Muhal Richard Abrams
Abrams atMoers Festival, 2009
Background information
Born	Richard Lewis Abrams (1930-09-19)September 19, 1930 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	October 29, 2017(2017-10-29) (aged 87) Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Genres	Free jazz,post-bop
Occupations	Musician, bandleader, composer
Instruments	Piano, clarinet, cello
Years active	1950s–2017
Labels	Delmark,Black Saint,Novus,New World,Pi

Muhal Richard Abrams (bornRichard Lewis Abrams; September 19, 1930 – October 29, 2017) was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, andjazz pianist in thefree jazz medium.^[1] He recorded and toured the United States, Canada and Europe with his orchestra, sextet, quartet, duo, and as a solo pianist.

Abrams's mother, Edna,^[2] was born in Memphis.^[3] His father, Milton,^[2] was born in Alabama and moved with his parents to Chicago.^[3] Richard Lewis Abrams was born there, the second of nine children, on September 19, 1930.^[2] His father became a self-employed handyman; his mother was a housewife.^[3]

"Abrams's paternal grandfather was 'what you call a junk man', selling the fruits of neighborhood foraging. Abrams and his brother would pull the cart around the neighborhood, eventually arriving at a junk-yard on State Street, where the items would be sold."^[4] Abrams first attended Forrestville public school in Chicago.^[5] He grew up in a gang area; truancy and fighting meant that he was sent to Moseley School, a reformatory school for boys.^[6] There, in addition to strict discipline, he was taught about black histories.^[6] He later moved on toDuSable High School.^[7][8]

Although he was aware of the strong music program there, led byWalter Dyett, Abrams preferred playing sports, so did not participate in Dyett's classes.^[9] Among the future musicians Abrams met at the school wereCharles Davis,Richard Davis,John Gilmore,Johnny Griffin,Laurdine Patrick, andJulian Priester.^[9]

As a child, Abrams was interested in the arts – film, painting, sculpture, and music.^[10] He later recounted that, in 1946, he decided to concentrate on the last of these, so left school and started piano lessons with a classically trained church pianist.^[10] He went on to study at the Metropolitan School of Music, which merged withRoosevelt University.^[10] "Supporting his studies in counterpoint, keyboard harmony, theory, and composition with a day job at a downtown printing company, Abrams eventually bought a second-hand piano."^[10] He also dropped out of his music school,^[11] reporting of his studies: "I didn't get too much out of that, because it wasn't what I was hearing in the street".^[7] He then decided to study independently: "I've always had a natural ability to study and analyze things. I used that ability, not even knowing what it was (it was just a feeling) and started to read books."^[7] In Abrams' words:

From there, I acquired a small spinet piano and started to teach myself how to play the instrument and read the notes – or, first of all, what key the music was in. It took time and a lot of sweat. But I analyzed it and before long I was playing with the musicians on the scene. I listened toArt Tatum,Charlie Parker,Thelonious Monk,Bud Powell and many others and concentrated onDuke Ellington andFletcher Henderson for composition. Later I got scores and studied more extensive things that take place in classical composition and started to practice classical pieces on the piano.^[7]

Abrams started out "playing all kinds of gigs - blues, jazz, stage shows, rhythm and blues, and church socials."^[11] His musical abilities earned him jobs working with "everyone fromDexter Gordon andMax Roach toRuth Brown andWoody Shaw."^[12]

In the mid-1950s, Abrams was becoming better known as both a pianist and a composer.^[13] A strong influence on his direction as a pianist at that time wasKing Fleming, for whom Abrams also composed and arranged.^[13] Another local man, William E. Jackson, helped Abrams develop his arranging and orchestration skills.^[13] Abrams co-founded a quintet named the MJT+3, and recorded with them in 1957, resulting inDaddy-O Presents MJT+3, which contained several of his compositions.^[14] Abrams also became more involved in investigating the "occult arts" around 1959 or 1960, and joined theRosicrucians.^[15]

Abrams's son, Richard Jr., was at high school in the early 1960s.^[16]

Still eager for self-development, Abrams was introduced to, and then acquired, books on musical composition written byJoseph Schillinger.^[14] In the books, Abrams found topics that resonated, including the incorporation of spirituality into music.^[17] At a more practical level, the pianist reported that "The Schillinger stuff taught me to break things back down into raw material – where it came from – and then, on to the whole idea of a personal or individual approach to composition."^[18]

Abrams was able to apply his learning after organising young musicians in the area into an ensemble that rehearsed at the C&C Lounge in Chicago from 1961.^[19] This became known as the Experimental Band, and "became a forum for Abrams to test his new, Schillinger-influenced compositional palette."^[20]

Around 1963, Abrams was part of a trio with bassistDonald Rafael Garrett and drummerSteve McCall.^[21] The pianist lived with his wife, Peggy, in a small basement apartment on South Evans Avenue.^[22][2] It was the location for nightly gatherings of musicians from the area, who "would explore musical, cultural, political, social, and spiritual ideas."^[22] Abrams found that he was in, and wanted to be in, the position that Fleming and Jackson had been with him – helping younger and less experienced musicians to develop.^[23] The Experimental Band, led by Abrams, encouraged cooperation, knowledge exchange, and the playing of its members' compositions.^[23] In interviews in later years, Abrams tended to downplay his influence on other, younger musicians.^[24] They, however, remembered things differently: "Everybody was following him around like little puppies", said saxophonistGene Dinwiddie, whileRoscoe Mitchell summarized that "He would always be turning people on to books, and talking about scores. Maybe he just doesn't realize the effect that he had on people's lives."^[24]

The Experimental Band had very few, if any, public performances.^[25] Although some rehearsal tapes were made, these were for study purposes and were routinely recorded over.^[26]

In 1965, four men – Abrams, pianistJodie Christian, composerPhil Cohran, and drummerSteve McCall – agreed to form a new organization of musicians.^[27] They invited mostly other African Americans to the first meeting, on May 8, at which they discussed the principles of the nascent organization, the primary one being that it would be for original, creative music.^[28] At the second meeting, Abrams was elected president.^[29] Later in the month, an official name was chosen – theAssociation for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).^[30] When the AACM started a school in 1967, Abrams led the classes in composition.^[31]

Further exposure with the AACM helped Abrams get a recording contract withDelmark Records.^[32] His first album for them,Levels and Degrees of Light, was recorded in 1967,^[33] and featured the recording debuts of saxophonistAnthony Braxton, violinistLeroy Jenkins, and bassist Leonard Jones.^[34]

Rather than playing in smoky night clubs, AACM members often rented out theaters and lofts where they could perform for attentive and open-minded audiences.^[35]

"Abrams took the name Muhal in 1967. Interviewed by the French magazineJazz in 1973, he said that the word, its origin unclear, means 'number one'."^[2]

Abrams also played with saxophonistsEddie Harris, Gordon, and other more bop-oriented musicians during this era.^[36]

In the 1970s, Abrams composed for symphony orchestras, string quartets, solo piano, voice, and big bands in addition to making a series of larger ensemble recordings that included harp and accordion.^[37] In the early 1970s, his big band had a weekly concert at the Transitions East performance space in Chicago.^[38] Abrams formed a sextet from other AACM members in 1972.^[39] The other musicians were Reggie Willis on bass, Steve McCall on drums, and Kalaparusha Difda, Wallace McMillan, andHenry Threadgill on various woodwind and saxophone instruments.^[39] With this band, Abrams had his first international concerts, playing theBerlin Jazz Festival in 1973.^[39] He had a successful solo concert at theMontreaux Jazz Festival the following year, as well as touring Europe with theArt Ensemble of Chicago.^[40]

During this time, Abrams recorded extensively under his own name (frequently on theBlack Saint label), and as a sideman for musicians such asMarion Brown (Sweet Earth Flying, 1974),Anthony Braxton (Duets 1976, 1976),Roscoe Mitchell (Roscoe Mitchell Quartet, 1976), andChico Freeman (Morning Prayer, 1976, andChico, 1977). He served as composer and wrote the theme for the 1970 drama seriesBird of the Iron Feather, the first all-Black televisionsoap opera started byRichard Durham.^[41]

Abrams left Chicago for New York in 1976.^[42] After initially living with other musicians, he moved his family there the following year.^[43] The move of city was partly to be at the centre of musical activity, and partly for financial reasons.^[44] Initially, there were very few concerts, but he garnered press attention and was able to record annually withBlack Saint.^[43] Experience in writing extended compositions also helped Abrams and other AACM musicians in New York: "The compositions themselves showed that they were outside of the mainstream of jazz, and notice was taken by classical people. You can get access to these [classical music] ensembles, and it started to happen."^[45]

In the late 1970s, Abrams was also part of the jazz peer-review panels for theNational Endowment for the Arts.^[46] "As a Chicagoan who was identified with experimental music, yet who was respected by the ancien regime, Abrams was uniquely positioned to take a leading role in guiding the broad changes in both the demographics and the aesthetic directions of the panels that gradually took place."^[46]

His1-OQA+19 "juxtaposed complex written passages with propulsive rhythms"; andLifea Blinec "presented multi-instrumentalism, text-sound, and electronic textures."^[47]

He was involved in the localLoft Jazz scene in New York.^[48] In 1982, he presented an orchestral work at that year'sNew Music America festival in Chicago.^[49] He also helped set up the New York Chapter of the AACM, which first presented concerts in the city in 1982.^[50]

In 1990 Abrams won theJazzpar Prize, an annual Danish prize within jazz. Abrams received a 1997Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award. In 2005, the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the AACM, some of Abrams's solo and ensemble pieces were presented by the organization in New York.^[51] In May 2009 the National Endowment for the Arts announced that Abrams would be one of the recipients of the 2010NEA Jazz Masters Award.^[52] In June 2010, Abrams was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by New York City's premier jazz festival, known as theVision Festival.^[53] Abrams died at his home in Manhattan, at the age of 87.^[2] His daughter, Richarda, became an actress and singer.^[54]

He is a widely influential artist, having played sides for many musicians early in his career, releasing important recordings as a leader, and writing classical works such as his "String Quartet No. 2", which was performed by theKronos Quartet, on November 22, 1985, at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York.^[55]

WithArt Ensemble of Chicago

• Fanfare for the Warriors (Atlantic, 1974)
• Kabalaba (AECO, 1978)

WithBarry Altschul

• You Can't Name Your Own Tune (Muse, 1977)

WithHamiet Bluiett

• Saying Something for All (1998)

WithAnthony Braxton

• Three Compositions of New Jazz (Delmark, 1968)
• Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista, 1976)
• Duets 1976 (Arista, 1976)
• Quintet (Basel) 1977 (hatOLOGY, 1977 [2000])
• Live At The Rainbow Gallery '79 (Hi Hat, 2016)

WithMarion Brown

• Sweet Earth Flying (Impulse!, 1974)

WithCreative Construction Company

• Creative Construction Company (Muse, 1970 [1975])
• Creative Construction Company Vol. II (Muse, 1970 [1976])

WithJack DeJohnette

• Made in Chicago (ECM, 2013 [2015]) withLarry Gray,Roscoe Mitchell andHenry Threadgill

WithKenny Dorham

• Kenny Dorham Sextet (1970)

WithMarty Ehrlich

• Emergency Peace (1990)

WithChico Freeman

• Morning Prayer (1976)
• Chico (1977)
• Freeman & Freeman (1981)

WithBarry Harris

• Interpretations Of Monk Vol. 1 (Koch Jazz, 1997) withDon Cherry,Steve Lacy,Charlie Rouse,Roswell Rudd,Richard Davis,Ben Riley,Ed Blackwell

WithEddie Harris

• Instant Death (Atlantic, 1971)
• Eddie Harris Sings the Blues (Atlantic, 1972)
• Excursions (Atlantic, 1973)
• That Is Why You're Overweight (Atlantic, 1975)

WithJoseph Jarman

• As If It Were the Seasons (1968)

WithLeroy Jenkins

• Lifelong Ambitions (Black Saint, 1977)

WithClifford Jordan

• Inward Fire (Muse, 1978)

WithRobin Kenyatta

• Beggars and Stealers (1977)

WithGeorge E. Lewis

• Shadowgraph (1978,Black Saint)

WithRoscoe Mitchell

• Nonaah (1967)
• Roscoe Mitchell Quartet (1975)
• Duets and Solos (1990)
• Live At "A Space" 1975 (Delmark, 2013DiscogsAllMusic)

WithWalter Perkins MJT+3

• Daddy-O Presents MJT+3 (1957)

WithWoody Shaw

• The Iron Men withAnthony Braxton (Muse, 1977 [1980])

WithSonny Stitt

• Soul Girl (Paula Records, 1973)

• 
  Abrams atMoers Festival, 2009

• Muhal Richard Abrams Website
• Muhal Richard Abrams atAllMusic
• Muhal Richard Abrams discography atDiscogs
• Muhal Richard Abrams at theAssociation for the Advancement of Creative Musicians

• 1930 births
• 2017 deaths
• African-American jazz composers
• African-American jazz pianists
• Jazz musicians from Chicago
• Free jazz pianists
• Free jazz composers
• Pi Recordings artists
• Novus Records artists
• Delmark Records artists
• 20th-century American jazz composers
• 21st-century American jazz composers
• American male jazz composers
• 20th-century American male musicians
• 21st-century American male musicians
• Creative Construction Company members
• 20th-century African-American musicians
• 21st-century African-American musicians
• American male jazz pianists
• DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame members
• NEA Jazz Masters

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