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Melvin Edward Alton "Turk" Murphy (December 16, 1915 – May 30, 1987) was an American trombonist and bandleader, who played
Virtual Museum of San Francisco entry
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Turk 1915 births 1987 deaths American jazz trombonists Male trombonists Dixieland jazz musicians People from Butte County, California Singers from California American jazz singers United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American singers 20th-century trombonists Jazz musicians from California 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Yerba Buena Jazz Band members Columbia Records artists Verve Records artists Stomp Off artists Jazzology Records artists Roulette Records artists MPS Records artists Good Time Jazz Records artists Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park
Melvin Edward Alton "Turk" Murphy (December 16, 1915 – May 30, 1987) was an American trombonist and bandleader, who played traditional
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...
and Dixieland jazz.
Biography
He was born in Palermo, California, United States. Murphy served in the Navy duringWorld War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, during which he played and recorded with Lu Watters and Bunk Johnson. In 1952, he headed Turk Murphy's Jazz Band, which included pianist Wally Rose
Wally Rose (October 2, 1913, Oakland, California – January 12, 1997, Walnut Creek, California) was an American jazz and ragtime pianist.
Career
Rose was a mainstay of the jazz scene in San Francisco during the 1940s and 1950s. He was the pianis ...
, clarinetist Bob Helm
Robert Marshall Helm (July 18, 1914 – September 1, 2002) was a jazz clarinetist and saxophonist.
Helm was born in Fairmead, California and began playing brass instruments when he was young. He later turned to alto saxophone and by the age of 11 ...
, banjoist Dick Lammi
Dick Lammi (January 15, 1909 – November 29, 1969) was an American jazz tubist and bassist associated with Dixieland jazz.
Lammi played violin and banjo early in his career, and played as a banjoist in various groups in the Pacific Northwest in ...
, and tubaist Bob Short. They played at the Italian Village at Columbus and Lombard in San Francisco's North Beach. The band appeared on ''The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
'' twice, in 1959 and 1965. In 1979, Robert Schulz began an eight-year stint with the band. Other notable band members included trumpeters Don Kinch and Leon Oakley; pianists Pete Clute, Don Keeler, and Ray Skjelbred; banjoist Carl Lunsford, tuba and trombonist Bill Carroll, singers Pat Yankee
Pat Yankee (July 20, 1927 – May 30, 2022) was an American jazz and blues singer.
Yankee was born in Lodi, California and had a long career as a performing musician. She was also in the 1946 film ''It's Great to Be Young'' as Anita. She performed ...
and Jimmy Stanislaw.
Murphy was the singer for the 1971 ''Sesame Street
''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...
'' cartoon shorts, "The Alligator King" and "No. 9 Martian Beauty". They were animated and produced by his friend Bud Luckey
William Everett Luckey (July 28, 1934 – February 24, 2018) was an American animator, artist, cartoonist, composer, illustrator, musician, singer and voice actor. He worked at the animation studio Pixar, where he worked as a character designer ...
. Murphy arranged and performed on many of Luckey's other ''Sesame Street'' animated shorts. He was friend of trombonist and Disney animator Ward Kimball
Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honore ...
, who created many memorable caricatures of Murphy and Charles Addams
Charles Samuel Addams (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters, signing the cartoons as Chas Addams. Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams ...
, creator of the Addams Family.
Murphy's band played his nightclub, Earthquake McGoon's, which opened in 1960 and moved three times before closing in 1984. In January 1987, he played Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...
. He died on May 30, 1987.
Discography
* 1950 ''San Francisco Jazz, Vol. 1'' (Good Time Jazz
Good Time Jazz Records was an American jazz record company and label. It was founded in 1949 by Lester Koenig to record the Firehouse Five Plus Two and earned a reputation for Dixieland jazz.
The label produced new releases and reissues, includi ...
)
* 1950 ''In Hollywood''
* 1951 ''San Francisco Jazz, Vol. 2'' (Good Time Jazz)
* 1952 ''Turk Murphy with Claire Austin'' (Good Time Jazz)
* 1953 ''Barrelhouse Jazz'' (Columbia
Columbia may refer to:
* Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America
Places North America Natural features
* Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...
)
* 1954 ''When the Saints Go Marching In'' (Columbia)
* 1954 ''Music of Jelly Roll Morton'' (Columbia)
* 1955 ''Dancing Jazz'' (Columbia)
* 1956 ''New Orleans Jazz Festival'' (Columbia)
* 1957 ''New Orleans Shuffle'' (Columbia)
* 1957 '' George Lewis & Turk Murphy at Newport'' ( Verve)
* 1957 ''Music for Losers'' (Verve)
* 1958 ''Turk Murphy at Easy Street'' (Verve)
* 1958 ''Live at Easy Street, Vol. 1'' (Dawn Club)
* 1959 ''Turk Murphy at the Round Table'' (Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...
)
* 1959 ''Music for Wise Guys and Boosters'' (Roulette)
* 1962 ''Let the Good Times Roll''
* 1972 ''In Concert, Vol. 1'' ( GHB)
* 1972 ''Turk Murphy and His San Francisco Jazz Band, Vol. 2'' (GHB)
* 1972 ''In Concert, Vol. 2'' (GHB)
* 1972 ''Turk Murphy'' (GHB)
* 1972 ''Turk Murphy and His San Francisco Jazz Band, Vol. 1'' (GHB)
* 1972 ''Turk Murphy's Jazz Band'' (Merrymakers)
* 1973 ''Frisco Jazz Band, Live!'' ( MPS)
* 1973 ''The Earthquake McGoon Recordings'' (Merrymakers)
* 1980 ''A Natural High'' (Bainbridge)
* 1986 ''Concert in the Park'' (Merrymakers)
* 1986 ''San Francisco Memories'' (Merrymakers)
* 1986 ''Southern Stomps'' (Lake)
* 1987 ''Turk at Carnegie'' (Stomp Off
Stomp Off is an American jazz record company and label founded in 1980 by Bob Erdos in York, Pennsylvania. The label's first release was ''Feelin' Devilish'' by Waldo's Gutbucket Serenaders.
It was described in 1986 as concentrating on "jazz in t ...
)
* 1995 ''San Francisco Jazz'' (Merrymakers)
* 1995 ''Turk Murphy's San Francisco Jazz Band'' (Merrymakers)
* 1995 ''Sentimental Journeys'' (Merrymakers)
* 1995 ''Live from the Rathskellar, Vol. 2'' (Merrymakers)
* 1995 ''Live from the Rathskellar, Vol. 1'' (Merrymakers)
* 1998 ''Live at Carson Hot Springs''
* 2000 ''Recorded Live at the Cinegrill: 1950''
* 2006 ''Turk's DeLight'' (Jasmine
Jasmine ( taxonomic name: ''Jasminum''; , ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are widely culti ...
)
References
Other sources
* Richard Cook, ''Jazz Encyclopedia'', London 2007, p. 453External links
*Virtual Museum of San Francisco entry
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Turk 1915 births 1987 deaths American jazz trombonists Male trombonists Dixieland jazz musicians People from Butte County, California Singers from California American jazz singers United States Navy personnel of World War II 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American singers 20th-century trombonists Jazz musicians from California 20th-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Yerba Buena Jazz Band members Columbia Records artists Verve Records artists Stomp Off artists Jazzology Records artists Roulette Records artists MPS Records artists Good Time Jazz Records artists Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park