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| Marilyn Mazur and some of
her sounds. |
| Photo by Kevin Lambert |
Peter Danstrup, bassist and director of Copenhagen’s
Academy of Rhythm, tells the following story:
Musicians in Denmark had a well-worn excuse for
not making gigs. They would say, “Sorry, Miles
called.” Nobody believed it -- to musicians
everywhere it was the equivalent of accepting a
Nobel prize -- but it sounded good. One day in 1985,
he got a “Miles called” call from Marilyn
Mazur.
The difference was that Miles Davis really had
called. And she answered. She went on to become
the first Danish percussionist in his band. She
went from there to start her own band and become
a staple with the Jan Gabarek Quartet. In 1999 she
performed at the Biennale de Percussion in Conkary,
Guinea, representing “the female sex.”
Marilyn Mazur can best be described as a joy to
mankind: charming, graceful, she has dedicated her
life to the things that make us most happy. She
lives in a small town outside Copenhagen, with a
barn full of instruments.
Mazur is Danish, but in the same way Harry Belafonte
is American. “I’m all mixed up,"
she says. "I don’t look like a typical
Dane. I was born in Manhattan, my father was a Black
American biochemist, my mother was Polish, from
New Jersey.” When she was six, her parents
had had enough of pre-civil rights America and came
to Denmark. When she was 17, her father and older
sister returned to New York, but Marilyn is “very
Danish and I would never want to live anywhere else.”
"Before, I was dancing and playing piano,
but I noticed that there were no female drummers
at that time, Mazur says. "I had been playing
a lot of classical piano, but at 19 I decided I
wanted to try a new instrument. I like very much
to be moving physically, so it somehow all came
together.
“I got very conscious of the 'groove' playing
with Miles. I realized that the other musicians
were very much into their instrument role, but I
had the feeling I was invited to do the floating
qualities and the loose colors, painting the sound.
My favorite instrument is to have a lot of instruments.
I play on very big setups, which change all the
time.”
When musicians congregate, the stories about Miles
Davis pop up; stories of intimidating greatness
and monumental attitude. She has none of those.
“I have no nasty Miles stories. He was pure
magic. He just invited me to be myself, and at the
time I wondered, who’s that? It was like the
doors opening to the world. He didn’t give
me too many instructions. So I had a solo where
I danced while playing a talking drum.
“How it started was, a long time before, I
dreamed that I was playing with him. Then I got
picked to play when he played in Palle Mikkelborg’s
Aura piece. When he came to the rehearsals I was
so intimidated I was almost hiding on the floor.
"A few months later he called. He said, Can
you play at the Pier next Wednesday? I hadn’t
been to New York since I was six years old. Now
I was 30. Suddenly I was back to play with Miles
Davis. That was totally unreal. Then I remembered
this dream, and in a way it was like the dream.
My father came to the gig, he was so proud.”
She did one year with Miles, 1985 through 1986.
Then he changed his format and she went with alto
saxophonist Wayne Shorter, but rejoined the Davis
band in 1988. Then she got a grant from the Danish
government to set up her own band, Future Song,
which is still together. “I had been massively
touring and away from home. It was a very hard choice.
I went home to become a mother. She is married to
the Danish bassist Klaus Hovman. Her son, Fabian,
is now 12, and she regards him as her “most
important activity.”
The most influential regions, musically, for her
are Africa, Bali, and Norway.
“I played with a lot of beautiful Norwegian
musicians. Jan Gabarek is another musician I was
a fan of long before I ever thought I’d play
with him. I used to sit at his concerts and cry
because it was so beautiful.
“I feel more at home playing with musicians
that come from closer to here. There’s something
about the air -- I always talk about the air. For
me that has such a nice influence, to have this
air, this freshness.”
Marilyn Mazur’s latest CD is called “Flowermachine”
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