DICK

I N M E MO R I A M
Mitja Arzensek
MARK MURPHY
by andrey henkin
Mark Murphy, vocalist, multiple Grammy nominee
and regular jazz poll winner, who had nearly 50 albums
as leader, died Oct. 22nd at 83 of complications from
pneumonia.
Murphy was born Mar. 14th, 1932 in Fulton, NY,
15 miles south of Syracuse. In a 2007 interview with
our own Suzanne Lorge, Murphy credited two early
experiences for his interest in music: Fulton was a mill
town and, “at 7 am and 5 pm there’d be a call to let out
the factories. There’s a rhythm to that, if you can dig
it”; and his Aunt Mary, a pianist, played in a swing
band, “...where I learned most of the early gems of
music that you have to get in order to tell yourself
where you are going.”
When he was a student at Syracuse University in
the early ‘50s, Erroll Garner, Stan Kenton, June Christy
and, most importantly for Murphy, Peggy Lee were on
the radio and Murphy sat in with local bop musicians
at local clubs: “There were one or two little fascinating
joints that fostered and featured jazz—you had to look
for it,” he recalled to Lorge. It was in one of these spots
that Murphy met Sammy Davis, Jr., who inspired the
former to pursue a singing career. Murphy moved
south to New York City and in 1956 recorded his debut,
Meet Mark Murphy for Verve.
While in New York, Murphy became ensconced in
the jazz scene and met a fellow singer who would
become a lifelong friend, Sheila Jordan (they recorded
a co-led album, One For Junior, in 1991 for Muse). The
early ‘60s saw Murphy make a handful of records for
Riverside and then, in 1973, begin a nearly two-decade
partnership with Muse, including what are probably
his two most beloved sessions, 1975’s Mark Murphy
Sings, featuring his lyrics to Freddie Hubbard’s “Red
Clay”, John Coltrane’s “Naima” and Herbie Hancock’s
“Maiden Voyage”, and 1981’s Bop for Kerouac, with
texts taken from On The Road. The new millennium
found Murphy recording for HighNote and a onealbum
return to Verve (2006’s Love Is What Stays). And
while his career has featured only the occasional turn
as a sideman (though many vocalists have covered his
tunes), he has appeared throughout the years on
albums by Charlie Byrd, Herb Geller, Jeff Hamilton
and, most recently, a star turn on The Royal Bopsters
Project (Motéma).
Explaining his methodology to Lorge, Murphy
simply said, ““To be a jazz singer it takes a lot of study.
You’ve got to know the chord changes and the words
[but when it came to improvisation] the way I learned
was I’d just get up there and at first the more complex
parts of the improv weren’t there. But you try them
again and it flows a little more. You have to fall in love
with it and that’s what gives you the courage and the
inspiration to go on further and further and further.
And then, all of a sudden, things start to happen.”
COLERIDGE GOODE (Nov. 29th,
1914—Oct. 2nd, 2015) The Jamaican
bassist made his career in London after
moving there in 1942, working early on
with guitarist Django Reinhardt and
then violinist Stéphane Grappelli and
also was a part of fellow Jamaican Leslie
“Jiver” Hutchinson’s all-black band but is best known
for his contributions to the more progressive ‘60s
British jazz scene on albums led by alto saxophonist
Joe Harriott and pianist Michael Garrick. Goode died
Oct. 2nd at 100.
NAT PECK (Jan. 13th, 1925—Oct. 24th,
2015) The Brooklynite trombonist spent
time in England as part of Glenn
Miller’s Army Air Force Orchestra,
moved to Paris where he recorded with
Dizzy Gillespie and Kenny Clarke,
became a mainstay of Clarke’s big band
with Francy Boland as well as amassing credits with
Coleman Hawkins, Carmen McRae, Michel Legrand
and Phil Woods, later giving up playing in lieu of
orchestral contracting. Peck died Oct. 24th at 90.
DAVE PIKE (Mar. 23rd, 1938—Oct. 3rd,
2015) The vibraphonist’s early career
was as part of Herbie Mann’s 1963-67
groups and he also worked with Slide
Hampton, Kenny Clarke and Volker
Kriegel and had a steady career as a
leader starting with 1961’s It’s Time for
Dave Pike (Riverside) and continuing through the
decades with releases on Epic, Moodsville, Verve, MPS,
Muse and Criss Cross. Pike died Oct. 3rd at 77.
DON RENDELL (Mar. 4th, 1926—Oct.
20th, 2015) The British saxophonist
bridged the worlds of trad jazz and
more experimental fare, working early
on with Johnny Dankworth and Ted
Heath (as well as being part of the
touring bands of Stan Kenton and
Woody Herman) and then co-founding a modern jazz
quintet with trumpeter Ian Carr (which gave
opportunities to younger British jazz musicians),
recording several albums, and appearing on sessions
by Michael Garrick, Neil Ardley and Amancio d’Silva
while continuing to record as a leader into the new
millennium. Rendell died Oct. 20th at 89.
LARRY ROSEN (May 25th, 1940—Oct.
9th, 2015) The music industry figure
and one-time drummer co-founded
GRP Records along with Dave Grusin
(Billboard’s #1 Contemporary Jazz label
for five consecutive years, the roster of
which included Chick Corea, Diana
Krall, Ramsey Lewis, Arturo Sandoval, Michael and
Randy Brecker, Kevin Eubanks, Gary Burton and many
others), created the PBS series Legends of Jazz, produced
the Jazz Roots series and Sarah Vaughan International
Jazz Vocal Competition and won numerous Grammys
as an album producer. Rosen died Oct. 9th at 75.
LEE SHAW (Jun. 25th, 1926—Oct. 25th,
2015) The pianist was perhaps best
known for teaching John Medeski but
studied off and on with Oscar Peterson,
co-led a trio with her husband, drummer
Stan Shaw, for decades, which backed
up numerous visiting musicians in their
adopted region of upstate New York, and played
regularly with her own long-standing trio, recording
the acclaimed Live in Graz (ARC) when she was 81 and
then a quartet album with Medeski, Together Again:
Live At The Egg (ARC) two years later. Shaw died Oct.
25th at 89. v
12 DECEMBER 2015 | THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD