Spud Murphy

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Lyle "Spud" Murphy (born August 19, 1908 in Berlin , Germany as Miko Stephanovic ; † August 5, 2005 in Los Angeles ) was an American multi-instrumentalist and bandleader of early jazz as well as a film composer . In particular as an arranger and songwriter , he played a role in the development of the big band sound of the swing era .

Live and act

Spud Murphy came from a Serbian immigrant family, came to the United States with his mother when he was four, and grew up with a related Mormon family in Salt Lake City , Utah . He took the name of a childhood friend, first learned alto horn from Red Nichols ' father , then also the clarinet and saxophone. At the age of fourteen he had to eke out his life as a musician and toured with groups like Rainbow Seven and Jeff's Hot Rocks . In 1927/1928 he played with Jimmy Joy , in 1928 with Ross Gorman and Slim Lamar (as oboist ). In the early 1930s he worked as a saxophonist and arranger for Austin Wylie , Jan Garber , Mal Hallett and Joe Haymes , and finally for Benny Goodman (1935-1937). During this time he also provided arrangements and songs for the Casa Loma Orchestra , Isham Jones , Les Brown , Fletcher Henderson , Bob Crosby and many other musicians.

From 1937 to 1940 Murphy led his own big band and recorded for Decca and Bluebird Records in 1938/1939 . In the 1940s he lived in Los Angeles , where he worked in the film studios and participated in numerous film scores, he also taught (System of Horizontal Composition) . In the 1950s he recorded two more jazz-oriented albums and had a short-term combo that dealt with music from the Third Stream ; his later career focused on classical and film music. He has written 26 books, including on his own composition system (Equal Interval System) , which was studied by Oscar Peterson , Bennie Green , Herbie Hancock , Gerry Wiggins , Buddy Collette and Quincy Jones . In 2003, his friend, conductor Dean Mora , recorded a number of Murphy's older arrangements on a tribute album (Goblin Market) . Murphy died in Los Angeles two weeks before his 97th birthday. He is buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) .

Discography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ biography ; obituary
  2. ↑ Dean Mora's Modern Rhythmists, Goblin Market (Mr. Ace Records MACD-004)
personal data
SURNAME Murphy, Spud
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spephanovic, Miko; Murphy, Lyle
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician, film composer and arranger
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin , Germany
DATE OF DEATH August 5, 2005
Place of death Los Angeles , USA