Marilyn Mazur


Marilyn Mazur 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.
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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. In 1978, she formed Primi, an all-woman theatre band. 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. Afterward, she played with Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter, Jan Garbarek, and Makiko Hirabayashi. Her all-Scandinavian band Shamania consists of avant-garde female musicians.

Death

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

Honors

Discography

As leader

MM 4 with Mazur Markussen Kvartet Marilyn Mazur's Future Song Circular Chant Small Labyrinths Colors with LLL-Mental Jordsange/Earth Songs Poetic Justice with Lotte Anker, Marilyn Crispell All the Birds: Reflecting + Adventurous Daylight Stories Elixir with Jan Garbarek Tangled Temptations & the Magic Box Celestial Circle Flamingo Sky
  • ''Marilyn Mazur's Shamania''

As guest

With Lindsay CooperMusic from the Gold Diggers Oh Moscow Rags & the Golddiggers
With Pierre DørgePierre Dorge & New Jungle Orchestra Brikama Even the Moon Is Dancing Canoe Johnny Lives
With Jan GarbarekTwelve Moons Visible World Rites
With Makiko HirabayashiMakiko Hide and Seek Surely Where the Sea Breaks
With others