Search - Mark Murphy :: Best of Mark Murphy

Late 50's Recordings of Standards from a Master

William Faust | Columbus, Ohio | 06/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I avoided buying this disc for a long time because I thought it was a career-spanning compilation of Mark's work and I'm not a big fan of those multi-decade samplers. But this is a well-chosen collection of some of the work Mark did for Capitol in the late 50's backed by a tight studio band and some interesting arrangements on several standards and some blues. I know I'll offend some jazz purists here but this is actually my favorite Murphy disc because its pre-vocalese and pre-experiemntation on his part - just mainstream treatments of some classic tunes. Not that his later evolution was bad but I prefer Murphy's tremendous pipes and meticulous phrasing applied to the classic great American song genre versus a more exploratory jazz context. If you love the classic songs and love Mark's chops, you'll love this disc."

I love this!

hmurph | New Orleans, LA | 03/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love this! I've been listening to Mark since I was born, 1969, but these songs had been long since forgotten in my house as we listened to his ever changing newest release. Dancing to his jazzy vocalese at 6 at the Dock in San Francisco, I never would have dreamed I'd hear him sing classic standards. In my adult life I've long been a fan of the crooners such as Frank, Sammie, and Dean. They're just so fun and simple to listen to. To hear Mark sing in this style! Now I get it, he has so much more talent. Listen to these few releases and you'll see, this was too easy for him, he was like a caged bird dieing to get out and show how he could fly. He does these standards beautifully, love listening to them, but I understand now why he went underground to do more......"

Mark's Early Year's

H D. MEIJ | Jipsinghuizen, Holland | 12/31/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is the young Mark Murphy with some splendid Bill Holman arrangements. What more can I say?
The only shame is : Capitol why not issue all three Capitol albums?????????????"