''Sonny's Time Now'' is an album by American

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

drummer

Sunny Murray James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray (September 21, 1936 – December 7, 2017) was an American musician, and was one of the pioneers of the free jazz style of drumming. Biography Murray was born in Idabel, Oklahoma, where he was raised by an ...

, his first as a leader. It was recorded in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on November 17, 1965 and first released on

LeRoi Jones Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous bo ...

' Jihad label. It was later reissued on the DIW and Skokiaan labels. The album features

Albert Ayler Albert Ayler (; July 13, 1936 – November 25, 1970) was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer. After early experience playing R&B and bebop, Ayler began recording music during the free jazz era of the 1960s. Howev ...

and

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

, with whom Murray had recorded and toured during the previous year, along with two bassists,

Henry Grimes Henry Grimes (November 3, 1935 – April 15, 2020) was an American jazz double bassist and violinist. After more than a decade of activity and performance, notably as a leading bassist in free jazz, Grimes completely disappeared from the music s ...

and Lewis Worrell. (''Sonny's Time Now'' is one of the few recordings on which Ayler appears as a guest artist.) The track titled "Black Art" features Jones reading his poem of the same name, backed by the musicians. ("Black Art" is one of Baraka's most controversial poems, and it "became a central icon of the

Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from ...

, and at the same time, it also became a favorite target of those critics who regarded the black aesthetic as an anti-aesthetic.") According to Jeff Schwartz, bassist, Ayler biographer, and author of "Free Jazz: A Research and Information Guide", Jones financed the recording, with Murray's choice of performers. The Jihad label released only three recordings: ''Black & Beautiful'', which featured Jones reading poetry backed by Yusef Iman, his wife, and a

Doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

group; '' A Black Mass'', a play written by Jones about a mad scientist, with music by

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific out ...

's Myth Science Arkestra; and ''Sonny's Time Now''. When asked if he had been composing since leaving

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex ...

's band in 1964, Murray recalled: "After I left Cecil I didn't have much choice, because nobody was giving me a job. So I did a small job. Cecil came to it, and I played all of Max Roach's pieces. They were correct, and then I wrote some music, and I asked my children did they like it. They said, 'Yeah, Dad.' So I found out I could write. My first record, ''Sonny's Time Now'', they're all my pieces: 'Virtue,' 'The Lie,' 'Justice.' It's a strange record because Albert and Don herryare playing like this akes screeching sound"

Reception

Writing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Brandon Burke stated: "Were it not for Murray's name on the cover, ''Sonny's Time Now'' could probably be misinterpreted as an Albert Ayler record... this is a much more fractured affair than most Ayler records of the time... one is presented with some exceptionally free music that doesn't appear, on the surface anyway, to be based on any predetermined structures... This is some very serious music by some very serious cats." In his book ''The Freedom Principle'', John Litweiler wrote: "Trumpet and tenor improvise in opposition to the grim Murray tides, and the two rumbling basses in 'Virtue', and an intense LeRoi Jones poem... answered by the flutter of drums and the tempoless, free-form quintet. Ayler does not dominate this recording... and he opens up in the 'Justice' collective improvisations, responding to Cherry's longer lines with snapping and snarling."

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moo ...

included ''Sonny's Time Now'' in his "Top Ten From The Free Jazz Underground" list, first published in 1995 in the second issue of the defunct Grand Royal magazine. Moore wrote: "This recording is super-lo-fi and is awesome... This music is very Ayler but more fractured and odd." In the album liner notes, Jones wrote: "At last Sonny Murray, the mythical red-black man from Oklahoma, has an album of his own. Where he is given his long overdue." Regarding Murray's outlook, Jones stated: "He is so purely and absolutely committed to making music, to thinking about, living within his music. 'Freedom,' Sonny has always said. 'Free,' about this music, about his playing. 'I'm trying to play the music, like I feel it. Free'... Sonny makes it about ''energy'' and ''strength''. These are keys to his method and style. Freedom, energy, and strength. 'To play strong, forever,' is the holy man's wish. It is Sonny Murray's wish." Concerning the album, Jones wrote: "Listen to the Cherry-Ayler duets... They make you slide around chortling. Don, instinctively placing his bullet-like metallic against wild Albert, getting in, getting in, describing the other space. When Albert might make you think there is no more space. But it's freedom. You can go any where, you can." Grimes and Worrell "make a droning getup sound, behind and on top of everybody, that 'collects' the music and drives it at the same time." He concludes: "This is deep music... It goes all through you, makes the circle of excitement and adventure, from earth to heaven, man in between going both ways, elliptical and perfect as anything. Get to this music, if you can. Get to it, and it will, in turn, get to you."

Track listing

All musical compositions by Sunny Murray. The poem "Black Art" is by LeRoi Jones. # "Virtue" - 11:07 # "Justice" - 12:43 (originally released in two parts) # "Black Art" - 06:33 # "The Lie" - 05:44 (not included in original release)

Personnel

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...

- bass * Lewis Worrell - bass *

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Leroi Jones Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous bo ...

- voice on "Black Art"

References

{{Authority control 1965 albums Sunny Murray albums