User:CoralRad/sandbox5
| Songbook | |
|---|---|
| Compilation album by | |
| Released | 1999 |
| Recorded | 1972–1991 |
| Genre | Vocal jazz |
| Label | 32 Jazz |
| Producer | Michael Bourne |
Songbook is a compilation album of American jazz vocalist Mark Murphy's Muse Records recordings. It was released by the the 32 Jazz label in the United States in 1999. This album is a collection of songs from his Muse years 1972–1991.
Background[edit]
Muse Records was founded by Joe Fields in 1972. Fields sold the label in 1996 to Joel Dorn who released four compilation albums from Mark Murphy's Muse catalogue on the 32 Jazz label, Stolen...And Other Moments, Jazz Standards, Songbook, and Mark Murphy Sings Nat King Cole & More.[1] Writer and broadcaster Michael Bourne was enlisted to put together the four collections.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
Reception[edit]
Jason Elias assigns 4.5 stars to the album at AllMusic.[2] He says, "This compilation has Murphy coming into his own (around the early '70s) as a dramatic and often flawless stylist".[2] He calls the collection, "an excellent compilation that presents some of the finest and sometimes most emotionally draining of one of music's most talented and eclectic singers".[2] He praises the compilation for finding definitive performances.[2] He singles out for praise, "Triad", "How Are You Dreaming?", "No More", "Again", "We'll Be Together Again", "The Island", "Nothing Will Be as It Was Tomorrow", and "I Fall in Love Too Easily".[2]
Scott Yanow says this release is "excellent" in his book The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide.[3]
In his book A Biographical Guide to the Great Jazz and Pop Singers, Will Friedwald says the four Muse anthologies issued by Joel Dorn show "the astonishing range and scope, not to mention sheer size, of the singer's seventies and eighties output".[4] The releases reveal "his output has been so consistently excellent—that so many of these records deserve to be regarded, in retrospect, as classics of the jazz vocal genre—and that even his occasional missteps are instructive".[4]
Track listing[edit]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "We Could Be Flying" | Paul Williams | Michel Colombier | Bridging A Gap | 3:44 |
| 2. | " Steamroller" | James Taylor | Taylor | Bridging a Gap | 3:19 |
| 3. | "Triad" | David Crosby | Crosby | Mark II | 4:34 |
| 4. | "How Are You Dreaming?" | Allan Shatkin | Bob Crewe | Mark Murphy Sings | 4:35 |
| 5. | "Don't Be Blue" | Michael Franks | John Guerin | Stolen Moments | 3:38 |
| 6. | "Eleanor Rigby" | John Lennon, Paul McCartney | Lennon, McCartney | Satisfaction Guaranteed | 5:33 |
| 7. | "Close Enough for Love" | Paul Williams | Johnny Mandel | The Artistry of Mark Murphy | 5:09 |
| 8. | "Autumn Nocturne" | Kim Gannon | Josef Myrow | The Artistry of Mark Murphy | 3:53 |
| 9. | "Outubro" | Brant | Nascimento | Brazil Song | 4:05 |
| 10. | "Our Love Rolls On" | Dave Frishberg | Frishberg | Living Room | 4:10 |
| 11. | "What a Way to Go" | June Tonkin | June Tonkin | What a Way to Go | 6:09 |
| 12. | "I Fall in Love Too Easily" | Sammy Cahn | Jule Styne | What a Way to Go | 4:15 |
| 13. | "All My Tomorrows" | Cahn | Jimmy Van Heusen | What a Way to Go | 6:03 |
| 14. | "I'll Close My Eyes" | Buddy Kaye | Billy Reid | I'll Close My Eyes | 5:39 |
| 15. | "Miss You Mr. Mercer" | Jack Segal | Duncan Lamont | I'll Close My Eyes | 5:08 |
| 16. | "The Best Thing for You" | Irving Berlin | Berlin | One for Junior | 4:42 |
| Total length: | 2:27:31 | ||||
Personnel[edit]
Production
- Michael Bourne – compilation producer, liner notes
- Gene Paul – mastering
- Page Simon – graphic design
- Nancy Dwyer – graphic design, digital illustration
- Becky Wisdom – production coordinator
- Joel Dorn – series producer
References[edit]
- ^ Jones, Peter (2018). This is Hip: The Life of Mark Murphy. Popular music history. Sheffield, UK; Bristol, CT: Equinox Publishing. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-78179-473-9.
- ^ a b c d e f Elias, Jason. Songbook - Mark Murphy | Album | AllMusic, retrieved 2024-06-04
- ^ 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 (Kindle ed.). New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 350–351. ISBN 978-0-375-42149-5.
External links[edit]
- Songbook at MusicBrainz (release group)
- Songbook at Discogs (master release)
- Songbook at AllMusic (release)
- Mark Murphy in The Penguin Guide to Jazz at Internet Archive
- Mark Murphy in The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide at Internet Archive