Standard Bearer

Back in the Sixties, at a time when the only male jazz singers on the scene seemed to be the swingers of Rat Pack notoriety and lounge lizard fame -- Frankie and Sammy and Deano -- Mark Murphy was keeping the true flame alive with his post-bop renditions of standards...

By John Anderson

January 15, 2004

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "19274298",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17482312",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18711090",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17482310",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18711090",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17482313",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Back in the Sixties, at a time when the only male jazz singers on the scene seemed to be the swingers of Rat Pack notoriety and lounge lizard fame -- Frankie and Sammy and Deano -- Mark Murphy was keeping the true flame alive with his post-bop renditions of standards like "Milestones" and "My Favorite Things." It helped, too, that he spent half the decade far away from the Vegas strip, performing and recording in Europe among his large fan base there.

Ever since he was a young lad in the mid-Fifties, Murphy eschewed a major-label, commercial pop career for small-label musical explorations into Brazilian music, vocalese, hard bop, and adapting the writings of Jack Kerouac to spoken-word readings. But those in the know, like jazz greats Clark Terry, Al Cohn, and Bill Evans, all of whom were in Murphy's backing band at one time or another, were aware of the vocalist's talents. Now in his sixth decade of performing, he's as hip as ever.

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Miami, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.