Shandar’s Intercommunal Music: Free Jazz with Francois Tusques and Sunny Murray

The sixties were a time of change and turmoil when everything seemed possible. In Paris, art and politics merged into a potent critique of the establishment. Free Jazz – before and after May 68 – echoed the voice of the discontented. But the music also offered a means of articulating an alternative to reactionary social orders.

The Parisian art scene welcomed jazz vanguards and offered plenty of opportunities for improvised collaborations. It benefited from the zeal and energy of critics, musicians and independent record label owners who encouraged Free Jazz artists from the US to migrate eastward across the Atlantic. Archie Shepp, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Sunny Murray and many others found in Paris an enthused and receptive audience.

François Tusques, one of the leading figures of French Free Jazz, played a key role in preparing Europe for the sound of American experimental jazz. Tusques was born in Paris on the eve of World War Two. Because of his nomadic childhood, he was never able to receive formal musical training. Tusques taught himself to play the piano and quickly established his reputation as an innovative musician. In 1965, he contributed to the birth of a French experimental jazz scene by releasing the aptly titled Free Jazz.

Tusques once remarked that he learned to play his instrument by listening attentively to drummers. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that he chose to team up with Murray when the latter arrived in Paris in 1968. Murray’s singular drumming style provided the perfect barrage of sound for Tusques’ insistent piano work.

In 1971, Tusques and Murray recorded Intercommunal Music for the French record label Shandar. The two musicians were accompanied by Alan Silva, Beb Guerin, Steve Potts, Alan Shorter, Bob Reid and Louis Armfield. Several hours of studio time had been booked but thirty-some minutes was all that was needed to record this masterpiece of improvised jazz (I should add that Murray and Silva arrived considerably late for the session).

This is politically charged music performed with urgency and conviction.

“intercommunal music”