When he died in October 2015 at the age of 83, the local arts and crafts magazine with obituaries kept its cool. The fact that the many fans and connoisseurs, in whose ears Mark Murphy was considered underestimated, are right, is a guarantee of his more than six decades of artistic career. His guest appearance at MPS in 1967 falls into the midst of his "European decade" and is also one of the most beautiful, amazing documents of his qualities. Midnight Mood is characterized by the sophisticated dialogue of voice and eight musicians from the Kenny Clarke Francy Boland Big Band, but it starts a cappella: Without a net and a double bottom, Murphy welcomes us with Jump For Joy from the pen of Duke Ellington, gives us a taste of his unorthodox scats. Murphy conjures up the atmosphere of a deep night in dialogue with the keys and with fine nuanced, almost tender tuning in My Ship and I Get Along..., while Just Give Me Time once again plays with dark sensuality between Swing and Bossa.
