Sunny Murray
Sunny Murray (James Marcellus Arthur Murray, 1936-2017) was an American drummer born in Idabel, Oklahoma, and one of the pioneers of free jazz drumming. Murray dropped steady timekeeping in favour of a continuous wash of cymbals, snare and bass drum, and is best known for his work with Cecil Taylor and Albert Ayler in the 1960s. He died in Paris. Sunny Murray moved to New York in 1956 and began playing with Cecil Taylor in 1959, recording Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come with Taylor and Jimmy Lyons in Denmark in 1962.
