Murray/Williams Gigs/Album

Jazz innovator David Murray together with acclaimed actor/poet Saul Williams will bring their Blues For Memo tour to the UK from this weekend.
Catch the amazing duo at:
Bristol, The Fleece [Oct 21]; Brighton, The Haunt [22]; Manchester, Band on the Wall [23]; Leeds, Brudenell [24]; and London, Moth Club [27].
Promoting their upcoming album together, both dates and recording pay homage to a pioneer of Istanbul’s jazz scene, Mehmet “Memo” Uluğ. Inspired further by the legendary conductor/cornetist Butch Morris and poet Amiri Baraka, the impressive Blues for Memo album is a cutting-edge collaboration of jazz and poetry.
At Amiri Baraka’s funeral in 2014, Saul Williams recited a poem imploring the iconic poet, author and social critic to “get out of the coffin” and continue his important work. Sadly, Baraka was beyond hearing the younger poet’s words, but they did reach the ears of one of his closest collaborators: saxophonist David Murray. Williams’ impassioned reading made such an impression on Murray that a day later he was on the phone, proposing a new collaboration. Williams sent several of his works to Murray, mostly pieces that were soon to be published in his politically scathing 2015 collection, US(a.), which powerfully confronts issues of race, class, gender, economics and culture in modern-day America. The saxophonist responded to the poet’s words with his trademark vigour, resulting in their new album, Blues for Memo, due out February 16th on Motéma Music.
The UK tour line-up is:
David MURRAY: Saxophone, compositions; Saul WILLIAMS: Spoken Words, composition; David BRYANT: Piano; Dezron DOUGLAS: Bass; Nasheet WAITS: Drums