry ThreadgillHenry Threadgill
Henry Threadgill is an American composer, saxophonist and flautist. Threadgill came to prominence in the 1970s leading ensembles with unusual instrumentation and often incorporating a range of non-jazz genres....
- Just the Facts and Pass the BucketJust the Facts and Pass the BucketJust the Facts and Pass the Bucket is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the About Time label in 1983. The album and features six of Threadgill's compositions performed by Threadgill with Craig Harris, Olu Dara, Fred Hopkins, Diedre Murray, Pheeroan akLaff and John Betsch.The Allmusic review...
(1983) - Subject to ChangeSubject to Change (Henry Threadgill album)Subject to Change is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the About Time label in 1985. The album features six of Threadgill's compositions performed by Threadgill with Ray Anderson, Rasul Siddik, Fred Hopkins, Diedre Murray, Pheeroan akLaff and John Betsch with Amina Claudine Myers...
(1985) - You Know the NumberYou Know the NumberYou Know the Number is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the RCA Novus label in 1986. The album and features six of Threadgill's compositions performed by Threadgill's Sextett with Frank Lacy, Rasul Siddik, Fred Hopkins, Diedre Murray, Pheeroan akLaff and Reggie Nicholson.-Reception:The...
(1986) - Easily Slip Into Another WorldEasily Slip Into Another WorldEasily Slip Into Another World is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the RCA Novus label in 1987. The album and features five of Threadgill's compositions and one by Olu Dara performed by Threadgill with Frank Lacy, Rasul Siddik, Fred Hopkins, Diedre Murray, Pheeroan akLaff and Reggie...
(1987) - Rag, Bush and AllRag, Bush and AllRag, Bush and All is an album by Henry Threadgill released on the RCA Novus label in 1989. The album and features four of Threadgill's compositions performed by Threadgill's Sextett with Bill Lowe, Ted Daniels, Fred Hopkins, Diedre Murray, Newman Baker and Reggie Nicholson.-Reception:The Allmusic...
(1988)
With Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams
Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...
- The Hearinga SuiteThe Hearinga SuiteThe Hearinga Suite is an album by Muhal Richard Abrams released on the Italian Black Saint label in 1989 and features performances of seven of Abrams compositions by an eighteen member orchestra. Abrams dedicated the music on the album to Steve McCall and Raphael Donald Garrett...
(1989)