Paul Murphy

Career

Murphy began playing drums at a very early age, and made the acquaintance of Gene Krupa at age six. He went on to study with Krupa, Louis Bellson, and Joseph Levitt, the principal percussionist of the National Symphony Orchestra and director of the Peabody Conservatory.

At age sixteen, Murphy began playing in the Washington, D.C. area with Duke Ellington's bassist Billy Taylor, who exposed him to the music of pianist Cecil Taylor. At Billy Taylor's advice, Murphy moved to San Francisco, where he established himself as a bandleader. While there, he met and befriended Cecil Taylor and Jimmy Lyons. At the suggestion of Lyons, he then moved to New York, where he managed Ali's Alley, a club run by drummer Rashied Ali, and began playing and recording with Lyons' groups as well as his own quintet. While in New York, Murphy immersed himself in both the experimental jazz and punk rock scenes.

Following Lyons' untimely death in 1986, Murphy spent time playing drums in Las Vegas, then moved back to San Francisco, where he formed Trio Hurricane with saxophonist Glenn Spearman and bassist William Parker. He moved back to the Washington, D.C. area in 1990, and has since collaborated with pianists Joel Futterman and Larry Willis, poet Jere Carroll, and others.

Murphy has been described as "a fluent, compositionally minded master drummer." One reviewer wrote "It is hard to believe that Murphy is actually moving through space as he moves from one part of the drum set to another because the action is seamless... Murphy uses every tool he has on every drum surface; hands, brushes, mallets and sticks on snare, tom, cymbals, bass and bongos. The drumming possesses substantial physicality even in its subtleties, and often an incredibly rapid and feather-light touch." Another reviewer described him as "a drummer/sound painter who totally trusts his wildest creative impulses."

Discography

As leader or co-leader

In a Dream Stream: Paul Murphy at CBS (Murphy Records, 1981 [1983]) with Mary Anne Driscoll

Red Snapper: Paul Murphy at CBS (CIMP, 1982 [2003]) with Jimmy Lyons, Dewey Johnson, Karen Borca, Mary Anne Driscoll

Cloudburst: Paul Murphy at RCA (Murphy Records, 1983) with Jimmy Lyons, Dewey Johnson, Karen Borca, Mary Anne Driscoll

Breakaway (Murphy Records, 2001) with Joel Futterman and Jere Carroll

Enarre (Cadence, 2002) with Joel Futterman and Kash Killion

Shadow * Intersections * West (Cadence, 2004) with Marco Eneidi and Kash Killion

The Powers of Two (Mapleshade, 2004) with Larry Willis

The Powers of Two, Volume 2 (Mapleshade, 2006) with Larry Willis

Excursions (Murphy Records, 2007 [2008]) with Larry Willis

Exposé (Murphy Records, 2008) with Larry Willis

Foundations (Murphy Records, 2009) with Larry Willis

Freedom's Bell (Murphy Records, 2017) with Larry Willis, Jere Carroll, and Dominic Fragman

With Trio Hurricane (Murphy, Glenn Spearman, and William Parker)

Suite of Winds (Black Saint Records, 1986)

Live at Fire in the Valley (Eremite Records, 1997)

As sideman

With Jimmy Lyons

Riffs (hat MUSICS, 1982)

Wee Sneezawee (Black Saint Records, 1984)

Give It Up (Black Saint Records, 1985)

The Box Set (Ayler Records, 2003)

With Larry Willis

Sunshower (Mapleshade, 2001)

With Raphe Malik

Companions (Eremite Records, 2002)

With Eddie Gale

A Minute With Miles (Mapleshade, 1992)

With Mary Anne Driscoll

Inside Out (CIMP, 2004)

With Kendra Shank

Afterglow (Mapleshade, 1994)

With Windmill Saxophone Quartet

Touch of Evil (Mapleshade, 2002)

Compilations

Vision Volume One: Vision Festival 1997 Compiled (AUM Fidelity, 1998)

Documentaries

Inside Out in the Open