Live in Athens, Greece
Mark Murphy featuring Spiros Exaras
Harbinger Records is proud to announce the release of singer Mark Murphy’s last CD.
Recorded live in Athens, Greece at the Gazarte Club in 2008, the CD features a terrific jazz ensemble led by Spiros Exaras. Murphy was best known for improvisation of jazz standards and he exciting use of vocalese. He was the recipient of the 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001 Down Beat magazine eaders jazz poll for Best Male Vocalist of the Year.
Murphy was also the recipient of six Grammy Award nominations for Best Vocal Jazz Performance. He wrote original lyrics to the jazz tunes “Stolen Moments” and “Red Clay.” Exaras’ most recent CD is also on Harbinger, “Old Waters New River” along with Elio Villafranca.
PRAISE FOR “LIVE FROM ATHENS”
“Here’s an album to get you over your depression over the passing of Mark Murphy. This is a wonderful realization of a 50 year creative journey…with excellent backing from Spiros Exaras, Thomas Rueckert, Alex Drakos and George Georgiadis, this is beautifully sequenced and pieced together to effect a seamless set. An unexpected treat.” -Robert D. Rusch
“It’s all very hip and fun – Murphy’s pleasure in performing never seemed to dim.
The band are excellent. Going into double-time on a ballad may seem just another cliché, but on this tune it perfectly fits with the mood established by the singer, and Exaras and Rueckert pull out some dazzling runs. Murphy ends with a held falsetto note that extends into the intro of the next number, All Blues. Here he improvises both wordlessly and on the lyric.” - Peter Jones, London Jazz Record
“No figure in jazz personified hip the way that the late Mark Murphy did. For more than half a century he taught the world what it meant to be a true artist, pushing boundaries, walking the tightrope, and going where he pleased. He had it all—wit, charm, guile, good taste, a pure improviser’s spirit, a flexible and powerful voice—and he willingly shared it.” -Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz.
Buy on Amazon!
Buy on iTunes!
Recorded live in Athens, Greece at the Gazarte Club in 2008, the CD features a terrific jazz ensemble led by Spiros Exaras. Murphy was best known for improvisation of jazz standards and he exciting use of vocalese. He was the recipient of the 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001 Down Beat magazine eaders jazz poll for Best Male Vocalist of the Year.
Murphy was also the recipient of six Grammy Award nominations for Best Vocal Jazz Performance. He wrote original lyrics to the jazz tunes “Stolen Moments” and “Red Clay.” Exaras’ most recent CD is also on Harbinger, “Old Waters New River” along with Elio Villafranca.
PRAISE FOR “LIVE FROM ATHENS”
“Here’s an album to get you over your depression over the passing of Mark Murphy. This is a wonderful realization of a 50 year creative journey…with excellent backing from Spiros Exaras, Thomas Rueckert, Alex Drakos and George Georgiadis, this is beautifully sequenced and pieced together to effect a seamless set. An unexpected treat.” -Robert D. Rusch
“It’s all very hip and fun – Murphy’s pleasure in performing never seemed to dim.
The band are excellent. Going into double-time on a ballad may seem just another cliché, but on this tune it perfectly fits with the mood established by the singer, and Exaras and Rueckert pull out some dazzling runs. Murphy ends with a held falsetto note that extends into the intro of the next number, All Blues. Here he improvises both wordlessly and on the lyric.” - Peter Jones, London Jazz Record
“No figure in jazz personified hip the way that the late Mark Murphy did. For more than half a century he taught the world what it meant to be a true artist, pushing boundaries, walking the tightrope, and going where he pleased. He had it all—wit, charm, guile, good taste, a pure improviser’s spirit, a flexible and powerful voice—and he willingly shared it.” -Dan Bilawsky, All About Jazz.
Buy on Amazon!
Buy on iTunes!
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