After two albums of celebrating the Dead — as in Grateful — Dave McMurray decided it was time to breathe a little life back into his music.
On Friday, Nov. 14, the veteran Detroit saxophonist, flutist, bandleader and songwriter releases “I Love Life Even When I’m Hurting,” his first album of mostly original songs since his “Black Light Collective” album in 2020. It follows two “Deadication” albums comprised of Grateful Dead songs, which certainly elevated McMurray’s profile with a new audience, but was never intended to be his sole mode of music-making.
“I knew it was coming, because I’m always writing music and I needed an outlet for it,” explains McMurray, 70, a Cranbrook Schools alumnus. “And it’s like, ‘Hey, I am the outlet.’ I knew one way or another, I was going to do original music this time.
“I love the Dead audience I’ve acquired. I didn’t want to totally abandon it (a version of Jerry Garcia’s ‘The Wheel’ closes McMurray’s new album, in fact); I just wanted to add more original music and hit something that’s real close to me.”
Music, period, has been extremely close to McMurray throughout his life, of course.
A fan and player from an early age, he studied urban studies and psychology at Wayne State University and worked as a mental health counselor for a time. But music held a greater sway as he played jazz, rock, funk and more in Detroit bands such as Griot Galaxy, Detroit Energy Asylum and Was (Not Was), the latter giving him a global stature that led to session work — via co-founder Don Was — with the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Bob James and many more. McMurray also spent nine years in Kid Rock’s Twisted Brown Trucker Band, served as music director for Kem and toured with the late French singer Johnny Hallyday.
These days, he’s also part of Don Was’ Pan-Detroit Ensemble, which released its debut album, “Groove in the Face of Adversity,” last month.
“Dave’s just an immense talent,” says Was, who produced “I Love Life…” for the prestigious Blue Note Records label he runs, along with the two “Deadication” sets and McMurray’s 2018 release “Music Is Life.” “He can play anything, any style, and fits into any situation. He’s an extremely versatile player with great, great taste.”
For McMurray, “I Love Life…” caps what he says “has been a fortunate year, playing with (Pan Detroit) and the other situations I’ve been playing in, very adventurous situations … where the goal is to be the most creative player that you can be. It’s about your creativity and your sound and your sentiments, what you think.
“Somebody once told me, ‘Play what you want to play.’ I said, ‘No, tell me if you hear something.’ They said: ‘I want you to use your sentiments, what you do. I trust what you’re gonna play.’ … I listened to what he said, and he was right. That’s the best way.”
The nine-track “I Love Life…” was recorded in the fall of 2024 at Rustbelt Studios in Royal Oak on the heels of the Pan Detroit Ensemble album. Members of that crew — Was, keyboardist Luis Resto, drummer Jeff Canada, guitarist Wayne Gerard and percussionist Mahindi Masai — play on most of the songs, with McMurray and Kem reuniting for an arrangement of the late Al Jarreau’s “We Got By.”
“We actually recorded live, as old school as I could get,” McMurray recalls. “We did a few overdubs after, but mostly we went in and hit it, and that’s what you hear.”
McMurray had “a ton” of ideas around for songs, while “I Love Life’s…” title track came first and expresses a sentiment painfully close to him these days. “Over the last couple of years, I had a lot of real close friends pass. I watched a couple of ’em get sick,” McMurray, who’s still convalescing from his own back surgery, explains. “I was talking to a good friend of mine, talking about other people, and he mentioned that, ‘I think that person just gave up.’ And I was like: ‘Wow. Whoa. … ’cause I’m a real positive person. It was hard for me to wrap my head around that; ‘They just gave up? Really?!
“And then I just said, ‘I love life, man, even when I’m hurting’ … and when I did, I said, ‘OK, you gotta do that’ and everything fell into place. I wrote a song and then a poem, just trying to get a positive message out there, and everything else followed.
“I know that sounds crazy,” he adds, with a laugh, “but that’s inspiration.”
McMurray says much of his material, for this album and in general, began at the piano. “I just start coming up with ideas and record everything,” he says. “I hear the tone of the music, not necessarily the notes or the tempos or anything, but just the tone, and I follow that. I might come back the next day and listen to what I did and say, ‘That’s a nice idea, keep that,’ and go from there. It’s like a palette to me. I think of (music) as colors, like painting.”
The “I Love Life…” songs draw from McMurray’s go-to templates, weaving together sources such as McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock, among others. He gives his flute an airing on “The Plum Blossom” by fellow Detroit native Yusef Lateef, who McMurray used to watch perform at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. “Find Your Peace,” meanwhile, was inspired by a meet-up with Griot Galaxy bandmate Tani Tabbal during a Pan Detroit Ensemble performance in upstate New York..
“We Got By,” the title track to Jarreau’s debut album, also comes from a personal connection for both McMurray and Kem. “I jumped on the Al Jarreau bandwagon before anybody knew him, and (Kem) was a big fan, too,” McMurray says. “When (Kem) asked me to play on his first record, I heard his (songs) and said, ‘Whoa, you sound like Al Jarreau!’ He was definitely influenced by that. And I said during the sessions that, ‘Man, I’m gonna get him to do (‘We Got By’) someday.
“That was years ago, and I just never forgot it. When it came to this record, I said, ‘I wanna do it,’ and I knew he would be excited about it ’cause it was an important song for him, too, and he took his time and did it right, and it was a great anchor for the record. Thirty years in the making, but it happened.”
“The Wheel,” from the late Garcia’s self-titled 1972 solo album but a concert favorite of the Dead’s, is a nod to the “Deadication” fan base and sports vocals by Detroit-area mainstay Herschel Boone. “It was the last thing we recorded,” McMurray says, “and we did, I think, only two or three takes. We didn’t talk about it; everybody vibed and didn’t realize what they were doing. It went so far out and came back in, just did everything on its own. When we did it, I knew the take (that’s on the album) was the one.”
While the Pan Detroit Ensemble will keep McMurray busy in the coming months (the group tours again in January), he’s putting together his plans for “I Love Life…”. In addition to his release-night concert at Third Man Records, he’s also lined up a show at the Big Ears Festival in Tennessee in March, with more gigs on the horizon, he hopes. A third “Deadication” album is also on the radar.
“I’ll be doing this ’til I can’t,” McMurray says. “Even if I’m not playing (live), I’m still gonna be recording music at the house, ’cause that’s what I do. And I’m at this point where you go: ‘This is it. This is me. This is the way I play.’ I’m always striving to try to get better, but I’m content to go in my own style.
“And as long as the brain is working, I’ll be doing it. I’ll be creative in one way or another.”
Dave McMurray celebrates the release of his new album, “I Love Life Even When I’m Hurting,” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14 at Third Man Records, 441 W. Canfield St., Detroit. 313-209-5205 or thirdmanrecords.com.
Significant sounds
Dave McMurray’s latest album and release-day show is one of several notable metro area music happenings this week. Also on the radar are …
• Birmingham singer and songwriter Ethan Daniel Davidson releases “Lear,” his second album of the year and recorded — like “Cordelia,” which came out May 30 — with producers Luther Dickinson and David Katznelson in Coldwater, Mississippi. Out on Friday, Nov. 14 on Davidson’s Blue Arrow Records label, the seven-song set features a guest appearance by the late Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts’ son Duane on the track “Not Breaking Harts.”
• In the wake of guitarist Sammy Boller’s just-released EP “Midnight Garden,” the band Citizen Zero is reuniting for its first concert since 2018 on Friday, Nov. 14 at the Machine Shop, 3539 Dort Highway, Flint. Doors at 7 p.m. 810-715-2650 or themachineshop.info. The group is also working on new material it hopes to release in 2026.
• After laying low for more than a year and a half following keyboardist Evan Mercer’s conviction on child pornography charges in January 2024, Mac Saturn has returned with a new song, “Take Time to Make Time,” and a tour that began Oct. 20. With more new music promised for 2026, the 13-date trek wraps up Saturday, Nov. 15 at Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-961-8961 or saintandrewsdetroit.com.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.macombdaily.com ’
