Turk Murphy

{{Short description|American jazz trombonist, band leader (1915–1987)}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Turk Murphy | image = TurkMurphy.jpg | image_size = 250 | landscape = yes | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Melvin Edward Alton Murphy | birth_date = {{birth date|1915|12|16}} | birth_place = Palermo, California, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1987|5|30|1915|12|16}} | death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | genre = Traditional jazz, Dixieland jazz | occupation = Musician, singer, bandleader | instrument = Trombone | years_active = | label = {{plainlist| *Good Time Jazz<ref name="JREV3.5">{{cite book |title=Jazz Review Vol 3 Num 5 |date=June 1960 |url=https://www.jazzstudiesonline.org/files/jso/resources/pdf/JREV3.5Full.pdf |chapter=Bunk Johnson-Lu Watters by J. S. Shipman}}</ref> *Verve *Atlantic *GHB *Stomp Off *MPS *Merrymakers *Columbia *Roulette *RCA<ref name="thejazztome/turk-murphy">{{cite web |title=Murphy, Turk |url=https://thejazztome.info/glossary/turk-murphy/ |website=Richard Cook’s Jazz Encyclopedia |publisher=The Jazz Tome |access-date=4 February 2026 |date=2005}}</ref> }}  }} thumb|right|250px|Turk Murphy Lane in San Francisco

'''Melvin Edward Alton "Turk" Murphy''' (December 16, 1915 – May 30, 1987)<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|pages=1781/2}}</ref> was an American trombonist and bandleader, who played traditional and Dixieland jazz.

==Early life== He was born on December 16, 1915, in Palermo, California, United States.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> He attended Williams High School and graduated in 1933. The building now houses the Sacramento Valley Museum. Murphy was a stutterer, but not when singing or announcing.<ref name="Leigh/trad_jazz_2">{{cite news |last1=Leigh |first1=James |title=Traditional Jazz Scene in the SF Bay Area and Southern California, Part Two: Becoming Turk Murphy |url=http://www.jazzwest.com/articles/trad_jazz_2.html |access-date=4 February 2026 |work=JazzWest.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020312104908/http://www.jazzwest.com/articles/trad_jazz_2.html |archive-date=March 12, 2002}}</ref>

==Career== From 1937, Murphy was a trombonist for Lu Watters and, in 1940, with Watters' Yerba Buena Jazz Band, formed to play at San Francisco's Dawn Club.<ref name="thejazztome/turk-murphy"/> Murphy served in the Navy during World War II, during which, he played and recorded with Lu Watters and Bunk Johnson.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> After the Navy, Murphy continued with Watters.<ref name="thejazztome/turk-murphy"/>

From Friday the 13th, June 1947, through 1950,<ref name="sftjf/wd161gp9938">{{cite web |title=Hambone Kelly's, Turk Murphy. reel no. 35 |url=https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/wd161gp9938 |website=The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=3 February 2026 |location=El Cerrito (Calif.) |date=March 23, 1950 |quote=Yerba Buena Jazz Band}}</ref> Murphy performed with Lu Watters and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band at Hambone Kelly's,<ref name="El-Cerrito-HS/Hambone">{{cite web |title=Hambone Kelly's Home to Lively Jazz Scene in Post-war El Cerrito |url=https://www.elcerritohistoricalsociety.org/posts/hambone-kellys-home-to-lively-jazz-scene-to-post-war-el-cerrito |website=El Cerrito Historical Society |access-date=3 February 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251127141639/https://www.elcerritohistoricalsociety.org/posts/hambone-kellys-home-to-lively-jazz-scene-to-post-war-el-cerrito |archive-date=November 27, 2025}}</ref><ref name="artisticafineart/henry-major-why-worry">{{cite web |title=The Gay Philosopher, Why Worry? by Henry Major |url=https://artisticafineart.com/products/the-gay-philosopher-why-worry-by-henry-major |website=Artistica Fine Art |access-date=3 February 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260203162100/https://artisticafineart.com/products/the-gay-philosopher-why-worry-by-henry-major |archive-date=3 February 2026 |language=en}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20260203161923/https://artisticafineart.com/cdn/shop/products/NY2901-The-Gay-Philosopher-Why-Worry-by-Henry-Major.jpg JPG]</ref> a 500-capacity nightclub, the former ''Sally Rand's Hollywood Club'' on San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito, California.<ref name="El-Cerrito-HS/Hambone"/> A county line bisected ''Hambone Kelly's''. ''Hambone Kelly's'' had a front bar in Alameda County and a larger back-room bar in Contra Costa County.<ref name="Runkle/1978/SF-Bay-Jazz-Clubs-1950s">{{cite web |last1=Runkle |first1=R. Bret |title=Bay Area Jazz Clubs of The 'Fifties |url=http://jazzhotbigstep.com/RUNKLE_BAY_AREA_JAZZ_CLUBS_OF_THE_FIFTIES.pdf |website=JAZZ RHYTHM jazzhotbigstep.com |publisher=Dave Radlauer |access-date=4 February 2026 |location=Berkeley |date=1978 |quote=Notes for Typed Version of Runkle Manuscript Typed by Joe Spencer, March/April 2015 from copy provided by Dave Radlauer; Typed verbatim (I was assisted generously and patiently in this undertaking by Walt Yost, Turk Murphy, Dick Oxtot, Ev Farey and PT Stanton. Russell Glynn, Sanford Newbauer, Bob Helm, Bob Meilke, Bill Bardin, Pete Clute, Lee Valencia, Burt Bales, Dave Polos, Earl Scheelar, Devon Hawkins, Bunky Colman, and Jack Buck also lent their memories. Ray Landsberg, Walt Yost, Mike Duffy and Ray Skjelbred assisted with interviews. Special thanks to Turk, who took the trouble to assemble his recollections in a comprehensive letter. Special thanks also to Dick Oxtot, who loaned me his newspaper clipping file.)}}</ref>

<blockquote>"Turk formed his own band in 1949.<ref name="newspapers/461079120"/> They toured nationally with multiple residencies in New York City, making their San Francisco home base the Italian Village club (1952–1954),<ref name="sfmuseum/bio/turk">{{cite web |title=Turk Murphy at the Italian Village - 1953 |url=http://www.sfmuseum.org/bio/turk.html |website=www.sfmuseum.org - Virtual Museum of San Francisco |access-date=3 February 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250217170207/http://www.sfmuseum.org/bio/turk.html |archive-date=February 17, 2025}}</ref> The Tin Angel (1955–1957), and Easy Street<ref name="playboy/1958/04/books">{{cite news |title=Books |url=https://www.playboy.com/magazine/articles/1958/04/books |access-date=4 February 2026 |work=Playboy |date=1958-04-01 |language=en |quote=San Francisco's newest jazz rookery, Easy Street (2215 Powell), is the first of a series of similar across-the-country clubs operated by a corporation that boasts Mr. Turk Murphy as an exec.}}</ref><ref name="sftjf/the-clubs">{{cite web |title=The Clubs |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/sftjf/feature/the-clubs |website=The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=4 February 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703005825/https://exhibits.stanford.edu/sftjf/feature/the-clubs |archive-date=3 July 2019 |language=en |quote=Easy Street, 2215 Powell Street; Dawn Club, 20 Annie Street; Club Hangover, 729 Bush Street; C.I.O. Hall, 150 Golden Gate Avenue, Bunk Johnson with members of the Yerba Buena Jazz Band, 1944, later, The Green Room, for Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band, 1947; Italian Village, 901 Columbus Avenue; Sail’N, 99 Broadway ... building was purchased by Turk Murphy and Pete Clute in 1960; Tin Angel, 981 Embarcadero Bands led by Turk Murphy, Bob Scobey, Kid Ory, George Lewis, Lizzie Miles, Wally Rose, Bob Hodes, Bob Mielke, and others performed here before the club was sold to Kid Ory in 1958. Ory changed the address to number 987 and renamed the club "On The Levee" and led the house band; Hambone Kelly's 204 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito;}}</ref> (1957–1959)."<ref name="discogs/683200">{{cite web |title=Turk Murphy's San Francisco Jazz Band - Live At Easy Street |url=https://www.discogs.com/master/683200-Turk-Murphys-San-Francisco-Jazz-Band-Live-At-Easy-Street |website=discogs |access-date=4 February 2026 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="sftjf/turk"/></blockquote>

In 1951, Turk Murphy's Jazz Band played at the ''Beverly Cavern'', in Hollywood, Los Angeles for six weeks.<ref name="trad_jazz_1">{{cite news |title=Record Shops & Old Masters |url=http://www.jazzwest.com/articles/trad_jazz_1.html |access-date=4 February 2026 |work=JazzWest |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020828203330/http://www.jazzwest.com/articles/trad_jazz_1.html |archive-date=August 28, 2002}}</ref>

In 1952, Turk Murphy's Jazz Band,<ref name="LarkinGE"/><ref name="newspapers/461079120">{{cite news |last1=Wasserman |first1=John |title=Bookings in the Months to Come |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/461079120/ |access-date=2 February 2026 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |via=Newspapers.com |date=10 March 1974 |location=San Francisco, California |quote=Turk Murphy, whose Dixieland band is currently celebrating 25 years ... was recently the recipient of a citation ... from the White House. }}</ref> included pianist Wally Rose, clarinetist Bob Helm, banjoist Dick Lammi, and tubaist Bob Short.

In April 1959, Turk's band was playing at ''Easy Street'', 2215 Powell.<ref name="Leigh/trad_jazz_4"/>

After Earthquake McGoon's closed, Turk Murphy's Jazz Band performed at the New Orleans Room in the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill, San Francisco.<ref name="sftjf/mcgoon-s"/><ref name="newspapers/460948772">{{cite news |title=Night Life |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/460948772/ |access-date=3 February 2026 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |agency=|via=Newspapers.com |date=2 June 1985 |location=San Francisco, California |quote=FAIRMONT HOTEL New Orleans Room, Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 p.m.: Turk Murphy Jazz Band. Sunday and Monday: Jimmy Price and friends. Lobby level. Tonga Room: Tuesday through Saturday: Joe Alvarez Trio. Sunday and Monday: Lisa Sanchez Trio. Terrace level.}}</ref>

In January 1987, he played Carnegie Hall.<ref name="Wilson"/>

==Earthquake McGoon's== Until 1960, Murphy stayed mostly on the road.<ref name="cypresslawn/turk">{{cite web |title=Melvin “Turk” Murphy |url=https://cypresslawnheritagefoundation.org/melvin-turk-murphy/ |website=Cypress Lawn Heritage Museum |access-date=2 February 2026 |date=4 September 2020}}</ref> Then Murphy and pianist Pete Clute opened their nightclub,<ref name="sftjf/mcgoon-s">{{cite web |title=Earthquake McGoon's |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/sftjf/feature/earthquake-mcgoon-s |website=The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=2 February 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704033702/https://exhibits.stanford.edu/sftjf/feature/earthquake-mcgoon-s |archive-date=4 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="cypresslawn/turk"/> Earthquake McGoon's,<ref name="Wilson">{{cite news|last1=Wilson|first1=John S.|title=Turk Murphy to Perform at Carnegie|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/01/09/arts/pop-jazz-turk-murphy-to-perform-at-carnegie.html?pagewanted=1|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=30 December 2016|date=9 January 1987}}</ref> at 99 Broadway, the former ''Mr. Z's'' and earlier, ''Sail'N'',<ref name="Leigh/trad_jazz_4">{{cite news |last1=Leigh |first1=James |title=Traditional Jazz Scene in the SF Bay Area and Southern California, Part Four: Open That Golden Gate |url=http://www.jazzwest.com/articles/trad_jazz_4.html |access-date=4 February 2026 |work=JazzWest.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020220133310/http://www.jazzwest.com/articles/trad_jazz_4.html |archive-date=2002-02-20}}</ref> which opened in 1960, then moved to 630 Clay Street, operated for sixteen years, moving to 128 The Embarcadero then Pier 39, closing in 1984.<ref name="sftjf/turk">{{cite web |title=Turk Murphy |url=https://exhibits.stanford.edu/sftjf/feature/turk-murphy |website=The San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=2 February 2026 |language=en |date=23 March 2018 |quote=In 1960, Turk opened his San Francisco nightclub, Earthquake McGoon's, at 99 Broadway. The second Earthquake McGoon's, at 630 Clay Street, operated for sixteen years before moving to two other locations and closing in 1984.}}</ref> KJAZ radio broadcast live from Earthquake McGoon's, at Pier 39, sponsored by See's Candies.<ref name="sftjf/mcgoon-s"/>

==Television== The band appeared on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' twice, in 1959 and 1965. In 1979, Robert Schulz began an eight-year stint with the band. Other notable band members included trumpeters Don Kinch and Leon Oakley; pianists Pete Clute, Don Keeler, and Ray Skjelbred; banjoist Carl Lunsford, tuba and trombonist Bill Carroll, singers Pat Yankee and Jimmy Stanislaw.<ref name="Shaw">{{cite web|last1=Shaw|first1=Lew|title=Turk Murphy's Respect for the Past|url=https://syncopatedtimes.com/turk-murphys-respect-for-the-past/|website=The Syncopated Times|access-date=5 April 2020|date=1 September 2018}}</ref>

Murphy was the singer for the 1971 ''Sesame Street'' cartoon shorts, "The Alligator King" and "No. 9 Martian Beauty". They were animated and produced by his friend Bud Luckey. Murphy arranged and performed on many of Luckey's other ''Sesame Street'' animated shorts.

==Personal life== In 1952, while living in a flat on Chestnut Street, Murphy and Grace broke up.<ref name="Leigh/trad_jazz_2"/><ref name="Leigh/trad_jazz_3">{{cite news |last1=Leigh |first1=James |title=Traditional Jazz Scene in the SF Bay Area and Southern California, Part Three: Mister Leader Man |url=http://www.jazzwest.com/articles/trad_jazz_3.html |access-date=4 February 2026 |work=JazzWest.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020312085508/http://www.jazzwest.com/articles/trad_jazz_3.html |archive-date=2002-03-12}}</ref>

He was friend of trombonist and Disney animator Ward Kimball, who created many memorable caricatures of Murphy, and Charles Addams, creator of the Addams Family.{{cn|date=February 2026}}

He died on May 30, 1987.<ref name="LarkinGE"/>

==Discography== * 1950 ''San Francisco Jazz, Vol. 1'' (Good Time Jazz) * 1950 ''In Hollywood'' * 1951 ''San Francisco Jazz, Vol. 2'' (Good Time Jazz) * 1952 ''Turk Murphy with Claire Austin'' (Good Time Jazz) * 1953 ''Barrelhouse Jazz'' (Columbia) * 1954 ''When the Saints Go Marching In'' (Columbia) * 1954 ''Music of Jelly Roll Morton'' (Columbia) * 1955 ''Dancing Jazz'' (Columbia) * 1956 ''New Orleans Jazz Festival'' (Columbia) * 1957 ''New Orleans Shuffle'' (Columbia) * 1957 ''George Lewis & Turk Murphy at Newport'' (Verve) * 1957 ''Music for Losers'' (Verve) * 1958 ''Turk Murphy at Easy Street'' (Verve) * 1958 ''Live at Easy Street, Vol. 1'' (Dawn Club) * 1959 ''Turk Murphy at the Round Table'' (Roulette) * 1959 ''Music for Wise Guys and Boosters'' (Roulette) * 1962 ''Let the Good Times Roll'' * 1972 ''In Concert, Vol. 1'' (GHB) * 1972 ''Turk Murphy and His San Francisco Jazz Band, Vol. 2'' (GHB) * 1972 ''In Concert, Vol. 2'' (GHB) * 1972 ''Turk Murphy'' (GHB) * 1972 ''Turk Murphy and His San Francisco Jazz Band, Vol. 1'' (GHB) * 1972 ''Turk Murphy's Jazz Band'' (Merrymakers) * 1973 ''Frisco Jazz Band, Live!'' (MPS) * 1973 ''The Earthquake McGoon Recordings'' (Merrymakers) * 1980 ''A Natural High'' (Bainbridge) * 1986 ''Concert in the Park'' (Merrymakers) * 1986 ''San Francisco Memories'' (Merrymakers) * 1986 ''Southern Stomps'' (Lake) * 1987 ''Turk at Carnegie'' (Stomp Off) * 1995 ''San Francisco Jazz'' (Merrymakers) * 1995 ''Turk Murphy's San Francisco Jazz Band'' (Merrymakers) * 1995 ''Sentimental Journeys'' (Merrymakers) * 1995 ''Live from the Rathskellar, Vol. 2'' (Merrymakers) * 1995 ''Live from the Rathskellar, Vol. 1'' (Merrymakers) * 1998 ''Live at Carson Hot Springs'' * 2000 ''Recorded Live at the Cinegrill: 1950'' * 2006 ''Turk's DeLight'' (Jasmine)<ref name="AM discog">{{cite web|title=Turk Murphy - Album Discography|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/turk-murphy-mn0000805536/discography|website=AllMusic|access-date=30 December 2016}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Other sources== * Richard Cook, ''Jazz Encyclopedia'', London 2007, p. 453

== External links == * [https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/6798695 San Francisco Traditional Jazz Foundation Collection, 1930-2006] - Stanford University ::"The collection comprehensively covers the career of Turk Murphy", with related materials about Earthquake McGoon's, Lu Watters, Kid Ory, Burt Bales, Clancy Hayes, Bob Scobey, Bob Helm, Wally Rose, Dick Lammi, Bill Dart, Don Noakes, William Miskell and similar; containing: texts, audio, visuals, images, film, and video; * [http://www.sfmuseum.org/bio/turk.html Turk Murphy] - Virtual Museum of San Francisco * Charles Duff Campbell, Leon Oakley, John Gill, Bob Schulz and Linda Jensen, Pat Yankee, Bill Carter, Carl Lunsford, Richard Hadlock, “[https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/218613/files/murphy_turk.pdf TURK MURPHY, EARTHQUAKE MCGOON’S, AND THE NEW ORLEANS REVIVAL]” conducted by Caroline Crawford 2007-2009, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2011. * [https://www.jazzdisco.org/turk-murphy/ Turk Murphy] - ''Jazz Discography Project'' * [https://web.archive.org/web/20190821114158/https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/turk-murphy Turk Murphy] - ''Jazz Music Archives'' * [https://www.jazzology.com/jazzbeat.php?id=40 Turk Murphy 1915-1987] - Jazzology Records *{{Find a Grave|7689067}} *{{IMDb name|0614765}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Turk}} Category:1915 births Category:1987 deaths Category:American jazz trombonists Category:American male trombonists Category:Dixieland jazz musicians Category:People from Butte County, California Category:Singers from California Category:American jazz singers Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American trombonists Category:Jazz musicians from California Category:20th-century American male musicians Category:American male jazz musicians Category:Yerba Buena Jazz Band members Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Verve Records artists Category:Stomp Off artists Category:Jazzology Records artists Category:Roulette Records artists Category:MPS Records artists Category:Good Time Jazz Records artists Category:Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park