Marilyn Mazur

Marilyn Mazur
Background information
Born(1955-01-18)January 18, 1955
New York City, U.S.
DiedDecember 12, 2025(2025-12-12) (aged 70)
GenresJazz, avant-garde jazz
OccupationMusician
InstrumentDrums
LabelsStoryville, ECM, Dacapo, Stunt
Websitewww.marilynmazur.com

Marilyn Mazur (January 18, 1955 – December 12, 2025) was an American-born Danish percussionist. From 1975, she worked as a percussionist with various groups, among them Six Winds with Alex Riel. Mazur was primarily an autodidact, but she had a degree in percussion from the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

Life and career

Mazur was born in New York City on January 18, 1955, to a Polish father and an African-American mother. The family moved to Denmark when Marilyn was six years old. She learned to play the piano, but when she was 19, she took up drumming, inspired by Al Foster, Airto Moreira, and Alex Riel. She started her first band in 1973, Zirenes.[1] In 1978, she formed Primi, an all-woman theatre band.[2] In 1985, she was asked to participate in the Palle Mikkelborg project that would become the Miles Davis album Aura, and soon after she went on the road with Miles Davis.[1] Afterward, she played with Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter, Jan Garbarek,[2] and Makiko Hirabayashi.[3] Her all-Scandinavian band Shamania consists of avant-garde female musicians.[1]

Death

Marilyn Mazur died on December 12, 2025, at age 70.[4]

Honors

  • Ben Webster Prize, Ben Webster Foundation, 1983
  • JASA Prize, Danish jazz journalists, 1989
  • Jazzpar Prize, 2001[2]
  • Edition Wilhelm Hansens Composer Prize, 2004
  • Danish Django dOr (Legend), 2006
  • Unlimited Communication, Telenor 2007
  • EuroCore-JTI Jazz Award, 2010
  • The Grethe Kolbe Grant, Danish Conductors Association, 2013
  • No. 1 Jazz Performer, Down Beat, six times

Discography

As leader

  • MM 4 with Mazur Markussen Kvartet (Rosen, 1984)
  • Marilyn Mazur's Future Song (veraBra, 1992)
  • Circular Chant (Storyville, 1995)
  • Small Labyrinths (ECM, 1997)
  • Colors with LLL-Mental (Hot Wire, 1997)
  • Jordsange/Earth Songs (Dacapo, 2000)
  • Poetic Justice with Lotte Anker, Marilyn Crispell (Dacapo, 2001)
  • All the Birds: Reflecting + Adventurous (Stunt, 2002)
  • Daylight Stories (Stunt, 2004)
  • Elixir with Jan Garbarek (ECM, 2008)
  • Tangled Temptations & the Magic Box (Stunt, 2010)
  • Celestial Circle (ECM, 2011)
  • Flamingo Sky (Stunt, 2014)
  • Marilyn Mazur's Shamania (RareNoise, 2019)

As guest

With Lindsay Cooper

  • Music from the Gold Diggers (Sync Pulse, 1983)
  • Oh Moscow (Victo, 1991)
  • Rags & the Golddiggers (ReR, 1991)

With Pierre Dørge

  • Pierre Dorge & New Jungle Orchestra (SteepleChase, 1982)
  • Brikama (SteepleChase, 1984)
  • Even the Moon Is Dancing (SteepleChase, 1985)
  • Canoe (Olufsen, 1986)
  • Johnny Lives (SteepleChase, 1987)

With Jan Garbarek

With Makiko Hirabayashi

  • Makiko (Enja, 2006)
  • Hide and Seek (Enja, 2009)
  • Surely (Yellowbird, 2013)
  • Where the Sea Breaks (Yellowbird, 2017)

With others

References

  1. ^ a b c "'We strive for global unity': The extraordinary jazz drummer Marilyn Mazur talks to Chris Searle about the impulse behind her latest album Shamania". Morning Star. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Tucker, Michael (April 25, 2019). "Marilyn Mazur's Shamania: Shamania". Jazz Journal. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
  3. ^ "Tanz zwischen den Genres" [Dance between genres]. Badische Zeitung (in German). 12 December 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  4. ^ Scotney, Sebastian (12 December 2025). "RIP Marilyn Mazur (1955–2025)". UK Jazz News. Retrieved 13 December 2025.

Sources

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