Mark Murphy - The Raw 'Rah'

I was unaware until recently that all reissues of jazz singer Mark Murphy's first Riverside album, Rah, had been bowdlerized. Two of the songs were deemed offensive and diluted or dropped altogether.

When I learned this from fellow collector Progress Hornsby, I decided to transfer my nice stereo copy of the record for those who hadn't heard it, and for those who are unfamiliar with Murphy, a talented vocalist.

In my melodramatic way, I call the result the "raw Rah," but I admit that is an overstatement. There was nothing scandalous about the content, even for 1962, when this came out.

Mark Murphy in the early sixties

Progress explains that Richard Rodgers threatened a law suit because Murphy's version of "My Favorite Things," name-checked any number of jazz artists, and Rodgers did not like having his creations altered. Then there was Murphy's version of the usually sentimental "I’ll Be Seeing You," As Progress relates, "Instead of 'In that small café, the park across the way/The children's carousel, the chestnut trees, the wishing well,' Murphy sings, 'In that damp café, the parking lot across the way/That beat-up carousel where we used to sell cheap muscatel.'" Apparently this offended someone's sensibilities as well. So the reissues of Rah have trimmed "Favorite Things" and zapped "I'll Be Seeing You" altogether.

The cover shows Murphy in collegiate garb holding what appears to be a protest sign. This, however, was a few years before the first big college protests of the sixties - the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. Murphy's sign was intended to depict college spirit. (I went to college in that decade and don't recall any such signs.) In his notes, Ira Gitler writes, "Mark Murphy appeals to the hip collegian - youthful and vigorous but cool, too. Hence Rah minus the exclamation point."

As for the musical quality, this is surely one of the singer's best records. Highlights include a number of the jazz and hip vocal standards of the time: a superb version of "Milestones" with scat singing that even I can enjoy, "L'il Darlin'," "Green Dolphin Street," and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most." There is even a good but superfluous homage to Lambert, Hendricks and Ross via "Twisted" and "Doodlin'." Ernie Wilkins contributes apt arrangements that often are little more than muted brass chords and rhythm. Good sound.