Tributes have been paid to the former King Crimson percussionist Jamie Muir, who has died at the age of 82.
News of his passing was confirmed by his friend and bandmate Bill Bruford on Monday (February 17), who wrote on Facebook: “Jamie Muir died today, 17.02.2025, in Cornwall, UK, with his brother George by his side.”
A cause of death has not been revealed.
King Crimson frontman Robert Fripp paid tribute to Muir on Instagram, writing: “Jamie Muir was a major, and continuing, influence on my thinking, not only musical. A wonderful and mysterious person. Of the five members of KC 1972, Jamie had the greatest authority, experience and presence. Fly well, Master Muir.”
Jamie Muir died today 17.02.2025 in Cornwall, UK, with his brother George by his side. From Bill: Jamie was the…
Posted by Bill Bruford on Monday, February 17, 2025
Muir was best known for his stint with the legendary prog rock band from 1972 to 1973, playing most prominently on their fifth studio album ‘Larks’ Tongues In Aspic’, released in 1973.
Born in Edinburgh in 1942 and educated at the Edinburgh College Of Art, he moved to London in the 1960s as a passionate jazz trombonist, before switching to percussion.
In London, he was involved in several free improvisational groups, including The Music Improvisation Company, and played with respected figures such as Derek Bailey and Evan Parker.
He was invited to join King Crimson via a phone call from Fripp in the summer of 1972, joining the new incarnation of the band alongside Yes drummer Bruford, bassist John Wetton and violinist David Cross.
After just a year, and just days after the release of ‘Larks’ Tongues In Aspic’, Muir abruptly left King Crimson and moved to a monastery in southern Scotland to pursue life as a Buddhist monk.
He did return to music in 1980, appearing on albums by Bailey and Parker, as well as the soundtrack of the 1983 British independent film Ghost Dance. In 1990, he withdrew from the music industry once again, opting to devote his time to painting.
In a 1991 interview, Muir reflected on his love of freeform musical composition. “I think group improvised music is one of the great forms of 20th century music, because it’s so radical,” he said. “It should be listened to live and not in an acute intellectual way. A lot of other music is quite absurdly intellectual.”
Bruford’s social media tribute to Muir continued: “He had a volcanic effect on me, professionally and personally, in the brief time we were together many years ago – an effect which I still remember half a century later.”
“He was a lovely, artistic man, childlike in his gentleness,” he added. “There was probably a dark side underneath. It could be glimpsed as he climbed the PA stacks in a wolf’s fur jacket, blood (from a capsule) pouring from his mouth, on a rainy Thursday night in Preston, Lancs., to hurl chains across the stage at his drumkit. One of these Robert Fripp will tell you, only narrowly missed him.”
“I consider it a privilege to have known, and benefitted from the company of, a man of such quiet power, even briefly. He struck me as one of those about whom one might truthfully say he was a beautiful human being. He will be much missed. Goodbye, Jamie.”
Muir’s passing comes just months after King Crimson songwriter and lyricist Peter Sinfield died, aged 80, on November 14.
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