Turk Murphy

• Name — Turk Murphy • Landscape — yes • Birth Name — Melvin Edward Alton Murphy • Born — 16 December 1915 • Birthplace — Palermo, California, U.S. • Died — 30 May 1987 • Place of death — San Francisco, California, U.S. • Genre — Traditional jazz, Dixieland jazz • Occupation — Musician, singer, bandleader • Instrument — Trombone • Label — * Good Time Jazz • Verve • Atlantic • GHB • Stomp Off • MPS • Merrymakers • Columbia • Roulette • RCA • Illustration — Turk Murphy Lane in San Francisco

He was born on December 16, 1915, in Palermo, California, United States. 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.

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. Murphy served in the Navy during World War II, during which, he played and recorded with Lu Watters and Bunk Johnson. After the Navy, Murphy continued with Watters. From Friday the 13th, June 1947, through 1950, Murphy performed with Lu Watters and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band at Hambone Kelly's, a 500-capacity nightclub, the former Sally Rand's Hollywood Club on San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito, California. 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. "Turk formed his own band in 1949. They toured nationally with multiple residencies in New York City, making their San Francisco home base the Italian Village club (1952–1954), The Tin Angel (1955–1957), and Easy Street (1957–1959)." In 1951, Turk Murphy's Jazz Band played at the Beverly Cavern, in Hollywood, Los Angeles for six weeks. In 1952, Turk Murphy's Jazz Band, 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. 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. In January 1987, he played Carnegie Hall.

Until 1960, Murphy stayed mostly on the road. Then Murphy and pianist Pete Clute opened their nightclub, Earthquake McGoon's, at 99 Broadway, the former Mr. Z's and earlier, Sail'N, 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. KJAZ radio broadcast live from Earthquake McGoon's, at Pier 39, sponsored by See's Candies.

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. 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.

In 1952, while living in a flat on Chestnut Street, Murphy and Grace broke up. 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. He died on May 30, 1987.

• Richard Cook, Jazz Encyclopedia, London 2007, p. 453