When Mark Murphy died in October 2015, the world lost one of the
greatest jazz singers in history. Murphy was the last of his kind, a
hipster of the Kerouac generation, who rejected the straight life of
prosperity and numb consumerism. With a catalogue of more than 40 albums
under his own name, Mark Murphy was a consummate improviser, who never
sang a song the same way twice. He could have enjoyed a successful
mainstream career in the vein of Mel Tormé or Jack Jones. But his
ambition was greater - to be an artist, to rebel against the commercial
music industry and to carry the jazz vocal flame wherever it led him.
Murphy was a master of scat and vocalese, of songwriting and the spoken
word. He expanded the jazz singing repertoire, adding his own lyrics to
instrumentals like John Coltrane's Naima, Freddie Hubbard's Red
Clay, and Oliver Nelson's Stolen Moments. Unrivalled as an
interpreter of ballads, he was able to express longing and regret to a
degree lacking in any other jazz singer.
For years he roamed the world, playing thousands of gigs. Rediscovered
in the Eighties by a new audience of jazz dancers, and again in the 21st
century by a digital generation who invited him to guest on their
recordings, he remains a crucial though unjustly neglected figure in
vocal jazz.
This Is Hip is more than a biography: it also explores Murphy's
innovative approaches both to singing and to the teaching of singers.
Based on numerous interviews with those who knew him best, the book
delves into a performing and recording career that spanned 60 years and
earned him five Grammy nominations.
