Sunday 16 December 2018

Turk Murphy born 16 December 1915


 Melvin Edward Alton "Turk" Murphy (December 16, 1915 in Palermo, California – May 30, 1987 in San Francisco, California) was a trombonist and bandleader who played traditional and Dixieland jazz.

Turk grew up in the north-central California farming community of Palermo. When he was 19, he joined the Merle Howard Orchestra where he met Bob Helm, who was in the reed section. The next year (1935) saw him with the Val Bender Orchestra in Texas and then Will Osborne’s big band where he recorded for the first time. He had another stint with a big band (Mal Hallett) before returning to the Bay Area to play Dixieland gigs with Bob Helm.

Turk & Lou Watters
Pianist Paul Lingle introduced Turk to Lu Watters in 1938 and shortly thereafter, along with Bob Helm, they formed a small jazz band that eventually became the Yerba Buena Jazz Band that held forth at the Big Bear Tavern in the Oakland hills across the bay from San Francisco. Following military service in World War II, the band reformed in 1946.

It was at the Dawn Club on Annie Street, behind the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, that the band became a magnet for traditional jazz fans from far and near before and right after World War II. Watters teamed with Bob Scobey to emulate the two-cornet combo of King Oliver and Louis Armstrong in Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band from the 1920s. The band was soon getting offers from the East Coast and Europe, but Watters was reluctant to travel. So in 1949, Turk left the band and formed his own group that initially was known as the Bay City Stompers. But he was told that his name would be more recognizable, so the band henceforth was always the Turk Murphy Jazz Band.


                            

During the 1950s, the band was rarely in San Francisco. For three years, it was based in New York City where they played all the popular clubs of the day such as The Roundtable, Embers and Basin Street East. At The Embers, which was a long narrow room with a small bandstand, and tables jammed tightly together, Turk 
recalled, “We had to stuff rags in our horns to avoid offending people who wanted to carry on conversations at tables right under the band.” .The band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show twice, in 1959 and 1965.

K.O. Eckland, in his Jazz West book, wrote, “Despite continual personnel changes, which was typical of bands with such demanding schedules, Murphy retained the integrity of his own sound due to his rigid structuring of the basic music, and by developing his own library of ensemble arrangements.”

His bands were always very musical; among his sidemen through the years were trumpeters Don Kinch, Bob Short, and Leon Oakley; clarinetist Bob Helm; pianists Wally Rose, Pete Clute, and Ray Skjelbred; and singer Pat Yankee. Turk Murphy and his beloved group made many records for such labels as Good Time Jazz, Fairmont, Columbia (1953-1956), Verve, Dawn Club, Roulette, RCA, Motherlode, Atlantic, GHB, MPS, Stomp Off, and Merry Makers.

By 1960, Turk and his musicians were tired of travel and returned to San Francisco where Turk opened his own club, taking the name from Al Capp’s comic strip, Li’l Abner— Earthquake McGoon’s. When Turk asked for permission to use the name, the cartoonist replied, “I hereby give you permission to use the name Earthquake McGoon as long as you play good jazz and keep your nose clean.” The band became such a SFO fixture that McGoon’s was even included on tourist bus routes.

During the next 24 years, there were four different Earthquake McGoon’s. Turk lamented, “They kept tearing them down and replacing them with monuments. They were never monuments to me. They didn’t consider me monumental.” In later years, the band could usually be found at the New Orleans Room of the San Francisco Fairmont.

Turk is the subject of several books that are still available through Amazon. His discography lists over 40 albums. The band appeared on the Ed Sullivan TV Show twice, and Turk sang as a character in two 1971 Sesame Street cartoon shorts. Turk Murphy Day was twice proclaimed by San Francisco mayors—1974 and 1987, the later in connection of band’s sold-out appearance at Carnegie Hall. Turk at the time had been diagnosed with bone cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. It was to be his last public appearance, and he passed away on May 30, 1987 at the age of 71.

Turk at Carnegie Hall, 1987
Murphy's memorial service drew so many people that all 1,500 seats in Grace Cathedral were filled. It was the traditional jazzman's funeral; there was the solemn liturgy of the Episcopal Church and as counterpoint, the wistful, sometimes sad, sometimes raucous music of the San Francisco Jazz Band echoing in the vaulted ceiling of the cathedral.

(Edited mainly from Lew Shaw’s article in The Syncopated Times)

1 comment:

boppinbob said...

For “Turk Murphy - Turk's Delight” go here:

https://www.upload.ee/files/9310282/TM-_TDelight.rar.html

Disc 1

1. ST. LOUIS BLUES
2. I WISH I WAS IN PEORIA
3. TISHOMINGO BLUES
4. DOWN IN JUNGLE TOWN
5. HOW COME YOU DO ME LIKE YOU DO, DO, DO
6. ROLL JORDAN, ROLL
7. WON’T YOU COME HOME BILL BAILEY
8. I WISH I COULD SHIMMY LIKE MY SISTER KATE
9. SANTA CLAUS BLUES
10. BABY WON’T YOU PLEASE COME HOME
11. EVOLUTION MAMA
12. WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN
13. KANSAS CITY STOMPS
14. SWEET SUBSTITUTE
15. FROG-I-MORE RAG
16. TOM CAT BLUES
17. LONDON BLUES
18. SIDEWALK BLUES
19. MR. JELLY LORD
20. BIG HAM FAT

Disc 2

1. JELLY ROLL BLUES
2. STRATFORD HUNCH
3. WILD MAN BLUES
4. SHREVEPORT STOMP
5. MILENBURG JOYS
6. 35th STREET BLUES
7. NEW ORLEANS BLUES
8. THE PEARLS
9. STORYVILLE BLUES
10. JUST A CLOSER WALK WITH THEE
11. MEMPHIS BLUES
12. BIG BUTTER AND EGG MAN
13. FLOATIN’ DOWN TO COTTON TOWN
14. CANAL STREET BLUES
15. PAPA DIP
16. MECCA FLAT BLUES
17. PINEAPPLE RAG
18. HIGH SOCIETY
19. GOT DEM BLUES


Across this 2 disc set you will be able to hear at first hand the great versatility of Turk Murphy and his superior ensemble work that made him so popular across the scene and eventually why he was snapped up by major label Columbia in 1952.

The first twelve tracks on this fantastic 2CD set showcases the variety of the band and include traditional tracks such as “St Louis Blues” plus tracks carried through from his Lu Watters days. Towards the close of the second disc we hear the band live and in full swing at the 1955 New Orleans Jazz Festival.

Turk Murphy was a keen follower of “traditional Jazz” and a was a leading light in the San Francisco Dixieland movement working with the likes of Lu Watters and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band (YBJB).

For “Turk Murphy - New Orleans Stomp” go here;

https://www.upload.ee/files/9310299/TM-NOStomp.rar.html

Disc 1

1. CREOLE BELLE
2. FRANKIE AND JOHNNY
3. DADDY DO
4. SILVER DOLLAR
5. THE PEARLS
6. KING CHANTICLEER
7. ACE IN THE HOLE
8. MISSISSIPPI RAG
9. CLARINET FOO YONG
10. THE TORCH OF KANSAS CITY
11. FIVE ACES
12. PANAMA
13. SMOKEY MOKES
14. SEE SEE RIDER
15. HARD HEARTED HANNAH
16. DOCTOR JAZZ
17. JAZZIN' BABIES BLUES
18. HULA LOU
19. SUNSET CAFE STOMP
20. CHARLESTON
21. RED HOT MAMA

Disc 2

1. ORIENTAL STRUT
2. SADIE GREEN, THE VAMP OF NEW ORLEANS
3. SOUTH
4. CONEY ISLAND WASHBOARD
5. MACK THE KNIFE
6. MARYLAND, MY MARYLAND
7. NEW ORLEANS SHUFFLE
8. OF ALL THE WRONGS YOU'VE DONE TO ME
9. MANDY, MAKE UP YOUR MIND
10. CHATTANOOGA STOMP
11. MY HONEY'S LOVIN' ARMS
12. WAITING FOR THE ROBERT E. LEE
13. IRISH BLACK BOTTOM
14. KANSAS CITY MAN BLUES
15. DROP THAT SACK
16. GONE DADDY BLUES
17. COME BACK SWEET PAPA
18. NEW ORLEANS STOMP
19. ST. JAMES INFIRMARY
20. WEARY BLUES
21. DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE

Another fantastic and fully re-mastered Turk Murphy collection highlighting what truly was a great jazz band. This set follows on from the success of Jasmines previous release "Turks Delight".

There are some real delights on this set including the elusive "Smokey Mokes", and rare but nonetheless fine material such as "Mack The Knife" and "Maryland".

Almost all the tracks have never been on CD before 2007 when this double album was released.