Jazz Articles about Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy: Memories of You

by Joel Roberts
November 16, 2003

It only takes a few moments for Mark Murphy to remind listeners why he's been one of the top vocalists in jazz for a generation. His new CD is Memories of You, a set of songs associated with the late, great Joe Williams. It's not so much Murphy's voice, which is fine, if a little thin, as it is those intangibles that separate a singer from the pack: timing, delivery, confidence, and that unique ability to make everything ...

Mark Murphy: What a Way to Go

by William Grim
August 1, 2002

What a Way to Go is another in a long line of masterful CDs by the master of vocal jazz, Mark Murphy. Ballads predominate, and the arrangements by Larry Fallon are lush and make good use of synthesizers to make up for the lack of a string orchestra.

One of the best things about Mark Murphy is that you can always expect the singer to deliver the unexpected. Sometimes ballads swing and time charts are slowed down to ...

Mark Murphy: Bop for Kerouac

by William Grim
August 1, 2002

Bop for Kerouac is one of Mark Murphy’s best albums, and that’s saying a lot because over the years he has recorded some of the finest and most innovative jazz vocal albums of all time. It’s a concept album that is focused on the aesthetic of the Beats and features vocalise adaptations of Charlie Parker tunes and solos as well as texts taken from the writings of Jack Kerouac, particularly the novel On the Road.

The album starts ...

Mark Murphy: I'll Close My Eyes

by William Grim
July 15, 2002

Every album by Mark Murphy is a gem and I'll Close My Eyes is no exception. Starting with the title track, Murphy displays his uncanny sensitivity to the relationship between words and music by delivering a very emotional reading of the song's verse, a text that is overlooked by most performers. Added to the performance's appeal is a tasty obbligato by Brazilian trumpeter Claudio Roditi.

The song “If" is all too often a staple of karaoke bars and Holiday Inn ...

Mark Murphy: The Latin Porter

by Mathew Bahl
December 1, 2000

During the course of this live album, Mark Murphy observes that “everything old is becoming new again. Even me, folks." Certainly, the 68-year-old singer shows no signs of slowing down. He recently won the 2000 Downbeat Magazine Reader's Poll as Male Vocalist of the Year, and he finished second in the voting for the Hall of Fame. In a genre that usually measures the gap between records in years, Mr. Murphy has released two CDs in 2000, Some Time Ago ...

Mark Murphy: Some Time Ago

by Derek Taylor
August 1, 2000

A preface to this review is order. I’m something of a curmudgeonly customer when it comes to jazz vocals. I can readily dig on classic (and admittedly popular) singers such as Holiday, Fitzgerald, Vaughn, Simone and so on. But when it comes to male vocalists, not only are the numbers comparatively smaller, but the pool of contenders seems to my ears spread far thinner. A few notables, such as Bill Henderson and Johnny Hartman, come to mind but even these ...

Mark Murphy: Dim The Lights

by Jim Santella
January 1, 2000

“You live and you learn the rules of the road." So go Carolyn Leigh’s lyrics to Cy Coleman’s classic song. His experience gives Mark Murphy, 67, the insight to perform a romantic album his way with each song’s meaning clearly at the forefront. Make no mistake about it, this highly recommended album – a combination of slow ballads and up-tempo romps – brings out the goosebumps and leaves lingering thoughts that last for days. But Murphy also injects his fresh ...