Known for dominating and driving bands with his intense, organic waves of
percussion, Sunny Murray was one of the most influential drummers to rise from
New York's avant garde jazz scene in the 1960s and remained an inventive,
challenging artist throughout his 50-year career.
Born in Oklahoma but raised in Pennsylvania, he started playing drums at the age
of nine and grew up tap dancing, singng and working as a bell hop in Atlantic
City hotels. Making his way to New York at 18, he cut his teeth playing in swing
and bebop groups, studying percussion and running a coffee shop. H...