Tarbaby feat. David Murray

David Murray, sax; Orrin Evans, piano; Eric Revis; double bass; Nasheet Waits, drums

When it comes to the sheer breath of this man’s creative output and his longevity on the jazz scene, Murray is practically without equal. A brilliant composer and a totally unique improviser, Murray is also a founding member of the revolutionary World Saxophone Quartet and has released over 160 (!) albums in his own right over the last five decades. A doyen of avant-garde jazz, Murray won the coveted Grammy Award in the Best Instrumental Performance category for Blues for Coltrane (1989).

His most recent project, Francesca (2024), was chosen as No. 2 Best Jazz Album of 2024 by The New York Times. It was Tarbaby that topped this chart with the album You Think This America. For nearly two decades, the group’s core trio has been delivering a distinct perspective on social and cultural-political realities, marked by unrelenting intensity and uncompromising execution. They engage with complex themes through carefully crafted concepts and timely contextualization — as exemplified on their 2013 album Fanon, inspired by the work of philosopher, revolutionary, psychiatrist, and anti-colonial writer Frantz Fanon.
 
Tarbaby and the roster of collaborators with whom they develop musical ideas, most notably Oliver Lake, Nicholas Payton, JD Allen, Ambrose Akinmusire and Marc Ducret, share a common sense of responsibility towards music and tradition. Their latest release features arrangements of David Murray's compositions, which is why it seemed only logical to join these two eruptive forces into a supergroup exclusively for the Jazz Festival Ljubljana – Tarbaby feat. David Murray.