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Paul Murphy

Truly a master improviser, Paul was a child prodigy drummer by the age of 7. He studied with Joseph Leavitt, the director of percussion at the Peabody Conservatory of music.

By the age of 11, his musical training was further enhanced by attending seminars conducted by the legendary Louie Bellson, soon becoming a student and protégé of Gene Krupa. By the age of 16 he was working with Duke Ellington’s Bassist Billy Taylor. Paul played on the jazz/blues circuit for years before he moved to the west coast and became one of the original innovators of Avant-Garde Jazz in California’s San Francisco Bay area.

In 1974 the legendary Jimmy Lyons heard Paul playing at a club in San Francisco and asked him to come to New York and play the jazz scene there. For the next 12 years he played, recorded, and toured the USA & Europe with Mr. Lyons’ ground breaking group while maintaining his own fabulously talented quintet. The members included trumpet player Dewey Johnson, Jay Oliver on Bass, Karen Borca, and Mary Anne Driscoll.

Paul has continued recording free jazz duo sessions with Larry Willis. Playing in a more straight ahead vein, Paul has done Mapleshade sessions with Clifford Jordan, Ran Blake and Larry Willis plus a number of blues and soul sessions. His latest recordings 'Break Away' , 'Excursions' and 'Exposé' will astound Jazz aficionados with the high-end high energy fusion principals of Bebop and Avant-Garde Jazz.

Check out www.paulFmurphy.com for more on Paul... past, present & future. Articles, reviews, stories, links to his music, videos, fellow artist & more.

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1,055
Interview

Paul F. Murphy: Playing Universally

Read "Paul F. Murphy: Playing Universally" reviewed by Dominic Fragman


Legendary drummer Paul F. Murphy has been involved with the high end of improvised music since the mid-1970s in San Francisco. He is most closely associated with the avant-garde of the '70s, '80s and '90s as a 12-year member of alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons' band and a leader of several of his own groups, including Trio Hurricane. Currently, he is working with pianist Larry Willis, performing and recording groundbreaking pieces of complete improvisation, including the duo's August release, Foundations (Murphy ...

189
Album Review

Paul Murphy: Expose

Read "Expose" reviewed by Lyn Horton


Honesty in music is without doubt identifiable. It comes across in the way musicians touch their instruments, the statements they make, the tone they set, the nature of their musicality and how they all merge. No truer an example of this can be found than the 2008 duo Exposé from drummer Paul Murphy and pianist Larry Willis.

An improvisation this clean can only arise through expertise, confidence and vision. Murphy and Willis do not intend to throw the listener out of ...

174
Album Review

Paul Murphy: Excursions

Read "Excursions" reviewed by Lyn Horton


Hidden away on small unknown labels is music that needs to be heard. A case in point is Excursions, featuring pianist Larry Willis and percussionist Paul Murphy.

This music evokes no largesse, only thoughtfulness and solace. Abstraction is not as much the focus in this music as it is a concise, direct delivery of fluid musical notions that seem to be right at the tips of the fingers of these two musicians. Over the course of ...

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145

Interview

Drummer Paul F. Murphy Interviewed at AAJ

Drummer Paul F. Murphy Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Legendary drummer Paul F. Murphy has been involved with the high end of improvised music since the mid-1970s in San Francisco. He is most closely associated with the avant-garde of the '70s, '80s and '90s as a 12-year member of alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons' band and a leader of several of his own groups, including Trio Hurricane. Currently, he is working with pianist Larry Willis, performing and recording groundbreaking pieces of complete improvisation, including the duo's August release, Foundations (Murphy ...

"Improvisation this clean can only arise through expertise, confidence and vision." ~Lyn Horton

"An arch colorist and master of percussive texture . . . " ~Derek Taylor

"A real powerhouse of innovation, energy and depth . . ." ~Henry Rollins

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Foundations

Murphy Records
2009

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Excursions

Murphy Records
2008

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Expose

Murphy Records
2008

buy

The Trip

Soul Note
2006

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Videos

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