Greg Murphy Trio - Bright Idea (2019) [Hi-Res]

The world of jazz, despite legends of gloried lore, is fraught with contradictions, dichotomies and some of the most unlikely stories that boggle the imagination--untold tales lying just beneath the maelstrom of mainstream media, tucked away as a sanguine keepsake measured only in the hearts and minds of those involved. Stories of heartbreak. Stories of triumph.

Pianist Greg Murphy’s story, his all-too-human story, is made of that same kind of tangible heroic fabric--from wandering in the valley low only to gain a celebratory emergence--a joyful spiritual attainment over and above a craggy, pit-laden adversity.

I met an enthusiastic Murphy in the summer of 1980 one afternoon at my downtown Chicago loft venue for jazz, Aziza Artist Space. The set that day was led by the late saxophonist, Fred Anderson. Recommended by his friend and bassist Tyler Mitchell, Murphy was on the gig. Showing a promise that would only be realized years down the road, Murphy exhibited an indelible pianistic presence. His bluesy orchestral swing-filled stylistic technique crackled with an exuberant intensity far beyond his youthful age.

Upon a chance encounter with Marsalis patriarch Ellis Marsalis in Chicago, as fate would have it, soon Murphy was headed for New Orleans. Duly noticing the young pianist’s potential, Murphy was Crescent City bound--this at the height of the Young Lions movement of the early 80s. Recalling their initial meeting, “Ellis Marsalis came to my house, gave me a free piano lesson and subsequently suggested that I apply for a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Study Grant.” ...

"Bright Idea, Greg Murphy's second Whaling City Sound project and fifth overall, is pure and beautiful, his strongest statement as a leader and his most beautifully played collection of stories. Fully back and in complete command, Murphy can now swing with the best. He has come out from the dark side and into the light, now destined, even determined, to find his proper place in the pantheon of jazz piano." (Jazz News)

Greg Murphy, piano
Eric Wheeler, double bass
Jeff "Tain" Watts, drums