Biography

Percussionist, drummer and composer Marilyn Mazur was born in New York in 1955 but spent most of her life in Denmark. She studied at the Copenhagen Conservatory, but she is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist. She formed her first band, Zirenes, in 1973, though popularity came later with her fusion group Six Winds and as the leader of the all-women theater group Primi Band. In 1983, she received the Ben Webster award and formed the jazz quartet MM4 with saxophonist Uffe Markussen. A year later, she was invited to join in the tribute that trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg paid to Miles Davis in Aura. He himself participated in the recording sessions. After this, the opportunity came to play in Davis’s band and go on tour for more than four years. In 1989, she concentrated on the creation of the seven-piece international orchestra Future Song, for which she produced several music and dance projects for over a decade. Some of those works are recorded on Marilyn Mazur’s Future Song, Small Labyrinths and Daylight Stories. From 1991 until 2005, she was a member of Jan Garbarek’s group, with which she recorded Elixir (ECM). Since 2008, she has collaborated with the bands Celestial Circle and Mystic Family. During this year, she was selected Artist in Residence at Molde International Jazz Festival and was the recipient of a lifetime grant from the Danish National Art Foundation to compose musical work.