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John
Muri: His Life, so far! (conituned from page 2)
or Indiana composers
such as Cole Porter, Noble Sissle and Hoagy Carmichael. He is a great
fan of the music of Stephen Sondheim and hasfeatured music from several
Sondheim shows in his programs. "The Night Waltz" from A Little Night Music
is a tune he always preferred over "Send in the Clowns". Several
pieces from Follies have been used frequently. "Old Friends" from
Merrily We Roll Along is one of his current favorites. Two Neil Hefti
pieces, "L'il Darlin'" and the theme from "The Odd Couple" are tunes that
few organists have played. They fit comfortably into John's repertoire.
These are just a few examples of the rich variety of music you were likely
to hear in a John Muri program. During the 1970s, John produced
two record albums. John Muri--Volume One was recorded on a 3 manual/11
rank Wurlitzer in the Six Mile-Uptown Theatre in Highland Park, Michigan.
The second was recorded on the 4 manual 36 rank Wurlitzer in Detroit's
mammoth Fox Theatre. The two albums are a fascinating study of two
different playing styles. The performance on the first album, played
on a smaller instrument is very straightforward, played with lots of feeling
and enthusiasm, but the selections on the Fox album are grander and more
orchestral. Each recording is appropriate to its own environment.
John's reputation for
silent movie accompaniment is well known in the theatre organ community.
He uses published music but has always steered clear of the obvious. The
scores support the movies scenes and moods without overpowering them.
He still maintains a large library of cue sheets for the silent classics
and has shared them with other organists on several occasions. He
has recorded a number of scores for Blackhawk Films, utilizing pipe organs
in the Rivoli Theatre in Indianapolis (now gone) and the Roger and
Sue Mumbrue residence in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. From 1977 to
1979, John was a tonal consultant for the Wurlitzer Company in DeKalb,
Illinois. During this period of time they were assembling a huge pipe organ
to be known as The Mightiest Wurlitzer. On June 22, 1978 he played the
first program on the instrument.
During the 1960s and 70s,
John wrote one page commentaries for Theatre Organ, the journal of
the American Theatre Organ Society. There were more than seventy
articles over the years--a huge body of work. Even people in other parts
of the U.S., England and Australia got a chance to know John through
his writing and many people feel these articles were the best the magazine
has ever published.
In 1977. the ATOS
named John Muri Organist of the (continued in column two) |
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