Albert Murray
Albert Murray (1916-2013) was an influential American writer, educator, and jazz critic, known for his unique contributions to literature and cultural commentary, particularly regarding African American life. Born in Nokomis, Alabama, and raised by adoptive parents, he displayed exceptional intelligence early on, leading to a robust educational journey that included studying at Tuskegee Institute and earning an MA from New York University after serving in the Air Force during World War II.
Murray's writing career took off with the publication of his seminal essays in "The Omni-Americans," where he proposed a multiracial identity for Americans and critiqued anthropological perspectives on African American culture. His literary style often embraced the rhythms of blues music, evident in works such as "Train Whistle Guitar," a coming-of-age novel that earned him significant acclaim.
He was also a prominent jazz critic, recognized for his influential book "Stomping the Blues," and collaborated with notable musicians, including Count Basie. Murray's legacy includes a profound impact on jazz criticism and literature, inspiring later writers and musicians alike, such as Stanley Crouch and Wynton Marsalis. Today, Murray is celebrated for his ability to intertwine cultural themes with artistic expression, reflecting the complexities of American identity.
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Subject Terms
Albert Murray
- Born: May 12, 1916
- Birthplace: Nokomis, Alabama
- Died: August 18, 2013
- Place of death: Harlem, New York, NY
Writer
A prolific critic of jazz and social mores, as well as an author of fiction, Murray is considered one of the most significant African American writers of the twentieth century. He is best known for his nonfiction collections The Omni-Americans (1970) and Stomping the Blues(1976) and his jazz-influenced series of novels, which began with 1974’s Train Whistle Guitar.
Area of achievement: Literature
Early Life
Albert Lee Murray was born on May 12, 1916, to John Young and Sudie Graham in Nokomis, Alabama. The unmarried, middle-class couple were embarrassed by his birth and gave the boy to the impoverished Hugh and Hattie Murray only minutes after he was born. Albert was raised by the Murrays in Magazine Point, Alabama, but occasionally had contact with his biological parents. His teachers recognized his intelligence at an early age, and he was sent to attend the well-regarded Mobile County Training School.
Murray earned his BS in education from the Tuskegee Institute in 1939; after graduating, he befriended the author Ralph Ellison, a fellow alumnus, with whom he would enjoy a long correspondence (collected in the 2000 book Trading Twelves: The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray). Murray also began graduate work at the University of Michigan, then Northwestern University. In 1943, Murray entered the Air Force to serve in World War II, where he helped train the Tuskegee Airmen; after the war’s conclusion, he attended New York University, receiving an MA in 1948. He remained in the Air Force until 1962 and reached the rank of major before retiring.
Life’s Work
Murray’s first collection of essays,The Omni-Americans, was widely acclaimed upon its release in 1970. The book argues that all Americans should be considered multiracial and that anthropological analyses of the African American community by whites amount to “fakelore.” In 1971, Murray published a follow-up, South to a Very Old Place, essentially a work of travel writing in praise of the African American community in the South.
In 1974, Murray published the autobiographical work Train Whistle Guitar, which established his reputation as a novelist and won him the Lillian Smith Award for fiction. The book was framed as a coming-of-age story about a clever boy, Scooter (known by many other nicknames, such as Schoolboy and Jack the Rabbit, in Murray’s work), growing up in Alabama. Murray used an idiosyncratic prose style modeled on the rhythms and language of the blues. Two years previously, he had given a series of lectures on ethics at the University of Missouri that laid out his theory of writing in the “blues idiom” (the lectures are collected in 1973’s The Hero and the Blues).
Murray wrote his most famous work of jazz criticism, Stomping the Blues, in 1976; he was presented with the Deems Taylor Award in music criticism by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) for the work. He later assisted legendary bandleader Count Basie in writing his autobiography, Good Morning Blues (1985). After a long break, Murray wrote two sequels to Train Whistle Guitar, 1991’s The Spyglass Tree (in which his hero attends a Tuskegee-like university) and 1996’s The Seven League Boots (in which the protagonist joins a jazz band). In 1996’s nonfiction work, The Blue Devils of Nada, Murray returned to his project of interpreting American life through jazz tropes.
Despite suffering from a debilitating spinal condition, Murray continued to write into the twenty-first century. In 2001, he published the poetry collection Conjugations and Reiterations, and a book of essays, From the Briarpatch File. In 2005 he published The Magic Keys, the last of his novels featuring the character of Scooter. Murray died on August 18, 2013, at the age of ninety-seven.
Significance
Murray’s writing had an immense influence on later jazz critics, particularly the famous African American writer Stanley Crouch. While Murray often was overlooked by literary critics during the 1970s, his reputation increased through his association with Crouch and other influential fans. In 1996, Murray was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics’ Circle. Murray also was a major influence on later jazz musicians, including Wynton Marsalis, with whom Murray cofounded the program Jazz at Lincoln Center during the 1980s. Jazz at Lincoln Center became a New York institution.
Bibliography
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. “King of Cats (Albert Murray).” In Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man. New York: Vintage, 1998. Insightful examination of the work of Murray, whom Gates considers one of the best writers of the century.
Maguire, Roberta S., ed. Conversations with Albert Murray. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1997. This long series of interviews with Murray, collected from various sources, demonstrates his eloquence and his insight into many forms of art.
Murray, Albert. Stomping the Blues. New York: Da Capo Press, 2000. Murray’s classic study of jazz music is well worth reading for anyone with an interest in his work.
Nelson, Emmanuel Sampath. Contemporary African-American Novelists: A Bio-bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999. Contains an entry on Murray that thoughtfully analyzes the hero of his fiction, Scooter, to look at Murray’s own life.
Watkins, Mel. "Albert Murray, Scholar Who Saw a Multicolored American Culture, Dies at 97." The New York Times, 19 Aug. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/books/albert-murray-essayist-who-challenged-the-conventional-dies-at-97.html. Accessed 29 Apr. 2021.