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7 unusual facts about Turk Murphy


Chris Tyle

Kinch (1917-2011), played with Axel Tyle in the Castle Jazz Band in the late 1940s, and went on to work with the Turk Murphy Jazz Band and the Firehouse Five Plus Two.

In 1979 Tyle played and recorded with the Turk Murphy Jazz Band in San Francisco, then returned to Portland to form a swing music band named Wholly Cats (named after a number written and recorded by Benny Goodman and Count Basie).

Lu Watters

In 1963 he made a bit of a return by playing with Turk Murphy at anti-nuclear rallies.

The Original Salty Dogs Jazz Band

The Salty Dogs play standards and original pieces influenced by the Dixieland artists of the 1910s and 1920s as well as the 1940s and 1950s "revivalists" such as Lu Watters and Turk Murphy.

Turk Murphy

In addition to Luckey, Murphy was a long-time friend of fellow trombonist and Disney animator Ward Kimball who created many memorable caricatures of Murphy and Charles Addams creator of The Addams Family.

Murphy was the singer for the 1971 Sesame Street cartoon shorts, "The Alligator King" and "#9 Martian Beauty" animated and produced by his long-time friend, animator Bud Luckey.

Weldon Kees

Helm had played with Lu Watters and Turk Murphy, both prominent figures in the San Francisco’s New Orleans Revival Movement, which Kees preferred over Bebop.


Mal Hallett

His ensemble featured a large number of sidemen who went on to become noted for their own achievements, including Gene Krupa, Jack Teagarden, Frankie Carle, Jack Jenney, Toots Mondello, Irene Daye, Clark Yocum, Floyd O'Brien, Spud Murphy, Boots Mussulli, Brad Gowans, Turk Murphy, Teddy Grace, and Don Fagerquist.

Terry Waldo

Against the current tide of rock and roll, the young ragtimer played with Turk Murphy's Jazz Band, and studied with other prominent jazz musicians such as Pops Foster, Lu Watters, Wally Rose, and Clancy Hayes, all the while living in a room above Mcgoon's for one dollar per day.


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