{{Short description|1967 studio album by Mark Murphy}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Midnight Mood | type = studio | artist = Mark Murphy | cover = Midnight Mood.png | border = yes | alt = | caption = original artwork by Heinz Bähr | released = 1968 | recorded = December 18, 1967 | venue = | studio = Lindström Studios, Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany | genre = Vocal jazz | length = 37:33 | label = SABA | producer = Gigi Campi | prev_title = Who Can I Turn To | prev_year = 1966 | next_title = This Must Be Earth | next_year = 1970 | chronology = Mark Murphy }}
'''''Midnight Mood''''' is a 1967 studio album by Mark Murphy.
''Midnight Mood'' is the 10th album by American jazz vocalist Mark Murphy. It was recorded when Murphy was 35 years old and released by the SABA/MPS Records label in Germany in 1968. The release is a mix of standards and original songs from members of the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band.
== Background == Murphy had been living in London for four years by the time he recorded ''Midnight Mood''. Members of the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band formed Murphy's backing group for this recording. Murphy had been touring Europe and playing ''Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club'' in London with them.
== Recording == {{Music ratings | rev1 = The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name=":0" /> | rev2 = The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music | rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name=":1" /> | rev3 = AllMusic | rev3score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name=":2" /> }}
Producer <bdi>Gigi Campi</bdi> (Pierluigi Campi), an Italian architect, Cologne restauranteur, jazz concert and festival organizer, helped found the Clarke-Boland Big Band in the early 1960s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hennessey |first=Mike |title=Klook: The Story of Kenny Clarke |date=1990 |publisher=Quartet |isbn=978-0-7043-2529-6 |location=London |pages=160–177}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Tony |date=1968 |title=The Kenny Clarke - Francy Boland Big Band: Article 1 - National Jazz Archive |url=https://nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/explore/interviews/1277634-the-kenny-clarke-francy-boland-big-band-article-1 |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=nationaljazzarchive.org.uk |language=en}}</ref> Campi produced many jazz recordings including "Tough Tenors” by Johnny Griffin & Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, “All Smiles” by The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, and “November Girl” by Carmen McRae and The Kenny Clarke Francy Boland Big Band, all on MPS.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gigi Campi Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gigi-campi-mn0000948489 |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=AllMusic |language=en}}</ref> But he also founded MoD Records and worked on other labels.
Campi assembled an eight-man band to accompany Murphy on this recording. Kenny Clarke plays drums and Francy Boland plays piano and did the arrangements. The members of the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band providing backup include Ronnie Scott on <bdi>tenor saxophone</bdi>, Jimmy Deuchar on trumpet, Sahib Shihab on flute and baritone saxophone, <bdi>Åke Persson on trombone, Derek Humble on alto saxophone,</bdi> and former Ellington bassist Jimmy Woode.
Murphy contributes lyrics to <bdi>Jimmy Deuchar's "Why and How" and Francy Boland's "Hopeless".</bdi> Years later DJ Gilles Peterson would turn "Why and How", a soul-jazz rare groove, into a dance floor smash in the 1980s and help revive Murphy's career.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Peter |title=This is hip: the life of Mark Murphy |date=2018 |publisher=Equinox Publishing |isbn=978-1-78179-473-9 |series=Popular music history |location=Sheffield, UK; Bristol, CT |pages=56–57}}</ref>
<bdi>''Jump for Joy'' is a Duke Ellington 1941 stage musical and Murphy opens the album singing the title tune a cappela before the band joins in and he follows with scat improvisation. Clarke and Woode's "I Don't Want Nothin' " is an up-tempo bluesy arrangement. The ballad "Alone Together" is from a 1932 Broadway show ''Flying Colors'' by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz and is taken at a quick tempo featuring brushwork by Clarke and a muted trumpet solo from Jimmy Deuchar. Åke Persson is featured on trombone on Cy Coleman's "You Fascinate Me So". Several of the remaining ballads feature Boland on piano. "Sconsolato" is a slow Latin groove, Murphy's first of many to follow on subsequent releases.</bdi><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lightbody |first=Keith |title=Midnight Mood (Liner notes) |date=1968 |publisher=SABA / MPS}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Franzen |first=Stefan |title=Midnight Mood (CD booklet) |date=2017 |publisher=MPS}}</ref>
== Reception == ''The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide'' assigns the album 4 stars (meaning, excellent: a record of substantial merit, though flawed in some essential way).<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rowan |first=Andy |title=The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide |date=1985 |publisher=Random House |others=John Swenson (ed.) |isbn=978-0-394-72643-4 |edition=1st |series=A Random House/Rolling Stone Press Book |location=New York |pages=150}}</ref> In the review Andy Rowan writes that ''Midnight Mood'' boasts "inventive, full-bodied performances that create a feeling of cohesiveness" proving "that when the glitter is stripped away Mark Murphy is a singer of great power, depth and skill".<ref name=":0" />
''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' gives the album 3 stars (meaning, good, by the artist's usual standards and therefore recommended.)<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Larkin |first=Colin |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2002 |publisher=Virgin |others=Colin Larkin, Muze UK Ltd (eds.) |isbn=978-1-85227-923-3 |edition=Concise 4th |location=London |pages=899–900}}</ref>
The ''AllMusic'' guide assigns 4.5 stars.<ref>{{Citation |title=Midnight Mood - Mark Murphy {{!}} Album {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/midnight-mood-mw0000545620 |access-date=2024-04-18 |language=en}}</ref>
Murphy biographer Peter Jones includes ''Midnight Mood'' in his list of essential top 10 Mark Murphy albums.<ref>Jones, Peter (2021-08-25). "Mark Murphy: An Essential Top Ten Albums". ''All About Jazz''. Retrieved 2024-03-17.</ref> In his book ''This is Hip: The Life of Mark Murphy,'' Jones says that ''Midnight Mood'' is one of the best albums Murphy ever made. He writes, "Murphy is in devastatingly fine voice on these tracks, relaxed and swinging with the kind of material he loved and knew well".<ref name=":2" />
Peter Quinn, writing a review for ''Jazzwise'' magazine, gives the album 4 stars.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Quinn |first=Peter |date=February 2018 |title=Mark Murphy: Midnight Mood |work=Jazzwise}}</ref> He writes, "''Midnight Mood'' is a must-hear recording, not just for Murphy die-hards but all lovers of vocal jazz...the 10-track album is outstandingly good on all fronts: dynamic control, time-bending phrasing, plus an immense depth of feeling."<ref name=":3" />
Christopher Louden praised the album in his ''JazzTimes'' review writing, "Like so many of his vocal contemporaries, Mark Murphy was struggling in the late 1960s, jumping from label to label for scattershot projects that garnered little attention. Best among them is 1968’s ''Midnight Mood'' (actually released on SABA, which became MPS), vital connective tissue bridging Murphy’s progress from Sinatra-styled crooner to the most boldly dynamic vocalist of his generation".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Louden |first=Christopher |date=January 7, 2018 |title=Review of MPS Albums From Oscar Peterson and Mark Murphy |journal=JazzTimes}}</ref> He praises Murphy's interpretations of “Alone Together”, “My Ship”, “Jump for Joy”, “You Fascinate Me So”, “I Get Along Without You Very Well” and “I Don’t Want Nothin".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Loudon |first=Christopher |date=2024-04-24 |title=Review of MPS Albums By Oscar Peterson and Mark Murphy |url=https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/mps-oscar-peterson-mark-murphy/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=JazzTimes |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Track listing == # <bdi>"Jump for Joy"</bdi> (Duke Ellington, Sid Kuller, Paul Francis Webster) – 4:46 #"I Don't Want Nothin' " (Kenny Clarke, <bdi>Jimmy Woode) – 2:53</bdi> #<bdi>"Why and How" (Jimmy Deuchar, Mark Murphy) – 3:02</bdi> # <bdi>"Alone Together" (Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz) – 3:03</bdi> # <bdi>"You Fascinate Me So" (Cy Coleman, Carolyn Leigh) – 4:14</bdi> # <bdi>"Hopeless" (Francy Boland, Murphy) – 4:31</bdi> # <bdi>"Sconsolato" (Woode) – 3:51</bdi> # <bdi>"My Ship" (Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin) – 3:54</bdi> # <bdi>"Just Give Me Time" (Boland, Woode) – 2:39</bdi> # <bdi>"I Get Along Without You Very Well" (Hoagy Carmichael, Jane Brown Thompson) – 4:46</bdi>
== Personnel ==
; Performance
* Mark Murphy – vocals * <bdi>Jimmy Woode – bass</bdi> * <bdi>Francy Boland – piano, arranger</bdi> * <bdi>Kenny Clarke – drums</bdi> * <bdi>Derek Humble – alto saxophone</bdi> * <bdi>Sahib Shihab – baritone saxophone, flute</bdi> * <bdi>Ronnie Scott – tenor saxophone</bdi> * <bdi>Åke Persson – trombone</bdi> * <bdi>Jimmy Deuchar – trumpet</bdi> ; Production
* <bdi>Wolfgang Hirschmann</bdi> – engineer * <bdi>Gigi Campi</bdi> – producer * Heinz Bähr <bdi>–</bdi> original artwork * Keith Lightbody <bdi>– liner notes</bdi> * Stefan Franzen <bdi>– reissue liner notes</bdi>
== References ==
<references />
== External links ==
* ''[https://musicbrainz.org/release-group/5f71da28-b33c-39ee-8490-211cac3c6da3 Midnight Mood]'' at MusicBrainz (release group) * ''[https://www.discogs.com/master/205366-Mark-Murphy-Midnight-Mood Midnight Mood]'' at Discogs (master release) * ''[https://www.allmusic.com/album/midnight-mood-mw0000545620 Midnight Mood]'' at AllMusic (release) * Mark Murphy in MusicHound Jazz at [https://archive.org/ Internet Archive] * Mark Murphy in ''[https://archive.org/search?query=external-identifier%3A%22urn%3Aoclc%3Arecord%3A1280806807%22 The Penguin Guide to Jazz]'' at Internet Archive * Mark Murphy in ''[https://archive.org/search?query=external-identifier%3A%22urn%3Aoclc%3Arecord%3A1036937988%22 The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide]'' at Internet Archive * [https://tedpanken.wordpress.com/2015/10/22/r-i-p-mark-murphy-march-14-1932-oct-21-2015/ Ted Pankin Mark Murphy interviews and liner notes]. * [https://archive.org/search?query=external-identifier%3A%22urn%3Aoclc%3Arecord%3A1319329168%22 Kenny Clarke] at Internet Archive * ''[https://www.mps-music.com/releases/midnight-mood/# Midnight Mood]'' at [https://www.mps-music.com/the-mps-story/ MPS] official website
{{Mark Murphy (singer)}} {{Authority control}}
Category:1968 albums Category:Mark Murphy (singer) albums Category:MPS Records albums