The Moaninest Moan of Them All: The Jazz Saxophone of Loren McMurray, 1920-1922
Various Artists

The story of saxophonist Loren McMurray is conspicuously absent from standard jazz histories. Kansas born, “Mac” helped pioneer the “Wild West” Kansas City-style of jazz in the early 1920s before striking out for New York, where he quickly became the most in-demand saxophonist and session man for society orchestras and hot combos alike. Over a remarkably prolific span of only two years Mac waxed hundreds of sides with numerous bands on a variety of record labels. His mastery of melody, counterpoint, creative improvisations, and slap-tongue technique put him in a class all his own, praised by admirers and revered by his competitors. Indeed, years after his tragically abrupt death at age 25, his style was still being studied and imitated by his peers. Jazz history is missing a chapter that gets us from the polite saxophone sounds of the 1910s to the genre-shaping work of Tram and Hawk, and later luminaries like Coltrane, Rollins, and Parker. Loren McMurray is that chapter.

The Moaninest Moan of Them All includes 49 superbly remastered tracks on two CDs of McMurray with the top groups of 1920-22: the Original Memphis Five, Lanin’s Southern Serenaders, Bailey’s Lucky Seven, the Virginians, and the orchestras of Mike Markels, Harry Raderman, Eddie Elkins, and Ben Selvin—plus his first recordings with Eddie Kuhn’s orchestras and his own band, McMurray’s California Thumpers. (A 50th track was a tribute to Mac made by his friends during his final days.) The enclosed 80-page booklet presents original research into the biography of this overlooked innovator and detailed musical analysis of his transformative work.

“At this late date, anyone claiming a place for an obscure musician alongside the giants of his instrument has a burden of proof. The people behind this album, including Meagan Hennessey, Mark Berresford, Colin Hancock, digital restorer Richard Martin, and Archeophone Records, have met that burden. This release is well-conceived, wonderfully researched, beautifully and effectively laid out, informative to the layperson, ear-opening, and immensely enjoyable to the listener. I want to create a rating scale just to give it a ten out of ten for what a historical album released in 2023 can be. If producing a CD is an art, The Moaninest Moan is a Michelangelo. It’s perfection. A balance of form and function.”
Joe Bebco, The Syncopated Times [read review ]

“Even in listening to the first tracks here, billed as “Eddie Kuhn’s Dance Specialists,” one is not struck by the primitiveness of either the music or the recording process. Although these are acoustically recorded, the tracks have been well restored by engineer Richard Martin. . . McMurray is impossible to miss; he uses some of the vocabulary of earlier novelty-oriented saxophone forebears like Rudy Weidoft and the Six Brown Brothers, but he is playing in what is unmistakably a genuine jazz idiom. His playing is bubbly, he blows rings all around whatever melody is at the center, but he has that very strong drive that was already a part of jazz well before musicians discovered 4/4 swingtime. He is prominent on every track, whether leading the entire reed section (and sometimes the band itself) or improvising a solo . . . Messrs. Hancock and Berresford make the case that “Mac” influenced the entire development of the saxophonist’s art, from Frank Trumbauer and Coleman Hawkins to Lester Young and even later modernists like Sonny Rollins — as well as everyone that they, in turn, influenced. Loren McMurray’s moment in the big time and his recording career lasted little more than two years, but this essential set leaves no doubt that he was a contender.”
Will Friedwald, The New York Sun [read review ]

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