Lyle Stephanovic (August 19, 1908 – August 5, 2005),
better known as Spud Murphy, was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist,
bandleader, and arranger. An unsung musical hero who played a major supporting
role in shaping the Big Band era, when he was arranging and writing music for
top bands in the 1930s such as Casa Loma, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson and
Bob Crosby.
He set out at age 14 for a music job on the West Coast --
prevented from joining the band on a cruise ship due to his tender age, he
wandered the American Southwest for several years playing in obscure bands like
the “Rainbow Seven” and “Jeff's Hot Rocks.” His first professional job was half
of a two-piece band working for tips in a Mexican border town.
By the late 1920s Spud began achieving some small musical
success in Texas, writing arrangements for Johnny Mcfall’s Honey Boys 10 piece
group. The first band to record one of his arrangements -- the jaunty “I Got
Worry” -- was the Jimmy Joy Orchestra in 1928.
By the 1930s Spud Murphy was a first rate big band swing
arranger writing for Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson and other top bands. By
his own count, during the 1930’s Murphy wrote nearly 600 arrangements and over
100 original compositions. While in New York, Spud formed an orchestra that did
radio broadcasts and recorded five albums for Decca and Bluebird.
In 1935-36 he scored over a hundred numbers for the Let's
Dance radio broadcasts of the Benny Goodman band, including the hits,
"Ballad in Blue", "Get Happy", "Jingle Bells",
"Diga Diga Doo", "Restless" and "The Glory of
Love". His most known assignment was to orchestrate the Jerome Kern/Johnny
Mercer song "Shorty George" as a song-and-tap number for Astaire and
Hayworth in the musical You Were Never Lovelier (1942).
By the late 1930s Spud was a well-known highly respected
band arranger. He moved to the Los Angeles area, and in 1937 his Spud Murphy’s
Swing Arranging Method was published. started writing charts for Columbia
Pictures, but he left to serve in the merchant marine in World War II. After the war, he returned to film work that
included his iconic arrangement of "Three Blind Mice" for the Three
Stooges' movies.
In the '40s and the '50s he went on to compose for more
than 50 motion pictures; jazz albums; and he occasionally continued to write
for Goodman and other musicians; and he briefly led his own small “third
stream” combo in the mid-1950s.
Into his ninth decade Spud continued to be honored as a
composer and educator, publishing more than 26 books including his own system
of composition and arranging known as the equal interval system, an extensive
course on composing, arranging and orchestration. students of his “equal
interval” method include Oscar Peterson, Bennie Green, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones
and Curtis Counce (who later played bass on Murphy's space age pop LPs New
Orbits in Sound and Gone with the Woodwinds
Spud Murphy died August 5th, 2005, in Hollywood
Presbyterian Hospital following complications from surgery. He was 96. (Info edited from articles @
maxwelldemille.com & dlwaldron.com)
1 comment:
For “Lyle Murphy - New Orbits In Sound (2 LPs on 1 CD)” go here:
http://www106.zippyshare.com/v/tXgh0itv/file.html
01. Tone Poem (Murphy) (2:57)
02. I Only Have Eyes for You (Warren-Dublin) (3:01)
03. Frantastic (Murphy) (2:48)
04. Caleta (Murphy-Laguna) (2:52)
05. Lost in Fugue (Murphy) (2:43)
06. Frankly Speaking (Murphy) (2:55)
07. Illusion (Murphy) (3:13)
08. Crazy Quilt (Murphy) (2:51)
09. Fourth Dimension (Murphy) (4:18)
10. Sophisticated Lady (Ellington) (4:05)
11. Poly-Doodle (Murphy) (3:14)
12. Dizzy Dialogue (Murphy) (3:00)
13. Seismograph (Murphy) (3:27)
14. Triton (Murphy) (3:27)
15. Perdido (Tizol) (2:59)
16. Blue Moon (Rodgers-Hart) (2:58)
17. These Foolish Things (Marvell-Strachey-Link) (4:28)
18. Pemba 3 (Murphy) (3:46)
19. Orbit (Murphy) (1:57)
20. Misty Rose (Murphy) (3:23)
21. Slightly Off Center (Murphy) (2:14)
22. Daily Double (Murphy) (2:40)
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