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| Mark Murphy at The Iridium  Feb. 16-19 The Iridium Jazz Club Present famous Mark Murphy with Misha Piatagorsky-piano, David Rokeach - drums, Hans Glavisim - bass, Gilad Dobrecky - percussion. Vocalist supreme Mark Murphy has long been lauded for his skilled scatting, musical reconceptualizing and structural recontextualizing; there's been no lack of firepower in his aural arsenal. But it's the 73 year old native upstate New Yorker's latest all-ballad album, Once to Every Heart, which may prove to be one of the finest works of an already impressive performance career - one that spans over 50 years and encompasses six GRAMMY nominations.It's thrilling to hear an old master reach a new level of artistry, as Mark Murphy does on Once To Every Heart, a ballad project with German trumpeter Till Brnner. Recorded in 2002 but only just released, it's the mirror image of Murphy's superb 2003 High Note date, Memories Of You. On neither date does Murphy deploy vocalese. In the manner of Joe Williams, Nat Cole, Shirley Horn and Billie Holiday - the latter acknowledged with “Our Love Is Here To Stay” - his improvisations focus entirely on the lyrics. He conveys the narrative through the actor's art of isolating words and syllables with calibrated accents, inflections and melismas within the flow of the melody. And at 73, he controls every breath, his gravel-tinged voice flexible and resonant. Sustained by Brnner's concise blues melodies and pianist Frank Chastenier's authoritative harmonic commentary, the mood is stark and reflective. It's not unlike the tonal personality of Miles Davis, to whom Murphy pays homage with “It Never Entered My Mind” In fact, it's a blues mood that reveals Murphy's acceptance of existential ache. Ted Panken 4 Stars Down Beat Magazine write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |