Muhal Richard Abrams

Muhal Richard Abrams (born Richard Lewis Abrams; September 19, 1930 – October 29, 2017) was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium.

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, was born in Memphis.

His father, Milton, was born in Alabama and moved with his parents to Chicago.

Richard Lewis Abrams was born there, the second of nine children, on September 19, 1930.

His father became a self-employed handyman; his mother was a housewife.

"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."

Abrams first attended Forrestville public school in Chicago.

He grew up in a gang area; truancy and fighting meant that he was sent to Moseley School, a reformatory school for boys.

There, in addition to strict discipline, he was taught about black histories.

He later moved on to DuSable High School.

Although he was aware of the strong music program there, led by Walter Dyett, Abrams preferred playing sports, so did not participate in Dyett's classes.

Among the future musicians Abrams met at the school were Charles Davis, Richard Davis, John Gilmore, Johnny Griffin, Laurdine Patrick, and Julian Priester.

As a child, Abrams was interested in the arts – film, painting, sculpture, and music.

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.

He went on to study at the Metropolitan School of Music, which merged with Roosevelt University.

"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."

He also dropped out of his music school, reporting of his studies: "I didn't get too much out of that, because it wasn't what I was hearing in the street".

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."

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 to Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and many others and concentrated on Duke Ellington and Fletcher 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."

Abrams started out "playing all kinds of gigs - blues, jazz, stage shows, rhythm and blues, and church socials."

His musical abilities earned him jobs working with "everyone from Dexter Gordon and Max Roach to Ruth Brown and Woody Shaw."

In the mid-1950s, Abrams was becoming better known as both a pianist and a composer.

A strong influence on his direction as a pianist at that time was King Fleming, for whom Abrams also composed and arranged.

Another local man, William E. Jackson, helped Abrams develop his arranging and orchestration skills.

Abrams co-founded a quintet named the MJT+3, and recorded with them in 1957, resulting in Daddy-O Presents MJT+3, which contained several of his compositions.

Abrams also became more involved in investigating the "occult arts" around 1959 or 1960, and joined the Rosicrucians.

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

Still eager for self-development, Abrams was introduced to, and then acquired, books on musical composition written by Joseph Schillinger.

In the books, Abrams found topics that resonated, including the incorporation of spirituality into music.

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."

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.

This became known as the Experimental Band, and "became a forum for Abrams to test his new, Schillinger-influenced compositional palette."

Around 1963, Abrams was part of a trio with bassist Donald Rafael Garrett and drummer Steve McCall.

The pianist lived with his wife, Peggy, in a small basement apartment on South Evans Avenue.

It was the location for nightly gatherings of musicians from the area, who "would explore musical, cultural, political, social, and spiritual ideas."

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.

The Experimental Band, led by Abrams, encouraged cooperation, knowledge exchange, and the playing of its members' compositions.

In interviews in later years, Abrams tended to downplay his influence on other, younger musicians.

They, however, remembered things differently: "Everybody was following him around like little puppies", said saxophonist Gene Dinwiddie, while Roscoe 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."