Mark Murphy book on sale

[GA Russell]

I've been keeping my eye on This is Hip, the biography of Mark Murphy.

Its price hasn't fluctuated much, but I see that it is currently 20% off (click on the coupon), down to $24.  So I pulled the trigger for Christmas.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1781794731

[sgcim]

3 hours ago, GA Russell said:

I've been keeping my eye on This is Hip, the biography of Mark Murphy.

Its price hasn't fluctuated much, but I see that it is currently 20% off (click on the coupon), down to $24.  So I pulled the trigger for Christmas.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1781794731

Sounds like it should be a pisser. I'll check the Libraries first. Thanks!

Jones also came out with a Donald Fagen bio in 2022. He's getting like that other guy who wrote the Nick Drake bio- just churnin' them out!

Edited December 16, 2023 by sgcim

[sidewinder]

It's a good read. I also have his Jon Hendrix book in my 'to read' pile.

[GA Russell]

I finished it tonight.

I found it kind of depressing.  Murphy was the kind of guy who eschewed what seemed to him to be selling out, yet was always disappointed when someone else won the Grammy.

I learned that it was Michael Bourne who for 32 Jazz chose the tracks and compilations for their reissues of the Muse material.  Apparently I share Bourne's taste (and maybe most other people do to) because I like the 32 Jazz issues better than the original Muse albums - particularly for his choosing to leave out some tracks.

Joe Fields was quoted as saying that nobody says much about Bob Weinstock because he was an unlikeable character.  Fields' goal was to replicate Weinstock - Make tons of records and hang on, and then score big when you sell the company.

[BFrank]

I saw him several times between 1977-83. He was living in the Bay Area at the time. I first saw him singing in a little bar in Tiburon (Marin County) which was kind of amazing, and never especially crowded. But I once saw Dan Hicks there, sitting at the bar. A few years after that he was playing at the Keystone Korner.

[sgcim]

On 1/20/2024 at 9:50 PM, GA Russell said:

I finished it tonight.

I found it kind of depressing.  Murphy was the kind of guy who eschewed what seemed to him to be selling out, yet was always disappointed when someone else won the Grammy.

I learned that it was Michael Bourne who for 32 Jazz chose the tracks and compilations for their reissues of the Muse material.  Apparently I share Bourne's taste (and maybe most other people do to) because I like the 32 Jazz issues better than the original Muse albums - particularly for his choosing to leave out some tracks.

Joe Fields was quoted as saying that nobody says much about Bob Weinstock because he was an unlikeable character.  Fields' goal was to replicate Weinstock - Make tons of records and hang on, and then score big when you sell the company.

I found the book in the library, but I'm reading Jones' book on Donald Fagen, which is fantastic.

Maybe if MM didn't overdo his improvisations on the great songs he sang, he would've won a Grammy

[sgcim]

On 1/23/2024 at 4:59 PM, sgcim said:

I found the book in the library, but I'm reading Jones' book on Donald Fagen, which is fantastic.

Maybe if MM didn't overdo his improvisations on the great songs he sang, he would've won a Grammy

I Ifinshed This is Hip.
Jones is a jazz singer himself, so he's very critical of Murphy. He pans so many albums of MM's that I'm surprised he decided to write it at all. I've always liked the timbre of MM's voice, but hated when he would ruin my fave tunes by overdoing the scat and emotionality of his interpretations. Jones agrees with me on many of his records.
Then he gets into MM's career when he reached 40, and claimed that MM hit his stride, and produced mostly good work.
A strange anecdote involving both of his subjects, Fagen and MM involved MM trying to get the music to "Do it Again" by Steely Dan.
He called them up at their Malibu home, and they told him to come over their house.
When he got there, Becker answered the door and yelled out to Fagen, "Mark Murphy's here, Donald"
Fagen said, "Let him in, I'll get the music".
Inside were a bunch of hippies, stoned out of their minds on something or other.
Fagen walked in with the record, a pencil and a sheet of musical manuscript paper. He gave MM the paper and pencil, and told him, "I'll put on the record, go ahead".