Art Murphy
Encyclopedia
Arthur "Art" Bixler Murphy (January 25, 1942 – November 19, 2006) was a classical and jazz musician, pianist and composer. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey
. He grew up in Oberlin, OH, where his father was a member of the Oberlin College faculty.
Murphy was a founding member of the Philip Glass
and Steve Reich Ensembles , and played a key role in the development of minimalist music
.
and received several BMI Foundation
composition prizes. Murphy’s classmates at Juilliard included composers Steve Reich
and Philip Glass
.
. Reich sought out Murphy’s knowledge of serial composition and changing time signature
s to help give life to the new musical concepts they developed.
Reich explained how he worked with Murphy on the piece Piano Phase
(1967):
"...the direct result of my work in 1965-66 on two identical audio loop
s played simultaneously on two separate tape recorder
s... Over the course of several months, Art Murphy and I – by first working at home playing against tape recordings of our own performance, and then playing on two pianos – found that, while we lacked the perfection of the machine, we could give a good approximation of it and we got to like this totally new and particularly satisfying way of playing, which was completely worked out in advance and eliminated the necessity of actually reading a score. The result was that we became totally absorbed in listening while we were playing the piece."
.
While attending Juilliard, Murphy worked with the composer and arranger Hall Overton
on arrangements for a Thelonious Monk
big band
concert in New York in 1963.
In the early 1960s, Murphy also met pianist Bill Evans
and became a close friend and confidant until Evans' death in 1980. Murphy’s second daughter, born in 1964, was named Miriam Evan, after Evans. Murphy became the chief transcriptionist
for Evans’ solos, playing Evans’ records at 16 rpm to make sure he got every note. Many of these transcriptions were published and performed by other artists such as classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet
, who recorded a 1996 album entitled Conversations with Bill Evans.
and as a systems analyst
, working for various employers and he occasionally performed as a jazz pianist at various venues in the New York, New Jersey
and Philadelphia areas.
Murphy retired from full-time employment after learning of his cancer
diagnosis in late 2004. He resumed work as a jazz pianist. For a time, Murphy played jazz piano weekly at the Plumsteadville Inn, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
. He also performed at other Bucks County venues such as Maggie's Place in Doylestown
and La Cena in Bensalem
. Murphy’s last musical performance was on November 4, 2006 at La Cena. Murphy died at his Flemington, New Jersey
home on November 19, 2006.
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
. He grew up in Oberlin, OH, where his father was a member of the Oberlin College faculty.
Murphy was a founding member of the Philip Glass
Philip Glass Ensemble
The Philip Glass Ensemble is a musical group founded by composer Philip Glass in 1968 to serve as a performance outlet for his experimental minimalist music. The Ensemble's instrumentation became a hallmark of Glass' early minimalist style...
and Steve Reich Ensembles , and played a key role in the development of minimalist music
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
.
Training
He received a Masters Degree in Composition in 1966 from the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, NY, where he studied with composer Luciano BerioLuciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
and received several BMI Foundation
BMI Foundation
The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1985 by executives of Broadcast Music Incorporated for the purpose of "encouraging the creation, performance and study of music through awards, scholarships, internships, grants, and commissions." Additionally, the Foundation makes...
composition prizes. Murphy’s classmates at Juilliard included composers Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
and Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
.
Steve Reich Ensemble
Reich’s ensemble was formed in 1966. The original three members were Reich, Art Murphy and Jon GibsonJon Gibson (minimalist musician)
Jon Gibson is a flautist, saxophonist, and composer.-Education:Gibson studied at Sacramento State University and with Henry Onderdonk and Wayne Peterson at San Francisco State University, where he earned a BA in 1964...
. Reich sought out Murphy’s knowledge of serial composition and changing time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
s to help give life to the new musical concepts they developed.
Reich explained how he worked with Murphy on the piece Piano Phase
Piano Phase
Piano Phase is a piece of music written in 1967 by the minimalist composer Steve Reich for two pianos. It is his first attempt at applying his "phasing" technique, which he had previously used in the tape pieces It's Gonna Rain and Come Out , to live performance.Reich's phasing works generally...
(1967):
"...the direct result of my work in 1965-66 on two identical audio loop
Tape loop
In music, tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns or dense layers of sound. Contemporary composers such as Steve Reich and Karlheinz Stockhausen used tape loops to create phase patterns and rhythms...
s played simultaneously on two separate tape recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
s... Over the course of several months, Art Murphy and I – by first working at home playing against tape recordings of our own performance, and then playing on two pianos – found that, while we lacked the perfection of the machine, we could give a good approximation of it and we got to like this totally new and particularly satisfying way of playing, which was completely worked out in advance and eliminated the necessity of actually reading a score. The result was that we became totally absorbed in listening while we were playing the piece."
Jazz career
Though Murphy was classically trained and played a key role in minimalist composition and performance, his true musical love was jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
.
While attending Juilliard, Murphy worked with the composer and arranger Hall Overton
Hall Overton
Hall Franklin Overton was an American composer, jazz pianist, and music teacher. He was born in Bangor, Michigan...
on arrangements for a Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
concert in New York in 1963.
In the early 1960s, Murphy also met pianist Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
and became a close friend and confidant until Evans' death in 1980. Murphy’s second daughter, born in 1964, was named Miriam Evan, after Evans. Murphy became the chief transcriptionist
Transcription (music)
In music, transcription can mean notating a piece or a sound which was previously unnotated, as, for example, an improvised jazz solo. Further examples include ethnomusicological notation of oral traditions of folk music, such as Béla Bartók's and Ralph Vaughan Williams' collections of the national...
for Evans’ solos, playing Evans’ records at 16 rpm to make sure he got every note. Many of these transcriptions were published and performed by other artists such as classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet
Jean-Yves Thibaudet
-Early life:Jean-Yves Thibaudet was born in Lyon, France, to non-professional musical parents. His father played the violin, and his mother, of German origin and a somewhat accomplished pianist herself, introduced the instrument to Jean-Yves....
, who recorded a 1996 album entitled Conversations with Bill Evans.
Later years
In the 1970s, Murphy began work as an actuaryActuary
An actuary is a business professional who deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. Actuaries provide expert assessments of financial security systems, with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms ....
and as a systems analyst
Systems analyst
A systems analyst researches problems, plans solutions, recommends software and systems, and coordinates development to meet business or other requirements. They will be familiar with multiple variety of programming languages, operating systems, and computer hardware platforms...
, working for various employers and he occasionally performed as a jazz pianist at various venues in the New York, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and Philadelphia areas.
Murphy retired from full-time employment after learning of his cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
diagnosis in late 2004. He resumed work as a jazz pianist. For a time, Murphy played jazz piano weekly at the Plumsteadville Inn, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- Industry and commerce :The boroughs of Bristol and Morrisville were prominent industrial centers along the Northeast Corridor during World War II. Suburban development accelerated in Lower Bucks in the 1950s with the opening of Levittown, Pennsylvania, the second such "Levittown" designed by...
. He also performed at other Bucks County venues such as Maggie's Place in Doylestown
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Doylestown is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 8,380. The borough is the county seat of Bucks County.- History :...
and La Cena in Bensalem
Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania
Bensalem Township is a township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States which borders the northeast section of Philadelphia. The township is composed of many communities, including Bensalem, Trevose, Oakford, Cornwells Heights, Eddington, and Andalusia...
. Murphy’s last musical performance was on November 4, 2006 at La Cena. Murphy died at his Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington, New Jersey
Flemington is a borough in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 4,581. It is the county seat of Hunterdon County....
home on November 19, 2006.
Discography
- Jean-Yves Thibaudet: Conversations with Bill Evans (Decca, 1997) with Art Murphy, transcriptionist for Evans' solos
- Philip Glass: Music with Changing Parts (Nonesuch, 1971) with Art Murphy, electric piano
- Philip Glass: Two Pages/Contrary Motion/Music in Fifths/Music in Similar Motion (Nonesuch, 1971) with Art Murphy, organ
- Steve Reich's Four OrgansFour OrgansFour Organs is a work for four electronic organs and maraca, composed by Steve Reich in January 1970.-Music:The four organs, harmonically expound a dominant eleventh chord , dissecting the chord by playing parts of it sequentially while the chord slowly increases in duration from a single 1/8 note...
/Phase Patterns (New Tone, 1970), with Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Arthur MurphyArthur MurphyArthur Murphy , also known by the pseudonym Charles Ranger, was an Irish writer.-Biography:He was born at Cloonyquin, County Roscommon, Ireland, the son of Richard Murphy and Jane French....
, Steve Chambers, Jon Gibson - Henry FlyntHenry FlyntHenry Flynt is a philosopher, avant-garde musician, anti-art activist and exhibited artist often associated with Conceptual Art, Fluxus and Nihilism.-Background:...
and the Insurrections: I Don’t Wanna (Locust Records, 1966) with Art Murphy, keyboards
Piano Phase (1967)
- 2 pianos or 2 marimbas
- Art Murphy and Steve Reich/ Fairleigh Dickinson University, Rutherford, NJ/ January 1967
My Name Is (1967)
- 3 or more tape recorders, performers, audience
- Art Murphy and Steve Reich/ School of Visual Arts, New York/ November 1967
Four Log Drums (1969)
- unpublished
- phase shifting pulse gate, 4 log drums
- Jon Gibson, Philip Glass, Richard Landry, Art Murphy, Steve Reich/ Whitney Museum of American Art, New York/ May 27, 1969
Four Organs (January 1970)
- 4 electric organs and maracas
- Steve Chambers, Jon Gibson, Philip Glass, Art Murphy, Steve Reich/ Guggenheim Museum, New York/ May 1970
Phase Patterns (1970)
- 4 electric organs
- Steve Chambers, Jon Gibson, Art Murphy, Steve Reich/ Guggenheim Museum, New York/ May 1970
Pictured in
- Michael Nyman, Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond (Music in the Twentieth Century), p. 152