This is one of a series of taped interviews with musicians who are asked to give a snap opinion on a set of records played to them. Although no previous information is given as to what they are going to hear, they are, during the actual playing, handed the appropriate record sleeve. Thus in no way is their judgement influenced by being unaware of what they are hearing. As far as possible the records played to them are currently available items procurable from any record shop.
Born in Syracuse, New York, Mark Murphy began singing professionally at the age of 15. Although he has been a jazz singer of some eminence in the U.S. for a long time, it was not until a couple of years ago, coincident with the issue of his extraordinary Riverside LP Rah, that he attracted wide attention over here. This LP resulted in an invitation to do a season at Ronnie Scott’s club, and subsequent jobs have been plentiful enough to keep him in this country for the last year. Like trombonist Bob Brookmeyer (whom he rather resembles in diameter) he is an avowed anglophile, and his ambition is to live in London permanently. His recent stay was terminated only by the expiry of his Ministry of Labour work permit, and there seems little doubt that he will make further extended trips to this country.
As evinced by the interview below, he is a remarkably coherent young man, with strong tastes in jazz – in his London flat he had a collection of 500 jazz LPs. – Sinclair Traill
What Kind Of A Fool Am I? The Swinging Herman Herd Recorded Live. Phillips BL 7649
I liked that a lot. I previously heard that Wha-Wha track where Joe Carroll does that trombone take-off, which is funny – but this is better, much better. I am glad that someone, other than I, thinks that tune can be swung. I had an arrangement made of it by Franz Meitz in Holland. It’s a great swinging arrangement, and I had quite a success with it in Sweden. What a help Carroll gets there from the band – they really walk away from themselves! It’s funny but Herman has always been able to show this wonderful, youthful energy, as opposed to the relaxed, groovy thing that Basie and others get. Even that bop band he had was a kind of all-in band. Actually, I didn’t think that bop band was him, it was more of a showcase for Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and the others. They did some wonderful things, and at least he got a better approach to it than Benny Goodman did when he tried it, but it wasn’t Woody. Yet, Woody has always been my favourite big band, with Basie following close behind.
‘That is such a relief in this world of negativism we live in now – and there is so much of it creeping into jazz right now. I feel that so many of the young modern musicians all play on the same level of hostility’
Pink Champagne. Jimmy Rushing – Rushing Lullabies. Phillips BBL 7360
Well, Jimmy’s blues are always happy blues. I remember him from some of the first blues records I ever heard – those wonderful old Basie records. My uncle had a collection and I heard my first jazz record with him – a wonderful record to listen to, even today, Art Tatum’s Humoresque. Jimmy Rushing must come in everybody’s history of jazz and blues, and I am so glad that in the present vogue for blues, a man such as Jimmy, who has devoted so much time and energy to this music, has now the opportunity to be heard under the best conditions. Jimmy somehow infects everyone he sings with – he just makes everyone happy. And that is such a relief in this world of negativism we live in now – and there is so much of it creeping into jazz right now. I feel that so many of the young modern musicians all play on the same level of hostility. Many of them are great musicians, yet it is as though they never knew any other level of expression than anger and hostility. I don’t care for it. The world we live in today isn’t all that much different to the world Jimmy Rushing was brought up in, and it makes me think that everybody just doesn’t have to act angry. It becomes so much of a bore to listen to this hostility in music, all the time. I mean, Jimmy has never lost his poise and good nature, and I am sure like the rest of us he had his problems too, but at least he doesn’t spew them out at you when he works. So besides being one of the really great jazz singers, I put Jimmy really up for being happy and showing it.
See See Rider. Ella Fitzgerald – There Are The Blues. Verve VLP 9059
That happens to be one of my favourite blues – I like the story it tells, ‘Where you been, your clothes ain’t right.’ The fact that Ella is able to sing blues, tho’ technically one wouldn’t call her a blues singer, is because of her fantastic improvisational talent. I feel that she hadn’t, before this, recorded many blues because she sensed that the style from where she learned to sing didn’t produce the blues. I am sure that one of Ella’s strongest early influences was Connie Boswell, and she didn’t do blues at all. I think I like this record particularly because it is in a way an analogy to the blues record I did, in that we are neither of us true blues singers. Someone made a criticism of my album in Show magazine in which, he said, I had used the title That’s How I Like The Blues; but he wondered why I had to use a statement like that, if I was really a blues singer. He went on to say that someone like Big Bill Broonzy would never have had to use a title like that for an album. I think he missed the point. I stressed the pronoun in the title, How I Like. It may not be how someone else likes them, but it is how they appeal to me. And I think that this is also a dangerous title, These Are The Blues – almost more dangerous than my title. I wanted to do an album of many shades of blue, light blue, dark blue, azure, indigo and so forth. I don’t know that the accompaniment really complemented her as it should – I think a little more thought about the background would have helped.
‘I always try and not listen to my own records too much, because if one does, one is inclined to become too aware of one’s stylisation and you can get to a point when you just repeat yourself, and become a kind of caricature of your own self’
Wee Baby Blues. Joe Turner – The Boss Of The Blues. London LTZ-K 15053
In that record I think perhaps it could have benefitted from a little more emphasis on dynamics, both in the arrangement and in his approach to it. It is mainly from the orchestral arrangement that more dynamics could have been used. They somehow don’t seem to bother. They know they have one of the kings of blues with them in the studio, so they seem to think nothing else is needed, and I think the record suffers accordingly. More life and light and shade would have helped enormously. One of the reasons why Joe Williams’ Every Day was such a success was because it was half Count Basie’s record too, and the band really used dynamics on that – it builds and builds and builds. I believe one has to build up momentum behind a singer in order to get the best out of him.
Kissing My Baby Goodnight. Ivie Anderson with Duke Ellington. Columbia 33S 1044
I have only heard Ivie Anderson a couple of times before this, and am not familiar with her work at all. I loved the way she phrased the release on that tune, just slips in and out of the metre. Very nice and very tasteful. Obviously a singer with a keen ear and great talent for the music. I wish they would re-release those records with Kay Davis – those wordless vocals with Duke using the voice as the tonal focal point of the composition. The singing here reminds me a little of that wonderful singer Lu Elliott, who did, as far as I know, only one record with Duke Ellington, Sunny Side Of The Street, one of the greatest jazz records ever made! What a singer. I never heard of her again until Leonard Bernstein used her to illustrate blues and jazz, singing on a lecture he did on television. I think she works in Harlem, but I don’t know where. I recently discovered Betty Carter, who I think is one of the geniuses of vocal jazz. If she is anywhere within a 50-mile radius I’ll be there to buy a seat to hear her sing. She really flips me; and Lu Elliott does too if I could only find out where she works.
Salty Papa Blues. Dinah Washington Sings The Best In Blues. Mercury MPL 6519
I like Dinah better here than on most of her things she did later. Again I think there was that kind of monotony in some of her later records, which I mentioned on that Joe Turner record. There was never any kind of variation in her attack, and the material didn’t really suit her. She kind of did the words without meaning, if you see what I mean. But here, right here, she is really giving the words meaning, she is singing a story. It all comes across as very humorous, swinging and full of real meaning. I always try and not listen to my own records too much, because if one does, one is inclined to become too aware of one’s stylisation and you can get to a point when you just repeat yourself, and become a kind of caricature of your own self. And I think that’s what crept into Dinah’s singing in her later years. She began to rely too much on the tricks that over the years she found people reacted to. But here she is really singing a song as though she is saying to herself, ‘I got to do this good ’cause if I do I’ll get another chance to do it again.’ She is really trying here and the approach is fresh and lively. Great record.
‘Bruce Turner says that when listening to Cleo it recalls Billie Holiday! I can’t see why he had to say that, because Cleo’s style is about as far away from Billie as you can get. Stupid. Cleo is original, completely’
Something Goin’ To Give. Cleo Laine – Cleo’s Choice. Pye NPT 19024
Cleo to my mind is one of the really great singers. I am sure that just as soon as she gets some more exposure in the States, they’ll come to realise it too. I was quite dismayed at the sleeve-note writer here, Bruce Turner. He says that when listening to Cleo it recalls Billie Holiday! I can’t see why he had to say that, because Cleo’s style is about as far away from Billie as you can get. Stupid. Cleo is original, completely, she is never monotonous and her voice has a really lovely quality. To me she is wonderful and quite unique, and I have been very happy to have been lucky enough to hear her sing many, many times.
