Marilyn Mazur
Encyclopedia
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
mer, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, vocalist, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, dancer and bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
. She was born in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and has lived in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
from age six. She is of Polish and African-American descent. Since 1975, she has worked as a percussionist with various groups, among them Six Winds with Alex Riel
Alex Riel
Alex Riel, , is a Danish jazz and rock drummer. His first group Alex Riel/Palle Mikkelborg Quintet won Montreux Grand Prix Award at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1968 and it was published in Billboards June 1968 edition.-Biography:Riel has recorded with, among others, Kenny Drew, Kenny Werner, Bob...
. Mazur is primarily an autodidact, but she has a degree in percussion from the Royal Danish Academy of Music.
She has worked with many musicians: John Tchicai
John Tchicai
John Martin Tchicai is a Danish jazz saxophonist. He was one of the earliest European free jazz musicians. He is of Danish and Congolese descent....
, Pierre Dørge
Pierre Dørge
Pierre Dørge is a Danish avant-garde jazz guitarist, bandleader and composer born in Copenhagen, Denmark. As leader of New Jungle Orchestra he created a unique and playful combination of traditional and modern jazz with Highlife west-African guitar music.Among his collaborators have been his...
(New Jungle Orchestra), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
- Discography :* My Name Is Albert Ayler 1963 * Kirk in Copenhagen 1963 * Ben Webster in Denmark 1965-1971 Live at Danish Radio studios, Jazzhus Montmartre and Odd Fellow Palæet - Universal Music Denmark*One Flight Up 1964 *Sunday Walk 1969 - Discography :* My Name Is Albert Ayler 1963 (with...
, Palle Mikkelborg
Palle Mikkelborg
Palle Mikkelborg , is a Danish jazz trumpeter, composer, arranger and record producer. He started playing professionally in 1960, and has since been a dominant figure on the Danish and international progressive jazz scene...
, Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen
Arild Andersen is a Norwegian bass player.Born in Lillestrøm, Norway, he started out as a member of the Jan Garbarek Quartet , with Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen...
, Eberhard Weber
Eberhard Weber
Eberhard Weber is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, Weber is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing...
, Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald
Peter Kowald was a German free jazz musician.A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with a large number of European free jazz and American free-jazz players during his career, including Peter Brötzmann, Irène Schweizer, Karl Berger, Fred...
, Jeanne Lee
Jeanne Lee
Jeanne Lee was an American jazz singer, poet and composer. Best known for a wide range of vocal styles she mastered, Lee collaborated with numerous distinguished composers and performers which included Gunter Hampel, Ran Blake, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Marion Brown, and many...
, Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
, Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter
Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
and Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, to mention a few.
In 1989, she founded her band Future Song, with pianist Elvira Plenar, singer Aina Kemanis, trumpet player Nils Petter Molvær
Nils Petter Molvær
Nils Petter Molvær also known as NPM is a Norwegian jazz trumpeter, composer, and producer. Molvær is considered a pioneer in fusing jazz and electronic music, showcased on his best-selling album Khmer, released by the German record label ECM in October 1997 in Europe and early 1998 in North...
, her husband Klavs Hovman (bass) and Audun Kleive
Audun Kleive
Audun Kleive is a Norwegian drummer and percussionist.Audun Kleive grew up in Skien, the son of organist Kristoffer Kleive and brother of organist and composer Iver Kleive. He began to play drums in a rock and dance band, and then went to Oslo, where he studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music...
, as second drummer. In a second project, Percussion Paradise, she works regularly with percussionists Benita Haastrup, Lisbeth Diers and Birgit Løkke.
The U.S. magazine Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
, in 1989, 1990 and 1995, selected Mazur as a "percussion-talent deserving wider recognition". In 2001, she was awarded the Jazzpar Prize
Jazzpar Prize
The Jazzpar Prize was an annual Danish prize within jazz founded by Arnvid Meyer. The winner was chosen from five nominees, among internationally recognized performers of jazz. The award used to be 200,000 Danish crowns and a bronze statue by Jørgen Haugen Sørensen...
, the world's largest international jazz prize.
Discography
- Future Song (1992)
- Small Labyrinths (1997)
- All the Birds (2002)
- Daylight Stories (2004)
- Elixir (2008)
- Tangled Temptations & The Magic Box (2010)
With Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
- Twelve MoonsTwelve MoonsTwelve Moons is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek recorded in 1992 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review awarded the album 4 stars.-Track listing:# "Twelve Moons" - 7:35# "Psalm" - 6:33...
(ECM, 1992) - Visible WorldVisible WorldVisible World is an album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek recorded in 1995 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Chris Kelsey awarded the album 2½ stars stating "This is quiet, contemplative music for the most part -- attractive, but not superficially pretty. Its...
(ECM, 1995) - RitesRites (album)Rites is a double album by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek recorded in 1998 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars stating "On one collection, listeners get music for prayer, contemplation, and grief, as well as a funky European read...
(ECM, 1998)