Charlie Parker Celebration: David Murray Quartet feat. Ekep Nkwelle “Birdly Serenade” Impulse! Records Album Release

Fri, Aug 29

David Murray – tenor saxophone Marta Sánchez – piano Luke Stewart – bass Russell Carter – drums Featuring Ekep Nkwelle – vocals “Jazz legend David Murray is back with the next generation of geniuses." – The Washington Post Legendary tenor saxophonist David Murray makes a highly anticipated and exciting SMOKE Jazz Club debut to celebrate the release of his new album of all new compositions on Impulse! entitled Birdly Serenade. At the forefront of jazz for close to 50 years, Murray is joined by his newest quartet—one of the jazz world’s revelations of 2024—as he has re-emerged as a leading voice of the current state of the art. The group includes pianist Marta Sánchez, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Russell Carter, and will feature emerging vocal star Ekep Nkwelle. Murray has always pushed the music forward while honoring all that has come before it. The New York Times calls him “the master saxophonist who has reconciled the whole history of jazz tenor, from swing to free, during a wildly prolific career.” The Guardian adds, “His Sonny Rollins-like power, tone and unpredictability and the casualness over group participation that can make him seem (like Rollins) a prodigiously gifted enigma who's at his freest on his own.”