Albert Murray (1916–2013), author of thirteen books including Stomping the Blues, was a renowned jazz historian, novelist, and social and cultural theorist. He cofounded Jazz at Lincoln Center in 1987. Paul Devlin teaches at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and at St. John’s University. He earned his PhD in English at Stony Brook University in 2014. He is the editor of Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones, as told to Albert Murray (Minnesota), a finalist for the Jazz Journalists Association’s book award in 2012.Gary Giddins is one of the world’s foremost jazz critics. His books include Visions of Jazz, Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker (Minnesota), Satchmo, Weather Bird, Natural Selection, Jazz, and Warning Shadows.Greg Thomas is an award-winning jazz writer, editor, educator, and broadcast journalist. His work on jazz has been published in the Village Voice, The Root, All About Jazz, Salon, The Guardian, American Legacy, and the New York Daily News, for which he was the jazz columnist.

"Albert Murray is . . . an authority on soul from the days of old . . . and commands respect. He doesn't have to look it up. If you want to know, look him up. He is the unsquarest person I know."-Duke Ellington"Like Barthes and Bazin, Murray is a truly original thinker . . . Murray Talks Music is irresistibly stimulating." -The New Yorker"The name Albert Murray was never household familiar. Yet his complex, mind-opening analysis of art and life remains as timely as ever-probably more so. Devlin’s book is both a public service and a testament to how Murray could impress and inspire those who came in contact with him."-The Nation"Insightful." -New York Times"Murray Talks Music bears indelible witness to the writer’s role in elevating both jazz itself and the scholarship surrounding the music." -JazzTimes"Murray is rare touchstone writer for jazz. Indeed, there’s an argument that the later career of Wynton Marsalis and the entire edifice of Jazz at Lincoln Center is founded on Murray’s work. This is the only case of a major jazz musician treating the work of a major jazz writer with such reverence."-Ethan Iverson, DO THE M@TH"A compelling and comprehensive work, which will no doubt make Murrayites of us all."-DownBeat"Before Murray Talks Music, there was little in print of Albert Murray as spontaneous orator. This new collection corrects that problem and shows how brilliant he could be even when he didn’t have time to polish his prose."-The Arts Fuse"Murray Talks: Albert Murray on Jazz and Blues is further testimony to the fact that Murray was a charming character and a determined thinker. It is a fascinating edition to the Murray canon." -Living Blues"The freewheeling give-and-take in Murray Talks Music is robust and colorful. In conversation, Murray was even more of a paradigmatic jazzman in his spontaneous digressions and in his ability to call on a breathtaking range of resources and references." -Bookforum"If Allan Bloom was right that 'this is the age of music and the states of soul that accompany it,' then Albert Murray is a guide for our time. Against this backdrop, we can appreciate the posthumous publication of Murray’s work." -The Weekly Standard

• ContentsForeword: St. George and the BluesGary GiddinsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Albert Murray: Talking the Blues and So Much MorePaul Devlin1. Interview with Wynton Marsalis2. Interview with Dizzy Gillespie3. Interview with Dan Minor4. Interview with Greg Thomas5. A Talk at St. John’s University (with Paul Devlin)6. Interview with Russell Neff7. Liner Notes to Revelations and Blues Suite8. Murray’s Note on The Second Line and The Third Line9. Foreword to The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards10. Foreword to Mitchell & Ruff: An American Profile in Jazz11. Interview with Paul Devlin12. Murray’s 1958 Morocco Lecture Notes (translated by Lauren Walsh)13. Biographical Sketch of Count Basie14. Interview with Susan Page15. Interview with Robert G. O’Meally16. A Discussion of Duke Ellington with Loren Schoenberg and Stanley Crouch17. Jazz: Notes Toward a DefinitionAfterword: The Blues and Jazz as Aesthetic StatementGreg ThomasAppendix 1: Albert Murray’s Canon of Jazz ArrangementsAppendix 2: American Patterns and Variations on Rhythm and Tune: An Ellington-Strayhorn ListNotesIndex

Albert Murray (1916–2013), author of thirteen books including Stomping the Blues, was a renowned jazz historian, novelist, and social and cultural theorist. He cofounded Jazz at Lincoln Center in 1987. Paul Devlin teaches at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and at St. John’s University. He earned his PhD in English at Stony Brook University in 2014. He is the editor of Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones, as told to Albert Murray (Minnesota), a finalist for the Jazz Journalists Association’s book award in 2012.Gary Giddins is one of the world’s foremost jazz critics. His books include Visions of Jazz, Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker (Minnesota), Satchmo, Weather Bird, Natural Selection, Jazz, and Warning Shadows.Greg Thomas is an award-winning jazz writer, editor, educator, and broadcast journalist. His work on jazz has been published in the Village Voice, The Root, All About Jazz, Salon, The Guardian, American Legacy, and the New York Daily News, for which he was the jazz columnist.

"Albert Murray is . . . an authority on soul from the days of old . . . and commands respect. He doesn't have to look it up. If you want to know, look him up. He is the unsquarest person I know."-Duke Ellington"Like Barthes and Bazin, Murray is a truly original thinker . . . Murray Talks Music is irresistibly stimulating." -The New Yorker"The name Albert Murray was never household familiar. Yet his complex, mind-opening analysis of art and life remains as timely as ever-probably more so. Devlin’s book is both a public service and a testament to how Murray could impress and inspire those who came in contact with him."-The Nation"Insightful." -New York Times"Murray Talks Music bears indelible witness to the writer’s role in elevating both jazz itself and the scholarship surrounding the music." -JazzTimes"Murray is rare touchstone writer for jazz. Indeed, there’s an argument that the later career of Wynton Marsalis and the entire edifice of Jazz at Lincoln Center is founded on Murray’s work. This is the only case of a major jazz musician treating the work of a major jazz writer with such reverence."-Ethan Iverson, DO THE M@TH"A compelling and comprehensive work, which will no doubt make Murrayites of us all."-DownBeat"Before Murray Talks Music, there was little in print of Albert Murray as spontaneous orator. This new collection corrects that problem and shows how brilliant he could be even when he didn’t have time to polish his prose."-The Arts Fuse"Murray Talks: Albert Murray on Jazz and Blues is further testimony to the fact that Murray was a charming character and a determined thinker. It is a fascinating edition to the Murray canon." -Living Blues"The freewheeling give-and-take in Murray Talks Music is robust and colorful. In conversation, Murray was even more of a paradigmatic jazzman in his spontaneous digressions and in his ability to call on a breathtaking range of resources and references." -Bookforum"If Allan Bloom was right that 'this is the age of music and the states of soul that accompany it,' then Albert Murray is a guide for our time. Against this backdrop, we can appreciate the posthumous publication of Murray’s work." -The Weekly Standard

• ContentsForeword: St. George and the BluesGary GiddinsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Albert Murray: Talking the Blues and So Much MorePaul Devlin1. Interview with Wynton Marsalis2. Interview with Dizzy Gillespie3. Interview with Dan Minor4. Interview with Greg Thomas5. A Talk at St. John’s University (with Paul Devlin)6. Interview with Russell Neff7. Liner Notes to Revelations and Blues Suite8. Murray’s Note on The Second Line and The Third Line9. Foreword to The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards10. Foreword to Mitchell & Ruff: An American Profile in Jazz11. Interview with Paul Devlin12. Murray’s 1958 Morocco Lecture Notes (translated by Lauren Walsh)13. Biographical Sketch of Count Basie14. Interview with Susan Page15. Interview with Robert G. O’Meally16. A Discussion of Duke Ellington with Loren Schoenberg and Stanley Crouch17. Jazz: Notes Toward a DefinitionAfterword: The Blues and Jazz as Aesthetic StatementGreg ThomasAppendix 1: Albert Murray’s Canon of Jazz ArrangementsAppendix 2: American Patterns and Variations on Rhythm and Tune: An Ellington-Strayhorn ListNotesIndex

Albert Murray (1916–2013), author of thirteen books including Stomping the Blues, was a renowned jazz historian, novelist, and social and cultural theorist. He cofounded Jazz at Lincoln Center in 1987. Paul Devlin teaches at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and at St. John’s University. He earned his PhD in English at Stony Brook University in 2014. He is the editor of Rifftide: The Life and Opinions of Papa Jo Jones, as told to Albert Murray (Minnesota), a finalist for the Jazz Journalists Association’s book award in 2012.Gary Giddins is one of the world’s foremost jazz critics. His books include Visions of Jazz, Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker (Minnesota), Satchmo, Weather Bird, Natural Selection, Jazz, and Warning Shadows.Greg Thomas is an award-winning jazz writer, editor, educator, and broadcast journalist. His work on jazz has been published in the Village Voice, The Root, All About Jazz, Salon, The Guardian, American Legacy, and the New York Daily News, for which he was the jazz columnist.

"Albert Murray is . . . an authority on soul from the days of old . . . and commands respect. He doesn't have to look it up. If you want to know, look him up. He is the unsquarest person I know."-Duke Ellington"Like Barthes and Bazin, Murray is a truly original thinker . . . Murray Talks Music is irresistibly stimulating." -The New Yorker"The name Albert Murray was never household familiar. Yet his complex, mind-opening analysis of art and life remains as timely as ever-probably more so. Devlin’s book is both a public service and a testament to how Murray could impress and inspire those who came in contact with him."-The Nation"Insightful." -New York Times"Murray Talks Music bears indelible witness to the writer’s role in elevating both jazz itself and the scholarship surrounding the music." -JazzTimes"Murray is rare touchstone writer for jazz. Indeed, there’s an argument that the later career of Wynton Marsalis and the entire edifice of Jazz at Lincoln Center is founded on Murray’s work. This is the only case of a major jazz musician treating the work of a major jazz writer with such reverence."-Ethan Iverson, DO THE M@TH"A compelling and comprehensive work, which will no doubt make Murrayites of us all."-DownBeat"Before Murray Talks Music, there was little in print of Albert Murray as spontaneous orator. This new collection corrects that problem and shows how brilliant he could be even when he didn’t have time to polish his prose."-The Arts Fuse"Murray Talks: Albert Murray on Jazz and Blues is further testimony to the fact that Murray was a charming character and a determined thinker. It is a fascinating edition to the Murray canon." -Living Blues"The freewheeling give-and-take in Murray Talks Music is robust and colorful. In conversation, Murray was even more of a paradigmatic jazzman in his spontaneous digressions and in his ability to call on a breathtaking range of resources and references." -Bookforum"If Allan Bloom was right that 'this is the age of music and the states of soul that accompany it,' then Albert Murray is a guide for our time. Against this backdrop, we can appreciate the posthumous publication of Murray’s work." -The Weekly Standard

• ContentsForeword: St. George and the BluesGary GiddinsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction. Albert Murray: Talking the Blues and So Much MorePaul Devlin1. Interview with Wynton Marsalis2. Interview with Dizzy Gillespie3. Interview with Dan Minor4. Interview with Greg Thomas5. A Talk at St. John’s University (with Paul Devlin)6. Interview with Russell Neff7. Liner Notes to Revelations and Blues Suite8. Murray’s Note on The Second Line and The Third Line9. Foreword to The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards10. Foreword to Mitchell & Ruff: An American Profile in Jazz11. Interview with Paul Devlin12. Murray’s 1958 Morocco Lecture Notes (translated by Lauren Walsh)13. Biographical Sketch of Count Basie14. Interview with Susan Page15. Interview with Robert G. O’Meally16. A Discussion of Duke Ellington with Loren Schoenberg and Stanley Crouch17. Jazz: Notes Toward a DefinitionAfterword: The Blues and Jazz as Aesthetic StatementGreg ThomasAppendix 1: Albert Murray’s Canon of Jazz ArrangementsAppendix 2: American Patterns and Variations on Rhythm and Tune: An Ellington-Strayhorn ListNotesIndex