Mark Murphy may have had his problems the past few years, but rumors that he is not singing well appear to be unfounded. Rifftides reader and occasional correspondent Jim Brown sent a report with evidence.
A year or two ago, there were suggestions that Mark was in bad health, perhaps had dementia, and that he might not be performing again. Here’s a performance from last summer that will blow you away. Whatever his health problems might have been, it seems clear that he’s still hanging in. There are several other pieces of video from the same set that are worth watching, but this one is the masterpiece. Pianist Jon Cowherd, bassist Boris Kozlov and drummer Willard Dyson are the accompanists in this medley from the Kitano in New York.
The nonagenarian pianist presented de Barros with every biographer’s hope, unrestricted access to his subject’s personal papers and nearly unrestricted access to her private thoughts. He made the most of it, turning exhaustive research and hundreds of hours of interviews into a true story with the sweep of a novel. From the early discovery of McPartland’s musical gift through her wartime service, her ecstatic and stormy marriage to Jimmy McPartland, her growth as a pianist, her deep affair with Joe Morello, and the radio show that made her a national figure, she has had a fascinating life. It makes a splendid read.
Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band had three fewer musicians than most big jazz outfits. Its size permitted precision, flexibility and subtlety, yet the band had the power of sprung steel. In this concert from a half century ago, the CJB is as fresh as yesterday. Arrangements by Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn and Johnny Mandel set standards to which big band writers still aspire. Bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Mel Lewis inspired Mulligan, Brookmeyer, Conte Candoli, Gene Quill and Zoot Sims to some of the best soloing of their careers. This beautifully produced issue of the complete concert is a basic repertoire item.
I have the utmost respect for your taste and opinions and for this blog, which is among my daily musts, but I have to tell you that you lost me completely when you described this performance as a masterpiece. For me, it was terribly painful to listen to, and had someone played this for me as an audio blindfold test I am afraid I’d have dismissed it out of hand. What am I missing?
Jim Brown, not I, used the term “masterpiece.” I wouldn’t go that far. I find Murphy an intensely interesting, and often moving, singer. He evolved over the years into a musician who approaches songs with eccentricities of phrasing, pitch and time like those of an adventurous instrumentalist. I hear him not in comparison with, say, Frank Sinatra, but with a saxophonist like Joe Henderson, Lee Konitz or Sonny Rollins. Listening in that frame of reference, I found this performance creative and rewarding.—DR
There is one word missing in this context: *respect*. This is an old man of jazz whose heydays are long over, which is obvious. That’s life, okay?
Though it may be a little too big a praise to place his name next to Sonny Rollins, Mr. Murphy deserved at least one award, namely the one for being a brave, courageous vocal jazz artist who never betrayed himself, or his fans.
Helen Merrill would belong to the same league.
As much as I love (jazz) vocalists, I’m neither a big fan of either Mark Murphy, or his sometimes too smooth “predecessor” (in style) Mel Tormé, but these men are nevertheless great artists, and their staunch community of devotees would at least prove that.
Mark’s phrasing (and pitch) can be way over the top, and his vocal concept is a bit too artistic (sometimes it’s even pretty camp) for my taste. But, we never stop learning, do we? And so, I will go for that 1961-recording you’d recommended, Doug.
Regarding your October 15th Rifftides posting about Mark Murphy- I don’t know if you were aware, but this past July at the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival in Portland Oregon, a scruffy looking older man dressed in warmup pants and a stocking cap wandered up onto the stage and started scatting with Karrin Allyson and Nancy King. Then someone in the crowd yelled “hey, that’s Mark Murphy!!”. After he sang a couple of tunes, I asked the bassist in the group Dan Balmer if that was indeed Mark Murphy, and he said yes. Mr. Murphy was apparently hanging around with a Portland based musician named Robert Moore. I had known about Mark Murphy, but was not expecting him to grace the stage at an informal local event like the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival. I guess you never who is in the audience at your local jazz fest.