"Hip Parade: Early Mark Murphy" on Night Lights

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This week on Night Lights it’s “Hip Parade: Early Mark Murphy.” Perennially-hip jazz singer Mark Murphy got his start recording for Decca in the mid-1950s, with albums that featured arrangements by Ralph Burns. Decca producer Milt Gabler, who signed Murphy, said he thought the vocalist “every bit as good as Mel Torme, and that the first record he’d make would scare Frank Sinatra.” Murphy went on to record three LPs with Capitol, utilizing the arranging skills of West Coast musician Bill Holman. Although none of these records was as commercially successful as Murphy and his labels hoped, they marked the start of a great career. “Hip Parade: Early Mark Murphy” airs Saturday, August 5 at 11 p.m. EST on WFIU and at 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville. Michigan listeners can also catch it Sunday evening at 10 p.m. EST on Blue Lake Public Radio. The program will be posted Monday afternoon in the Night Lights archives.

Next week: "When Russell Met Baker" on WFIU and "Not Afraid to Live: Frank Hewitt" on WNIN and Blue Lake.

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This program is now archived.

[GA Russell]

I've been thinking about getting Hip Parade.

Playing the Field was my first Mark Murphy album. I got it in '69, after seeing him sing a song from Midnight Mood on the Steve Allen Show.

I had the pleasure of chatting with him in '82, and he told me that he always sang like he did on Rah, but that Decca and Capitol didn't know what to do with him.

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I've become more and more of a Murphy fan as time's gone on, and I'll probably do another show devoted to him later on--would sure like to come up with a theme that could incorporate Midnight Mood into it. ("Mark Murphy in the 1960s," maybe, or something along those lines; "Mark Murphy in Europe," perhaps?) I think I quoted Murphy during the program as saying that he found his early singing a bit "stiff," and in regards to the Decca recordings, I can definitely hear that at times--though I still enjoy them. I think he really hit his stride on Capitol.