Dave Burrell

Since the mid-'60s, pianist Dave Burrell has been a quality sideman on a number of free jazz recordings led by the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:7C2DSqaNkh0w77O5Jz1FKh">Archie Shepp</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3JLUCojZaHrX2LaUkSj7Ud">Pharoah Sanders</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:5OKhN5AURco1pBqba3CbnS">Marion Brown</a>. Burrell's voice combines the entire history of jazz from Dixieland to free, though it is as an inside/outside player that he most excels. His is a percussive, syncopated style, well suited to the heavily rhythmic concept favored by one of Burrell's steadiest employers, tenorist <a href="spotify:artist:00SOiqZ0YGY2JhjSPxZMZg">David Murray</a>.

Burrell was born in Connecticut, but grew up in Hawaii. Both of his parents sang. According to W. Royal Stokes, his mother was once asked to join <a href="spotify:artist:7jn7alb8SBq8VAukeFkPcF">the Delta Rhythm Boys</a>; it was a visit to the family home by singer <a href="spotify:artist:1OH5IJZ1IM8QvrZC1ZXSUm">Herb Jeffries</a> that first interested Burrell in jazz. As a teenager, Burrell played in the requisite rock & roll band. He attended the University of Hawaii from 1958-1960 before eventually getting his degree in 1965 from Boston's Berklee School of Music. While at Berklee, he played with <a href="spotify:artist:1TW90GjShgkjySrxBxcwQe">Tony Williams</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0DNuWm5ZBKuCIXLNmrzuk5">Sam Rivers</a>. After graduation, Burrell moved to New York, where he formed a group with saxophonist <a href="spotify:artist:4EeqD5ulSmYhfXSXegeRHi">Byard Lancaster</a>, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:3YE9wTWz5GuAzyZ8c7cEzz">Sirone</a>, and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:1mjK1ivB7Se9BCmFUTdpIr">Bobby Kapp</a>, called the Untraditional Jazz Improvisational Team. Burrell also fell in with <a href="spotify:artist:5OKhN5AURco1pBqba3CbnS">Marion Brown</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5NrnFpBCv4Z43MgMVXfrrY">Grachan Moncur</a>, recording with the former in 1966 and the latter in 1969. In 1968, Burrell co-founded the 360 Degree Music Experience with <a href="spotify:artist:5NrnFpBCv4Z43MgMVXfrrY">Moncur</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:15XM8HKJpzylpXLKbTCwDK">Beaver Harris</a>. In 1969, he traveled to Algiers, where he participated in a Pan-African Festival. That year, he also taught in Harlem for the Community Thing Organization.

Burrell recorded with Sanders, <a href="spotify:artist:7C2DSqaNkh0w77O5Jz1FKh">Shepp</a>, Alan Silva, and <a href="spotify:artist:1sEOsClatR9SKKmELXJVUJ">Sunny Murray</a> at various times in the late '60s and early '70s. In the late '70s, Burrell wrote that rarest of musical works, a jazz opera. Entitled Windward Passages, Burrell recorded portions of the work as a soloist in 1979. In the '80s and '90s, Burrell formed a fruitful association with <a href="spotify:artist:00SOiqZ0YGY2JhjSPxZMZg">Murray</a>, with whose octet and quartet he would record on a number of occasions. The two recorded in duo as well, notably including the 1997 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Black+Saint%22">Black Saint</a> release Windward Passages, which featured Burrell's wife, singer Monika Larsson, on some tracks. During the 2000s Burrell recorded as leader for a variety of labels; his albums included Recital (a duo recording with bassist <a href="spotify:artist:76xZSPNXZPrPiiEesDy6EM">Tyrone Brown</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22CIMP%22">CIMP</a>, 2001), Expansion (a live album by Burrell's Full-Blown Trio featuring bassist <a href="spotify:artist:5r65V3tfKsDc3nHfpIl7D0">William Parker</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:47hexMV8ZbDWZ9MSwSWD50">Andrew Cyrille</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22High+Two%22">High Two</a>, 2004), Margy Pargy (a solo piano recording on Splasch, 2005), Consequences (a live duo set with drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6JdyKENaba6UUTYeZSnnzu">Billy Martin</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:2Hg4SUNDuIn8xIidz9GxFw">Medeski, Martin & Wood</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Amulet%22">Amulet</a>, 2006), and Momentum (a trio date with bassist <a href="spotify:artist:62iyCv3YONUFiqCvN0EgfY">Michael Formanek</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:6BnLWQlD6vwuI0fuKTVt9N">Guillermo E. Brown</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22High+Two%22">High Two</a>, 2006). ~ Chris Kelsey, Rovi