(October 15, 2025) Saxophonist Dave McMurray is a Detroit musical institution. In addition to a well-regarded career as band leader, McMurray worked as a sideman with Detroit acts such as Was Not Was, Tim Bowman, Thornetta Davis, Sweet Pea Atkinson, Kid Rock, Commissioned, Geri Allen, Millie Scott, and Kem, just to name a few. This is in addition to playing with legendary performers like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Nancy Wilson. McMurray did all this while releasing eight albums as a leader, with the ninth – I Love Life Even When I’m Hurting – due to be released in November.
McMurray played sax on four of Kem’s albums, including his debut Kemistry and the follow up Album II. McMurray and Kem team up again now to remake an Al Jarreau classic that is the lead single from McMurray’s new album. “We Got By,” the title track from the 1975 album, is a sweet, jazz inspired number that Jarreau penned. The song is a sweet recollection of man looking back on beautiful struggle that is life and marveling at how he and those he loved made it through the lean times.
Kem is comfortable with the vocal phrasing of jazz and that comfort allows him to paint the mental picture moving from a generation that loved and lived life as they made do to a generation that had enough. McMurray creatively uses his sax to engage in a musical give and take with Kem. The duo pay homage to Jarreau’s gem while making the song their own. Check it out here.
By Howard Dukes
