MARILYN MAZUR GROUP (DK,J)
Marilyn Mazur – drums, percussion instruments
Hans Ulrik – saxophones
Makiko Hirabayashi – piano
Klavs Hovman – double bass
Marilyn Mazur was born in the USA but since the age of 6 she has been living in Denmark. She is of African-American and Polish ancestry. She started her musical career as member of the Creative Dance Theatre in 1971. As a composer and a pianist, she set up her first band in 1973. An auto-didact as far as drums and percussion instruments are concerned, she went on to study at and subsequently gradute from the Danish Royal Academy of Music.
She is one of the very few women in the pantheon of world jazz. Her performances have been high points of many jazz festivals worldwide. She gained fame and critical recognition thanks to her collaboration with jazz heavyweights, most notably with Miles Davis. She was a member of Davis’ live band in 1985, 1988, and 1989. In 1986 she became the percussionist in the famous Gil Evans Orchestra. A year later she performed alongside another Davis’ sidemen and collaborator as a member of the Wayne Shorter Quintet.
In 1989 she initiated two projects of her own - Future Song and Percussion Paradise, a female percussion quartet. In 1991 she started her collaboration with Jan Garbarek that continues uninterrupted to this day.
Unusually expressive as an artist, she uses not only traditional percussion instruments but also ethnic and folk ones as well as custom-built and specially constructed ones.