Jamie Muir

William James Graham Muir (4 July 1945 – 17 February 2025) was a Scottish painter and musician, best known for his work as the percussionist in King Crimson from 1972 to 1973, appearing prominently on their fifth album Larks' Tongues in Aspic. Following his departure from King Crimson, Muir returned to Scotland, where he pursued a monastic Buddhist lifestyle at Samye Ling Monastery. He returned to music in 1980, later contributing percussion to studio albums from Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, and Michael Giles, the latter of whom was a founding member of King Crimson. By 1990, Muir had permanently retired from music and focused his efforts on painting.

Life and career Early life and career William James Graham Muir was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 4 July 1945. He attended the Edinburgh College of Art during the 1960s, and began playing jazz on trombone. He soon lost interest and switched to percussion, stating that he preferred to be "in the wilds of uncertainty". At that time, he listened to American jazz drummers such as Tony Williams, Kenny Clarke, and Milford Graves, and other musicians such as Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, and the New York Art Quartet.

After The Music Improvisation Company disbanded, Muir played in the band Boris with Don Weller and Jimmy Roche (both later of jazz-rock band Major Surgery) and put in a stint with Afro-rock band Assagai in which he met Canterbury scene keyboard player Alan Gowen. Muir and Gowen subsequently formed the experimental jazz-rock band Sunship with guitarist Allan Holdsworth and bass player Laurie Baker, although Muir has admitted that they "spent more time laughing than playing music" and suggests that the band played no gigs and got no further than rehearsals. with a lineup that came to be, according to Muir, focused on "group potential and creating monstrous power in music." on which he is listed as playing "Percussion and Allsorts". Several live recordings featuring Muir were released later by DGM records; the 15-disc box set released in 2012 for the 40th anniversary of the album includes every recording from that line-up, both live or studio, documenting everything Muir has ever contributed.

According to John Kelman, Muir "brought not just a visual 'X factor' to the group but a musical one as well, his not-to-be understated contributions during his brief tenure with Crimson still felt well after his departure, with the percussionist exerting a lasting influence on (drummer Bill) Bruford". Bruford called Muir "my biggest influence and the guy who turned my head totally around ... God, did he open my eyes. Jamie saw above and beyond chops. He was into the color of the music, the tone, and being intuitive about it." Bruford also wrote that Muir taught him to "try to see life from the far side of the cymbals: drummers can be very myopic. He also pointed out – and I consider this my first and best drum lesson – that I exist to serve the music, the music does not exist to serve me." Regarding his relationship with Robert Fripp, Muir wrote "Fripp was open and believed very much in getting disparate musical elements together ... he seemed to me to be a very good band leader. I think I was a wee bit too much for him, simply because I was so involved in improvisation. He was very much concerned with logic and function, he always worked his solos out before playing them ... For a person like him it was a very admirable creative decision to actually work with somebody like me."

A little over a week after the release of Larks' Tongues, Muir abruptly left King Crimson. The British press at the time cited his departure as the result of "personal injury sustained onstage during performance", a phrase attributed to the band's management company, E.G. Records. Muir himself stated "hat was nonsense about my having injured myself ... When I heard about what they'd said, I wondered why would anybody do that – what advantage could there be in not saying what actually happened?" Muir reported that he withdrew from the music business around 1990, to devote his energies to painting.

Ideas about music Muir stated: "I think group improvised music is one of the great forms of 20th Century music because it's so radical. It should be listened to live and not in an acute intellectual way. A lot of other music is quite absurdly intellectual."

Discography

With the Music Improvisation Company (Derek Bailey, Evan Parker and Hugh Davies) The Music Improvisation Company (ECM, 1970) with Christine Jeffrey on two tracks. The Music Improvisation Company 1968–1971 (Incus, 1968–70 )

With Evan Parker and Paul Rogers The Ayes Have It (Emanem, 1983, 2001)

With Richard Strange and The Engine Room Going Gone (Percussion, 1984)

With Michael Giles and David Cunningham Ghost Dance (Piano, 1996)

With the Company Trios (Incus, 1986) Company 1981 (Honest Jon's, 2019)