Crazy Rhythm: His Debut Recordings
| Crazy Rhythm: His Debut Recordings | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Compilation album by | |
| Released | 1999 |
| Recorded | 1956–1957 |
| Genre | Vocal jazz |
| Length | 59:58 |
| Label | Decca |
| Producer | Orrin Keepnews |
Crazy Rhythm is a 1999 compilation of singer Mark Murphy's Decca label recordings in 1956–1957.
Background
Crazy Rhythm collects all but four of Murphy's recordings from his first release for Decca, Meet Mark Murphy (The Singing "M"), and all of his second release, Let Yourself Go.[1]
Recording
Under producer Milt Gabler's direction Murphy recorded with Decca from 1955-1957. Many of the recordings have never been released in any form. Author Peter Jones' discography documents 60 unreleased Decca recordings. Murphy recorded the tracks for Meet Mark Murphy with arranger Ralph Burns in 1956 and Let Yourself Go in 1957. According to Murphy, Burns made very few changes to the arrangements Murphy himself conceived for the recordings.[1]
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
Stephen Thomas Erlewine writes, "the singer wasn't the cutting-edge risk-taker he would evolve into in the 1960s. The young Murphy heard on this CD is a likable crooner with a strong passion for Mel Torme".[2] He singles out for praise "Fascinating Rhythm" and "Exactly Like You".[2]
Scott Yanow recommends the release in his book The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide.[3]
Will Friedwald said that the taken together albums made during his early recording career from 1956 to 1960 "reveal a young singer with a strong, dark, attractive voice, with a lot of good ideas and an obvious commitment to the jazz idiom-but one who stops just short of having a sound and a style of his own".[4] Friedwald wrote, "As Murphy himself noted, the audience for these songs just wasn't his, and vice versa-even though he succeeded in doing something aesthetically interesting and indeed hip with material that no one would have thought could lend itself to such a treatment".[4]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fascinating Rhythm" | Ira Gershwin | George Gershwin | Meet Mark Murphy | 2:06 |
| 2. | "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" | Eric Maschwitz | Manning Sherwin | Meet Mark Murphy | 3:54 |
| 3. | "Give It Back to the Indians" | Lorenz Hart | Richard Rodgers | Meet Mark Murphy | 3:19 |
| 4. | "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" | Sammy Cahn | Jule Styne | Meet Mark Murphy | 3:42 |
| 5. | "Limehouse Blues" | Douglas Furber | Philip Braham | Meet Mark Murphy | 2:34 |
| 6. | "Exactly Like You" | Dorothy Fields | Jimmy McHugh | Meet Mark Murphy | 2:42 |
| 7. | "If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)" | Henry Creamer | James P. Johnson | Meet Mark Murphy | 2:42 |
| 8. | "You Mustn't Kick It Around" | Hart | Rodgers | Meet Mark Murphy | 2:34 |
| 9. | "I Got Rhythm" | Ira Gershwin | George Gershwin | Let Yourself Go | 2:27 |
| 10. | "Elmer's Tune" | Elmer Albrecht, Sammy Gallop, Dick Jurgens | Albrecht / Gallop / Jurgens | Let Yourself Go | 2:43 |
| 11. | "'Tain't No Sin (To Dance Around in Your Bones)" | Edgar Leslie | Walter Donaldson | Let Yourself Go | 2:16 |
| 12. | "Robbins Nest" | Sir Charles Thompson, Illinois Jacquet | Thompson, Jacquet | Let Yourself Go | 3:45 |
| 13. | "The Lady in Red" | Mort Dixon | Allie Wrubel | Let Yourself Go | 3:49 |
| 14. | "Pick Yourself Up" | Fields | Jerome Kern | Let Yourself Go | 2:31 |
| 15. | "Let Yourself Go" | Irving Berlin | Berlin | Let Yourself Go | 2:23 |
| 16. | "Crazy Rhythm" | Irving Caesar | Roger Wolfe Kahn / Joseph Meyer | Let Yourself Go | 2:57 |
| 17. | "Taking a Chance on Love" | Ted Fetter / John Latouche | Vernon Duke | Let Yourself Go | 4:05 |
| 18. | "Lullaby in Rhythm" | Clarence Profit, Benny Goodman, Edgar Sampson, Walter Hirsch | Goodman, Profit, Sampson, Hirsch | Let Yourself Go | 2:58 |
| 19. | "Little Jazz Bird" | Ira Gershwin | George Gershwin | Let Yourself Go | 2:32 |
| 20. | "Ridin' High" | Cole Porter | Porter | Let Yourself Go | 2:26 |
| Total length: | 59:58 | ||||
Personnel
Orrin Keepnews – producer
References
- ^ a b Jones, Peter (2018). This is hip: the life of Mark Murphy. Popular music history. Sheffield, UK ; Bristol, CT: Equinox Publishing. pp. 14–18. ISBN 978-1-78179-473-9.
- ^ a b Crazy Rhythm: Debut Recordings - Mark Murphy |... | AllMusic, retrieved 2024-06-16
- ^ Yanow, Scott (2008). The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide. New York: Backbeat Books. pp. 161–162. ISBN 978-0-87930-825-4.
- ^ a b Friedwald, Will (2010). A biographical guide to the great jazz and pop singers (1st ed.). New York: Pantheon Books. p. 348. ISBN 978-0-375-42149-5. OCLC 458892544.
External links
- Crazy Rhythm at Discogs (master release)
- Crazy Rhythm at AllMusic (master release)