Amani A W Murray

[The Rep]

I have a promotion copy of a 1991 album on GRP. Its by Amani A W Murray and that is the name of the album. He has some very good players with him, Billy Hart, Bob Cranshaw, Nicholas Payton and others.

I just wondered who he is/was, did he make any other albums and any other info.

Cheers Ray

[Hot Ptah]

He was the greatest musician on the planet, and led a worldwide upsurge in jazz interest and popularity.

Edited July 5, 2007 by Hot Ptah

[AllenLowe]

actually, his name was Murray Amani - the Jewish/Italian tailor (he took the "r" out of his last name to avoid confusion) -

Edited July 5, 2007 by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

Seriously, he was a "kid who could play", and was marketed accordingly.

Hope you didn't buy the hype or the cd...

[mikeweil]

I bought that Cd cheap, and for Geoffrey Keezer - and I will keep it for Keezer.

[Spontooneous]

You missed the important part. He did a guest shot on "Barney."

[Ken Dryden]

The story behind Amani A. W. Murray. Someone at GRP heard this teenaged alto saxophonist and decided to give him a shot. He played one track on a Christmas sampler then was given his own record date. Clark Terry and Sir Roland Hanna were among the notable sidemen hired for the kid's debut. As the late Duke Dubois told our station's program director, "I'm not pushing this CD. He blew one take after another, Clark and Roland were getting really mad. I pulled him aside and said, 'Son, if you're going to make it in this business, you're going to have to practice.' We ended up having to do a lot of splicing to put out the CD." Such honesty is refreshing from someone you would expect to promote his label's CDs, but Duke Dubois wasn't one for puffery. Needless to say, the CD barely made a ripple, Murray was dropped from the label and never heard from again, while the last time I saw a copy of Amani A. W. Murray's self-titled debut CD in a used music store, it was priced 99 cents.

[Ken Dryden]

The story behind Amani A. W. Murray. Someone at GRP heard this teenaged alto saxophonist and decided to give him a shot. He played one track on a Christmas sampler then was given his own record date. Clark Terry and Sir Roland Hanna were among the notable sidemen hired for the kid's debut. As the late Duke Dubois told our station's program director, "I'm not pushing this CD. He blew one take after another, Clark and Roland were getting really mad. I pulled him aside and said, 'Son, if you're going to make it in this business, you're going to have to practice.' We ended up having to do a lot of splicing to put out the CD." Such honesty is refreshing from someone you would expect to promote his label's CDs, but Duke Dubois wasn't one for puffery. Needless to say, the CD barely made a ripple, Murray was dropped from the label and never heard from again, while the last time I saw a copy of Amani A. W. Murray's self-titled debut CD in a used music store, it was priced 99 cents.

Even with the presence of the notable personnel, I long ago disposed of my review copy. Given that GRP was known for hyping a lot of mediocre artists (yes, they had a few good ones, too), I'm surprised that Murray didn't end up getting more exposure.

[The Rep]

Thanks Guy's, thats about the feel I got.

Cheers Ray

[Stereojack]

I remember when this came out - GRP papered the town with promo copies, but in spite of the list of names who appeared on the CD, it was pretty obvious that the kid (who was 14 years old) could barely play. I often wondered if he had connections at the label. Why else would they have spent all this money hiring all these great musicians and promoting this dud? I asked Kenny Washington why he had agreed to play on the date, and he said that he regretted doing it.

[Ken Dryden]

Murray is probably stuck working in fast food or some other equally depressing job. What a way to blow a major opportunity!

[Niko]

Murray is probably stuck working in fast food or some other equally depressing job. What a way to blow a major opportunity!

from his allmusic.com credits page (guessing his name is fairly rare) it seems he is arranging and writing liner notes for bluegrass albums... (is that equally depressing? haven't tried)

[Ken Dryden]

I can't imagine that, it must be a screwed up link.