Common enough are jazz vocalists with a sense of the flexibility and evocative power of the human voice. But when that conception combines with a hip, humorous sense of verbal play, an astute awareness of lyrical phrasing, an inclusive, genre-spanning attitude and over 40 years' experience, you get, well, you get Mark Murphy.
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Like the be-bop vocalists of the '40s and '50s, Murphy is a master of scat singing, the parsing of meaningful expression into improvised syllables and vocalese, the adding of newly written words onto already recorded melodies. And on two of his 1980s recordings, "Bop for Kerouac" and "Kerouac: Then and Now," he worked in the opposite direction, adding be-bop melodies to selections from Jack Kerouac's novels and poems.
"The Latin Porter," released last year, deftly braids together his highly improvisational style with the sophisticated bounce of Cole Porter's compositions and lilting Latin rhythms. While "Some Time Ago," also released last year, has a more straight-ahead drive on haunting, moody ballads and flying, tongue-twisting be-bop. What's startling is the extensive set of textures and timbres that Murphy uses to imbue the most common words and phrases with unique affective inflections, complex ironies and uncanny emphasis.
In addition to these releases, Murphy has been named best male jazz vocalist in several recent polls and sampling of his older work by acid jazz DJs in Europe and Japan indicates Murphy's career is on an upturn again. Piano, bass and drums will accompany his not-to-be-missed jazz vocal performances.