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 style. He recorded and toured the United States, Canada, and Europe with his orchestra, sextet, quartet, duo, and as a solo pianist.

Early life

Abrams's mother, Edna, was born in Memphis, Tennessee. His father, Milton, was born in Alabama and moved with his parents to Chicago, Illinois. Richard Lewis Abrams was born there on September 19, 1930. He was the second of nine children. His father worked as a self-employed handyman, and his mother was a housewife.

Abrams's paternal grandfather was described as a "junk man," who sold items collected from the neighborhood. Abrams and his brother helped by pulling a cart around the area, eventually delivering the items to a junkyard on State Street, where they were sold. Abrams first attended Forrestville Public School in Chicago. He grew up in a neighborhood with high crime rates. Because of frequent absences from school and involvement in fights, he was sent to Moseley School, a school for boys with behavioral issues. At Moseley, he received strict discipline and learned about African American history. Later, he attended DuSable High School.

Although he knew about the strong music program at DuSable High School, led by Walter Dyett, Abrams preferred playing sports and did not join Dyett's classes. At the school, he met future musicians such as Charles Davis, Richard Davis, John Gilmore, Johnny Griffin, Laurdine Patrick, and Julian Priester.

As a child, Abrams was interested in the arts, including film, painting, sculpture, and music. In 1946, he decided to focus on music and left school to take piano lessons from a classically trained church pianist. He later studied at the Metropolitan School of Music, which later merged with Roosevelt University. To support his music studies, Abrams worked at a downtown printing company. Eventually, he bought a used piano. However, he left the music school, explaining that he did not learn much because the lessons did not match the music he heard on the streets. Instead, he chose to study on his own, saying, "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."

Later life and career

Abrams began his career by performing many different types of music, including blues, jazz, stage shows, rhythm and blues, and church events. His musical skills helped him work with famous musicians like Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Ruth Brown, and Woody Shaw.

In the mid-1950s, Abrams became well-known as both a pianist and a composer. A key influence on his piano playing was King Fleming, for whom Abrams also wrote music. Another local musician, William E. Jackson, helped Abrams improve his ability to arrange and write music for groups. Abrams co-founded a group called the MJT+3 and recorded music with them in 1957. This recording, called Daddy-O Presents MJT+3, included several of Abrams’s own compositions. Around 1959 or 1960, Abrams became interested in studying mystical practices and joined a group called the Rosicrucians.

In the early 1960s, Abrams’s son, Richard Jr., was in high school. Abrams continued to grow as a musician by studying books on musical composition written by Joseph Schillinger. These books included ideas about combining spirituality with music. Abrams said the books taught him to break music down into basic elements and to develop his own unique style of writing music.

In 1961, Abrams organized young musicians to form an ensemble that practiced at a place called the C&C Lounge in Chicago. This group became known as the Experimental Band and allowed Abrams to test new musical ideas inspired by Schillinger.

In 1963, Abrams was part of a trio with bassist Donald Rafael Garrett and drummer Steve McCall. He lived with his wife, Peggy, in a small apartment on South Evans Avenue, where musicians gathered to share ideas about music, culture, politics, and spirituality. Abrams wanted to help younger musicians, just as Fleming and Jackson had helped him. The Experimental Band encouraged teamwork and allowed members to play their own compositions. Although Abrams later said he did not want to focus on his influence, many musicians remembered him as a respected mentor.

The Experimental Band rarely performed in public. Some recordings were made for practice, but they were often reused later.

In 1965, Abrams and three other musicians—pianist Jodie Christian, composer Phil Cohran, and drummer Steve McCall—formed a new group called the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). They invited mostly African American musicians to their first meeting and decided the group would focus on original, creative music. Abrams became president of the AACM, and the group officially started in 1967. Abrams taught composition classes at the AACM’s school.

Working with the AACM helped Abrams get a recording contract with Delmark Records. His first album for them, Levels and Degrees of Light, was recorded in 1967 and included the first recordings of saxophonist Anthony Braxton, violinist Leroy Jenkins, and bassist Leonard Jones.

AACM members often performed in theaters and lofts instead of smoky nightclubs, where they could play for audiences who were open to new ideas.

In 1967, Abrams adopted the name "Muhal." He said the name, which means "number one," had unclear origins.

During this time, Abrams also played with saxophonists Eddie Harris and others who focused on a style of jazz called bop.

In the 1970s, Abrams wrote music for symphony orchestras, string quartets, solo piano, voice, and big bands. He also recorded music with large ensembles that included harp and accordion. His big band performed weekly at a place called Transitions East in Chicago. In 1972, Abrams formed a sextet with other AACM members, including Reggie Willis, Steve McCall, and Henry Threadgill. This group performed internationally, including at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1973. Abrams also gave a successful solo concert at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1974 and toured Europe with the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

During this time, Abrams recorded many albums under his own name and as a guest musician for artists like Marion Brown, Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, and Chico Freeman. He also wrote the theme music for a television show called Bird of the Iron Feather, which was the first all-Black soap opera.

In 1976, Abrams moved to New York City with his family. He did this partly to be near other musicians and partly for financial reasons. Although there were few concerts at first, Abrams received press attention and recorded annually with the label Black Saint. His experience writing complex compositions helped AACM musicians gain recognition in both jazz and classical music circles.

In the late 1970s, Abrams served on jazz review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. His position as a respected Chicago musician who worked with experimental music made him a key leader in changing the group’s focus.

Some of Abrams’s works from this time, such as 1-OQA+19 and Lifea Blinec, combined written music with strong rhythms and used multiple instruments, text, and electronic sounds.

Abrams was part of the Loft Jazz scene in New York. In 1982, he performed an orchestral piece at the New Music America festival in Chicago and helped start the New York Chapter of the AACM, which began holding concerts in the city that year.

In 1990, Abrams won the Jazzpar Prize, a Danish award in jazz. In 1997, he received a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. In 2005, the AACM celebrated its 40th anniversary by performing some of Abrams’s works in New York. In 2010, Abrams was honored with the NEA Jazz Masters Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vision Festival in New York.

Abrams died at his home in Manhattan at the age of 87. His daughter, Richarda, became an actress and singer.

Influence

He is a very influential artist who worked with many musicians early in his career. He made important recordings as the main artist and wrote classical music pieces, such as his "String Quartet No. 2." This piece was performed by the Kronos Quartet on November 22, 1985, at the Carnegie Recital Hall in New York.

Discography

With Art Ensemble of Chicago
• Fanfare for the Warriors (Atlantic, 1974)
• Kabalaba (AECO, 1978)
• You Can't Name Your Own Tune (Muse, 1977)
• Saying Something for All (1998)
• Three Compositions of New Jazz (Delmark, 1968)
• Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista, 1976)
• Duets 1976 (Arista, 1976)
• Quintet (Basel) 1977 (hatOLOGY, 1977 [2000])
• Live At The Rainbow Gallery '79 (Hi Hat, 2016)
• Sweet Earth Flying (Impulse!, 1974)

With Creative Construction Company
• Creative Construction Company (Muse, 1970 [1975])
• Creative Construction Company Vol. II (Muse, 1970 [1976])
• Made in Chicago (ECM, 2013 [2015]) with Larry Gray, Roscoe Mitchell, and Henry Threadgill
• Kenny Dorham Sextet (1970)
• Emergency Peace (1990)
• Morning Prayer (1976)
• Chico (1977)
• Freeman & Freeman (1981)
• Interpretations Of Monk Vol. 1 (Koch Jazz, 1997) with Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, Charlie Rouse, Roswell Rudd, Richard Davis, Ben Riley, Ed Blackwell
• Instant Death (Atlantic, 1971)
• Eddie Harris Sings the Blues (Atlantic, 1972)
• Excursions (Atlantic, 1973)
• That Is Why You're Overweight (Atlantic, 1975)
• As If It Were the Seasons (1968)
• Lifelong Ambitions (Black Saint, 1977)
• Inward Fire (Muse, 1978)
• Beggars and Stealers (1977)
• Shadowgraph (1978, Black Saint)
• Nonaah (1967)
• Roscoe Mitchell Quartet (1975)
• Duets and Solos (1990)
• Live At "A Space" 1975 (Delmark, 2013 Discogs AllMusic)

With Walter Perkins MJT+3
• Daddy-O Presents MJT+3 (1957)
• The Iron Men with Anthony Braxton (Muse, 1977 [1980])
• Soul Girl (Paula Records, 1973)