The Gone Sounds of Jazz with Sid Gribetz

Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy (1932-2015) was an unsung hero among modern jazz vocalists, a cult figure who deserves wider recognition, a primary influence for new generations of jazz singers. He was a risk taker of musical invention.  Murphy was a masterful scat singer and a champion of vocalese with compositions such as Stolen Moments and Red Clay.  Mark’s outlook is that of a wide ranging humanist, including his poetry and theatrical sides, with interpolations from Jack Kerouac, Lord Buckley, and other literary greats in his songs and presentations.  And he possessed a sturdy baritone on standards and Brazilian songs. Murphy was born in Syracuse, NY and made his first name as a pop-jazz singer with recordings on the Decca and Capitol labels.  He hit his stride upon moving to New York City in the early 1960's, and with hip modern recordings on Riverside.  Since then he traveled the world as a vibrant, performing force. This episode provides five hours of fun. originally broadcast December 4, 2011

Charles Mingus 2

WKCR presents a marathon broadcast celebrating Charles Mingus annually, on his birthday anniversary, April 22.   From my segment on the 2026 edition, I presented a variety of sounds, among them a selection of early Debut recordings, and a feature of live concerts of the 1964 ensemble with Eric Dolphy (about an hour towards the end).

Teddy Edwards

Saxophonist Teddy Edwards was born in Jackson, Mississippi on April 26, 1924.  His grandfather and other family members were leading local musicians, and Teddy began playing the alto sax as a youth. By age 12 he had played in some professional settings himself.  As a teenager he went to Detroit to live with an uncle and began participating in the vital Motor City scene. In his development, he forged connections with many young jazz artists, among others notably Wardell Gray with whom he became a close friend. Edwards toured with R&B and jazz bands and ended up in Los Angeles in 1945.  There he teamed up with Howard McGhee and switched to tenor sax.  With his sophisticated harmonic sense and free flowing sound, Edwards became a leading figure in the early bebop days on the West Coast.  He was a key member of the Central Avenue scene, participating in duels with Dexter Gordon and Wardell and making notable records such as “Blues In Teddy’s Flat”. Prominent on the West Coast, Edwards was one of the original Lighthouse All Stars and an early choice to be in the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet. By the late fifties and sixties, he recorded notable LPs with compatriots such as McGhee, Leroy Vinnegar and Gerald Wilson for the World Pacific, Contemporary, and Prestige labels (“It’s All Right”). An accomplished arranger, Edwards wrote for brass and string ensembles and contributed to many projects. Additionally, he was an important accompanist for vocalists such as Jimmy Witherspoon, Helen Humes, King Pleasure and numerous others. Edwards never ventured to the major New York limelight, but he was an important and influential figure in Los Angeles. In later years he  spent time in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, where he enjoyed admiration and popularity.  Edwards gained some publicity in the popular field when he toured regularly with Tom Waits for a time in the 1980s.. Edwards had a powerful and pulsating sound on the sax, always tinged with emotional warmth and insight. I always liked this encomium to Edwards from Tom Waits: “He can sound like a train, or he can sound like he's drinking champagne on that same train." Edwards had various health problems in later life, and he died of cancer at the age of 78 in 2003. originally broadcast April 19, 2026

Billie Holiday 5

For the 2026 WKCR Billie Holiday Birthday Broadcast. I prepared a survey of Lady Day's recordings with Prez, Lester Young (about 2 hours).  The epitome of sublime intimacy and heartfelt companionship.  The episode opens and closes with several other Holiday tracks for casual listening, not so shabby in their own right.

Coltrane On Prestige

John Coltrane is a major figure in our culture.  The majesty, grandeur and passion of his saxophone communicates with the soul and has inspired the reverence and spiritual devotion of his widespread listening audience. It would be difficult to profile his widespread body of work in a single radio program.  Therefore, this program focuses on one discrete portion of his career, his recordings on the Prestige record label. Coltrane attained his first widespread notice in his late twenties as a member of the classic Miles Davis Quintet (fall 1955-early 1957).  However, Coltrane was struggling with substance abuse and other personal difficulties, and Miles fired him from the group.  With immense personal dedication, and spiritual guidance from his wife Naima, Coltrane beat his addiction and began a renewed, refreshed life.  He moved to New York City (203 West 103rd Street).  Trane began working with Thelonious Monk, and their legendary six month engagement at the Five Spot reinvigorated each of their careers. At the same time, Coltrane was looking to establish himself as a recording artist.  While with Miles, he was also a freelance sideman on many now classic albums, and in early 1957 Coltrane eventually got a contract with Bob Weinstock’s independent Prestige company, a deal that would last through the end of 1958. There, Coltrane recorded his first three albums as a leader (“Coltrane”, “John Coltrane With The Red Garland Trio (aka Traneing In)” and “Soultrane”), sessions led by his friend Red Garland, and many all star dates.  As was his custom, Weinstock recorded many sessions under Trane’s leadership, which were "kept in the can", stockpiled, and released on additional albums in the next few years. This was a pivotal period in the development of Coltrane’s career, leading in to “Giant Steps” and further levels of artistry.  Accordingly, these Prestige records are sometimes overlooked, but they, too, have a robust and sophisticated improvisational fervor worth savoring.  Critic Ira Gitler wrote of “the excruciatingly exhilarating intensity of rapid exigent runs with their residual harmonic impact” in coining the overworked but still apt term “Sheets of Sound” to characterize this phase of Coltrane’s style. originally broadcast May 19, 2024