By Rob Hancock

For more than forty years, Mark Murphy has cut a dash in the jazz world as the original hipster, drawing praise from vocal greats Betty Carter, Peggy Lee and Shirley Horn amongst others.

He has remained a curiously low profile, cult figure, despite his huge contribution to jazz music and the art of singing. Particularly striking has been his choice of material over the years, which has covered the musical spectrum, from well-known standards to the downright obscure. The master of vocalese, (the art of writing and performing lyrics to an already existing instrumental solo), Murphy has managed to show respect for others music whilst keeping his tongue firmly in his cheek and recognizing the humour in jazz, often regarded by outsiders as an over serious music. His voice, not a smooth, sugarcoated croon but defiantly flamboyant gravel. At the beginning of his take on Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘Desifinado’, he sings, ‘I wish I had an ear like yours, a voice that would behave, all I have is feeling and a voice God gave.’ His dry wit asserting the importance that jazz is as much about freedom of expression and the sheer joyful abandon of music as technical dexterity.

Like many jazz musicians Murphy was born into an intensely musical environment, both his parents were singers and his formative musical experiences were in the church where his grandmother and aunt played the organ. The young Murphy joined the choir but the jazz torch was lit when an uncle played him the recordings of Art Tatum. After spending some time fronting his brothers dance band in his native Fulton, New York, Murphy left the US to tour Canada before returning to begin his singing career in earnest. It was at a local jam that Sammy Davis Junior discovered him and became the first of countless big jazz names to come to recognize Murphy’s talent over the years. With his profile raised it wasn’t long before a recording deal with Decca records, debuting in 1956, aged 24, with ‘Meet Mark Murphy’. The precocious singer moved renowned producer Orrin Keepnews to comment, ‘…it’s remarkable how fully developed as an artist mark was so early on. He was born with his incredible rhythmic sense.’

In 1959, Murphy signed with Capitol and moved to Los Angeles. Despite the labels continual attempts to foist a clean-cut pop image on him, Murphy distinguished himself by his ability to weave the pop material given to him with twisting jazz lines and brief scat solos, displaying his jazz credentials as best he could. He already stood out as a wily candidate, with an innate appreciation for the form.

While his contemporaries succumbed to lounging it Murphy showed more flair and opted for the tougher route for the jazz singer, displaying a genuine conviction for his music. The long player ‘Rah’, recorded for the Riverside label in 1961, found Murphy in the fast company of Bill Evans, Clark Terry, Blue Mitchell and Wynton Kelly and it was on the back of this record, and it’s follow up, ‘That’s How I love the Blues’, that he was voted DownBeat magazine readers ‘New Star of the Year’ in 1963.

The rise of rock and the British invasion of the 1960’s sent the fortunes of US jazz singers waning. Murphy departed the States to join a whole host of American expatriate jazz greats who had found a more appreciative audience in Europe. Despite his motives not being, as most, more to do with America’s oppressive race policies than lack of interest.

Relocating in London, Murphy worked as an actor whilst continuing to cultivate his jazz audience who were enthralled by his thrilling stage presence and his relaxed charm. It is indicative of the time that he did not even release an LP stateside during the 1960’s, preferring to concentrate on his newfound fan-base. Particularly impressive, his teaming up with the star-studded Clark Boland Big Band with whom he recorded the 1967 ‘Midnight Mood’ LP for the German label Saba. Mark’s cool gravel tones propelled by a gentle Latin lilt the band provided in their most sublime moments.

Returning to the states in the early 1970’s, Murphy enjoyed a fruitful period with Muse records, going on to release more than fourteen LP’s for the label. This prolific period is testament to the incredible breadth of Murphy’s musical interests, working on material as varied as the Nat King Cole songbook and interpretations of beat writer Jack Karouac. Throughout this period he was ably supported by a practical who’s who of rising 70’s jazz musicians as well as more established names; the Brecker brothers, Ritchie Cole and Eddie Jefferson to name a few. His work for the label was consistently challenging and innovative. His keen mind dreaming up new vocal contortions of jazz standards, and his exuberant charisma exhibiting all the character of the music he so clearly loves.

The unique and the brave never go out of fashion, and when jazz singing seemed to be a dying art outside of the cabaret circuit, the fact that Murphy was one of the few singers to be making a living out of his craft, was down to his ability to breath new life into old tunes while keeping an ear on the modern scene. His fortunes rose again in the 1980’s when championed by the London acid jazz scene. Their enthusiasm was duly rewarded with a beat poetry style tribute to the venue, Dingwalls. In the 1990’s his popularity continued, working with trend-setting Japanese jazz-dance outfit UFO. It is this open, untypical approach to all sorts of music that has been responsible for his continuing popularity. His most recent release, a graceful, eloquent collection from the Cole Porter songbook (The Latin Porter), revealed he had lost none of that smouldering charm.

Over the years Mark Murphy has received plaudits from all corners of the jazz world. The legendary singer, Ella Fitzgerald went as far as to declare, ‘he is my equal’. Why he has not attracted a wider audience in mainstream music remains a mystery, despite receiving six Grammy nominations over the years. Nevertheless, Murphy remains infallibly hip. As cool a name to drop in the 1990’s as he was in the 50’s and represents that proud strain of individualism in the finest jazz tradition.