"“I'm following the flow of the music ...When it's a great night, I become the music to some extent." Marilyn Mazur
Peter Quinn chats to Marilyn Mazur ahead of her upcoming Music Network tour
In the world of contemporary jazz, few artists captivate audiences quite like Marilyn Mazur. A virtuoso percussionist, composer, and bandleader, Mazur has carved out a unique niche in the music world, blending her love of rhythm, dance, and sonic exploration into a mesmerising artistic vision.
One of the highlights of the 2011 Copenhagen Jazz Festival was seeing Mazur appearing with her Celestial Circle quartet – pianist John Taylor, bassist Anders Jormin and vocalist Josefine Cronholm. You couldn’t help but be fascinated by the forest of percussion that Mazur surrounded herself with – drums, gongs, bells, cymbals, wood blocks and more. While most drummers usually go through an entire gig glued to the drum stool, Mazur was never still, either flitting lightly amongst her percussion armoury or turning this way or that from her standard kit to identify what to hit next. A colourist without aesthetic preconditions or boundaries, she employed her percussion orchestra to glittering, varicoloured effect.
It's no surprise when Mazur tells me that her love of dance dates back to her childhood. She vividly recalls that her first strong musical memory was from when she was about seven, drawing the curtains in the living room and listening to Leonard Bernstein’s recording of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.
“I had this experience that there was a magic dance teacher that would enter into the room and teach me the choreography,” she says. “That was really a strong impression for me and it's followed me my whole life actually.” This powerful experience instilled in Mazur a deep connection between music and movement, a natural extension of her philosophy that music is "movement in sound”, as she puts it.
From the outset, Mazur’s artistic interests were diverse. “I grew up playing classical piano, improvising, composing music, writing poems and stories, dancing and painting. I didn’t start playing drums until 19. I ended up studying classical percussion, that's where it all started. And I was totally absorbed by it.” This shift from piano to percussion was partly influenced by an earlier experience when, still in her teens, she formed her first band as a pianist with two other female musicians. Realising there were no female drummers available, she invited the renowned Danish drummer, the late Alex Riel, to join the group. This experience planted a seed in Mazur's mind about the lack of women in percussion, which would influence her decision to pursue drums as her primary instrument.
Mazur's unique sonic palette is a defining feature of her artistry. Over the years, the array of percussion instruments she has amassed from around the globe has provided her with a vast textural palette, allowing her to react intuitively to her fellow musicians and the flow of the music. While the logistics of transporting such a large set-up can be challenging, Mazur finds it essential to her musical expression, stating, "It’s become so much my thing that I can't live without them. I can't say why I play all those things, it's just become my language to play a lot of sounds.”
With a fascinatingly diverse discography of 100-plus albums as both leader and side musician, Mazur’s approach to composition beautifully balances structure and improvisation. While some of her projects lean heavily towards free improvisation, others incorporate more through-composed music. Special 4 explores a harmonious blend of both worlds, with Mazur performing her own compositions alongside improvisations and pieces contributed by other band members.
Her playing style is characterised by its responsiveness. Unlike many drummers who primarily focus on timekeeping and establishing grooves, Mazur sees her role as more dynamic and interactive, constantly shifting her focus to different layers of the music in response to what she hears from her fellow musicians. This approach allows her to become fully immersed in the music. “I'm following the flow of the music,” she says. “When it's a great night, I become the music to some extent.”
The Special 4 quartet exemplifies her collaborative approach to music-making. The group consists of long-time musical partners, each bringing their unique strengths to the ensemble. Bassist Klavs Hovman is Mazur's husband and a musical collaborator since the 1980s. “We've played a lot together, we're a really strong unit. He's a very good partner to have for grounding of the music – we supplement each other very well. He also loves taking the music out and following the flow.” Mazur has known pianist Makiko Hirabayashi since the 1990s and has played in her trio (with Hovman) since 2001. “She has a very poetic touch in her way of playing. She especially loves improvising and playing prepared piano, but she's also a great jazz pianist.” Flugelhorn player Jakob Buchanan “has this beautiful sound. He's more fluid in his expression. He also tends to bring a dreamy quality to the music. I like that the music has all kinds of colours, all kinds of dynamics and flavours.”
Mazur's musical journey has been enriched by collaborations with some of jazz's most iconic figures. Perhaps most notably, she spent three years touring and recording with Miles Davis in the 1980s, an experience that profoundly impacted her musical development. Working with Davis taught Mazur the importance of reacting intuitively to subtle cues and pushing oneself to deliver powerful performances night after night. The freedom Davis gave her to explore and express herself fully on stage was a transformative experience that opened up new worlds of possibility in her own music. “It was incredible in every way,” she tells me. “It was like he had opened the whole world to me. He gave me such a great gift.”
The influence of other great musicians is evident in Mazur's work with Special 4. She cites the Azimuth trio – the aforementioned John Taylor, plus Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler – as a significant inspiration, having had the opportunity to work with each of these revered artists at various points in her career. The connection to Azimuth is particularly relevant to Special 4's sound, as the group has frequently collaborated with Winstone, creating a musical lineage that spans generations of innovative jazz artists.
For their current tour, Special 4 is presenting a diverse programme that showcases the breadth of the group’s compositional skills and improvisational prowess. The setlist includes pieces from Mazur's Future Song repertoire, such as selections from the Rainbow Birds Suite and Reflections. These works demonstrate Mazur's ability to create expansive, emotionally resonant compositions that provide ample space for individual expression within a cohesive group sound.
As well as performing new compositions written specifically for the ensemble, audiences will also hear Mazur’s That's Life, previously recorded on Hirabayashi's 2017 trio album, Where the Sea Breaks. Another recent addition to the repertoire is Shading Song, a piece that features Mazur on kalimba, an African thumb piano she acquired during her recent travels.
As Special 4 prepares for their debut recording next year, Mazur's ceaseless curiosity and willingness to push boundaries continue to yield fresh, exciting music that defies easy categorisation. Whether she's leading her own ensembles, collaborating with other artists, or exploring new compositional approaches, Mazur remains at the forefront of contemporary jazz. She remains a unique and indispensable voice in music. Her journey from that young girl enchanted by Stravinsky to a world-renowned percussionist and composer is a testament to the power of following one's artistic instincts, wherever they may lead.