Musicians in exile

Musicians In Exile is a Paris based international group put together in March of 2004, by drummer composer Chris Dailey McCraven. After spending seven years in Fred Clayton's IRC, Chris has accumulated many compositions of his own, which in March of 2004 he put into action. He decided to choose musicians whom he had already played with in different musical situations. first, there was the London born alto saxophone Gulliver allwood, then Chicago born legend on tenor saxophone David Johnson, the Florida born trombonist Jerry Edwards, San Francisco born bassist Farris Smith Jr, Paris born keybordist Philippe Monange, the Spanish born guitarist Philippe Turlo, Britanny born Benoît Mauger at the trumpet to round up the line-up. Chris then presented his original compositions, which enabled the group to forge their trademark sound and originality which is definitely rare to find these days. The group quickly began to develop a following from people of all ages performing at the Cithéa and the Hard Rock Café in Paris, which allowed the public to hear their very powerful and dynamic sound that has been described as Hard Jazz Funk.The reason this group works well together is because Chris is very clear on what he's after musically, and gives a lot of room to his musicians to present their musical voices in the setting of his group concept. The world renowned saxophonist David Murray, said to him after attending a concert that he has a"GREAT BAND and very interesting compositions!". Also, world renowned drummer Steve McCraven has said "I am very proud of Chris' work". Also in the public you can find Rasul Siddik,Tom McClung, José Palmer, Boney Fields, Mra Oma, Juju Child, Raymond Doumbé, Romain Dru, and many others Paris based artists.So if you ever have the chance, come and experience Musicians In Exile and taste what is called Hard Jazz Funk!