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RIP Jamie Muir 2/17/2025

Pauly 4001

Pauly 4001

Jun 24, 2012
1,862
6,179
Seattle WA. USA
#1
King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir has died, aged 82

King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir, who famously left the band to become a Buddhist monk in 1973, has died, aged 82.


Former Crimson drummer Bill Bruford announced Muir's passing on his own Facebook page, paying tribute to his former colleague. "Jamie Muir died today 17.02.2025 in Cornwall, UK, with his brother George by his side.


Jamie was the drummer/percussionist with whom I worked on the King Crimson album Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (1973). He had a volcanic effect on me, professionally and personally, in the brief time we were together many years ago – an effect which I still remember half a century later. I’m sorry we lost touch, but his departure from our working relationship was so sudden and unexpected, I sort of assumed he didn’t want anything more to do with me and my colleagues in King Crimson!
King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir, who famously left the band to become a Buddhist monk in 1973, has died, aged 82.


Former Crimson drummer Bill Bruford announced Muir's passing on his own Facebook page, paying tribute to his former colleague. "Jamie Muir died today 17.02.2025 in Cornwall, UK, with his brother George by his side.


Jamie was the drummer/percussionist with whom I worked on the King Crimson album Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (1973). He had a volcanic effect on me, professionally and personally, in the brief time we were together many years ago – an effect which I still remember half a century later. I’m sorry we lost touch, but his departure from our working relationship was so sudden and unexpected, I sort of assumed he didn’t want anything more to do with me and my colleagues in King Crimson!

 
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#3
Pauly 4001 said:
King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir has died, aged 82

King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir, who famously left the band to become a Buddhist monk in 1973, has died, aged 82.


Former Crimson drummer Bill Bruford announced Muir's passing on his own Facebook page, paying tribute to his former colleague. "Jamie Muir died today 17.02.2025 in Cornwall, UK, with his brother George by his side.


Jamie was the drummer/percussionist with whom I worked on the King Crimson album Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (1973). He had a volcanic effect on me, professionally and personally, in the brief time we were together many years ago – an effect which I still remember half a century later. I’m sorry we lost touch, but his departure from our working relationship was so sudden and unexpected, I sort of assumed he didn’t want anything more to do with me and my colleagues in King Crimson!
King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir, who famously left the band to become a Buddhist monk in 1973, has died, aged 82.


Former Crimson drummer Bill Bruford announced Muir's passing on his own Facebook page, paying tribute to his former colleague. "Jamie Muir died today 17.02.2025 in Cornwall, UK, with his brother George by his side.


Jamie was the drummer/percussionist with whom I worked on the King Crimson album Larks’ Tongues in Aspic (1973). He had a volcanic effect on me, professionally and personally, in the brief time we were together many years ago – an effect which I still remember half a century later. I’m sorry we lost touch, but his departure from our working relationship was so sudden and unexpected, I sort of assumed he didn’t want anything more to do with me and my colleagues in King Crimson!

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The special sauce of the LTIA album…
 
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#9
He was a brilliant musician.

I don’t think he said this in his autobiography, but I faintly remember an interview in which Bill Bruford said that he was nervous to perform with Crimson after Muir had left the band. He felt that Jamie had had so much impact upon the material they were performing, he wasn’t sure how he was going to approach it without him.
 
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#11
I remember being facinated by just the very concept of Jamie Muir when, as a young lad who loved Yes but had yet to hear any King Crimson, I read a quote by Bill Bruford where he said something to the effect of "Jamie opened my mind to the idea that percussion wasn't just about rhythm, it was about sound."

That really made me want to check out Muir...though, perhaps surprisingly, the first record I found him on wasn't Crimson's Larks' Tongues In Aspic but rather the debut album of The Music Improvisation Company on the ECM label. That totally blew my then-teenaged mind! Years later I would realize that record was my introduction to Derek Bailey and Evan Parker...but at the time I was just trying to figure out what Jamie Muir was doing.

Music today needs more seers like Jamie Muir. RIP.
 
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#12
Bob_Ross said:
I remember being facinated by just the very concept of Jamie Muir when, as a young lad who loved Yes but had yet to hear any King Crimson, I read a quote by Bill Bruford where he said something to the effect of "Jamie opened my mind to the idea that percussion wasn't just about rhythm, it was about sound."

That really made me want to check out Muir...though, perhaps surprisingly, the first record I found him on wasn't Crimson's Larks' Tongues In Aspic but rather the debut album of The Music Improvisation Company on the ECM label. That totally blew my then-teenaged mind! Years later I would realize that record was my introduction to Derek Bailey and Evan Parker...but at the time I was just trying to figure out what Jamie Muir was doing.

Music today needs more seers like Jamie Muir. RIP.
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That’s what the Big Ears festival is all about…where you’d find those kinds of people.
 
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