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| Joe Muranyi obituary | Joe Muranyi obituary |
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| Joe Muranyi, who has died of congestive heart failure aged 84, earned his 15 minutes of wider jazz fame as Louis Armstrong's last clarinettist in his celebrated All-Stars group. Muranyi played alongside the great man until the end (which came in 1971) and was later honoured to perform at the ceremony when Armstrong's house in Corona, New York, was opened as a museum in 2003. Thereafter, he was happy to entertain researchers and Armstrong fans with his stories – all affectionate – about Satchmo while continuing to play his own brand of spirited traditional jazz in clubs around New York. Although he spoke often to passersby, including me, of his intention to write a book about his time with Armstrong, it never transpired. | |
| Of Hungarian immigrant stock, Muranyi was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and moved to New York with his family while still a boy. Having cut his teeth in a balalaika orchestra, he then concentrated on classical clarinet, playing for three years from 1946 in an air force band in Massachusetts and later enrolling in the Manhattan School of Music. He also took time out to study with modernist jazz improvisers such as Lennie Tristano and with the classical clarinettist Simeon Bellison before completing his BM and MM degrees at Columbia University. | Of Hungarian immigrant stock, Muranyi was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, and moved to New York with his family while still a boy. Having cut his teeth in a balalaika orchestra, he then concentrated on classical clarinet, playing for three years from 1946 in an air force band in Massachusetts and later enrolling in the Manhattan School of Music. He also took time out to study with modernist jazz improvisers such as Lennie Tristano and with the classical clarinettist Simeon Bellison before completing his BM and MM degrees at Columbia University. |
| Despite these weighty affiliations, Muranyi chose to embrace New Orleans jazz as his musical raison d'être and perform with an array of leading jazz figures on the New York scene, including Eddie Condon, Henry "Red" Allen and Max Kaminsky, while keeping a day job as a producer and liner-note writer for RCA Victor and other record labels. In 1963 he took over leadership of the Village Stompers, this lively outfit achieving an unlikely hit with Washington Square, which reached No 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, enabling the band to tour extensively in the US and Japan. | Despite these weighty affiliations, Muranyi chose to embrace New Orleans jazz as his musical raison d'être and perform with an array of leading jazz figures on the New York scene, including Eddie Condon, Henry "Red" Allen and Max Kaminsky, while keeping a day job as a producer and liner-note writer for RCA Victor and other record labels. In 1963 he took over leadership of the Village Stompers, this lively outfit achieving an unlikely hit with Washington Square, which reached No 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year, enabling the band to tour extensively in the US and Japan. |
| The Stompers were managed by Associated Booking Corporation, which was run by Joe Glaser, who also masterminded Armstrong's career, so when a vacancy occurred for a clarinettist in the trumpeter's All-Stars, Muranyi was wheeled in, staying for four very rewarding years. | The Stompers were managed by Associated Booking Corporation, which was run by Joe Glaser, who also masterminded Armstrong's career, so when a vacancy occurred for a clarinettist in the trumpeter's All-Stars, Muranyi was wheeled in, staying for four very rewarding years. |
| Armstrong's famously mangled pronunciation resulted in Muranyi ending up as "Joe Ma Rainey" (a punning reference to an early blues diva), this adding to their mutual bandstand bonhomie, as the All-Stars continued to tour the world, including Britain. "I got along very well with Pops (Armstrong). I was the only one in the band that knew all the records and the history. I loved him. He was wonderful," he told an interviewer. | Armstrong's famously mangled pronunciation resulted in Muranyi ending up as "Joe Ma Rainey" (a punning reference to an early blues diva), this adding to their mutual bandstand bonhomie, as the All-Stars continued to tour the world, including Britain. "I got along very well with Pops (Armstrong). I was the only one in the band that knew all the records and the history. I loved him. He was wonderful," he told an interviewer. |
| After Armstrong died, Muranyi linked up with another trumpet titan, Roy Eldridge, then concentrating on a Dixieland/mainstream repertoire for his long residency at Jimmy Ryan's club in New York. Once Eldridge had retired, Muranyi freelanced extensively, touring the UK with the trumpeter Keith Smith in one of his Armstrong tribute packages and playing with everyone from the World's Greatest Jazz Band to the Classic Jazz Quartet with the guitarist Marty Grosz, and recording frequently. He also began to perform regularly in Hungary, where, in the words of Armstrong's biographer Ricky Riccardi, "he was treated as a hero of sorts", appearing in documentary films and on many recordings. | After Armstrong died, Muranyi linked up with another trumpet titan, Roy Eldridge, then concentrating on a Dixieland/mainstream repertoire for his long residency at Jimmy Ryan's club in New York. Once Eldridge had retired, Muranyi freelanced extensively, touring the UK with the trumpeter Keith Smith in one of his Armstrong tribute packages and playing with everyone from the World's Greatest Jazz Band to the Classic Jazz Quartet with the guitarist Marty Grosz, and recording frequently. He also began to perform regularly in Hungary, where, in the words of Armstrong's biographer Ricky Riccardi, "he was treated as a hero of sorts", appearing in documentary films and on many recordings. |
| Hearing him a few years ago at Birdland in New York with David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Centennial Band was to bask momentarily in the warmth of both his personality and his still-vigorous clarinet playing. Younger musicians liked him for his generosity and encouragement. Others more established simply relished his creativity. | Hearing him a few years ago at Birdland in New York with David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Centennial Band was to bask momentarily in the warmth of both his personality and his still-vigorous clarinet playing. Younger musicians liked him for his generosity and encouragement. Others more established simply relished his creativity. |
| Muranyi is survived by his wife, Jorun, daughter, Adrienne, and son, Paul. | Muranyi is survived by his wife, Jorun, daughter, Adrienne, and son, Paul. |
| • Joseph Paul Muranyi, clarinettist and saxophonist, born 14 January 1928; died 20 April 2012 | • Joseph Paul Muranyi, clarinettist and saxophonist, born 14 January 1928; died 20 April 2012 |
| • This article was amended on 28 April to correct the details of Muranyi's surviving family, and further amended on 31 May, to give the cause of Muranyi's death as congestive heart failure, rather than cancer. |