Jazz musician and arranger
Bill Holman was Murphy's personal choice for musical director and arranger for the albums. Murphy knew of him from his work with
Stan Kenton, and he was a favorite of
Peggy Lee, who Murphy idolized. Bill Holman described Murphy's role in the arranging process in the liner notes to
This Could Be the Start of Something, "First, being a good piano player, he went into the Capitol studios and recorded a demonstration of each tune the way he heard it, accompanying himself. Second, he knew the exact feeling he wanted on each section of each tune. For example, he was able to indicate where the conga drum should or should not be used to get the sound he wanted . . . equal arranging credit should go to him". The rest of the rhythm section on these albums included bassist
Joe Mondragon, and drummers
Mel Lewis,
Stan Levy, and
Shelly Manne. All of them worked with Peggy Lee. The trumpeters and brothers
Pete and
Conte Candoli appeared on many of the recordings. A Murphy favorite, Murphy and Producer Tom Morgan thought it had potential to be a hit single but Capitol refused to release and promote it as a single. Murphy said, "By that time they had given up on me. They released the album and said Goodbye". The song "
This Could Be the Start of Something" by
Steve Allen was a minor hit for Murphy. But album sales were weak, critical reception was tepid and the reviews were mixed. Murphy said, "I had tried to compromise, which of course was a mistake. People who wanted those songs didn't want to hear me, and people who liked me didn't want to hear those songs . . . We were kind of traumatized." "I'm an alternative singer. In those days we didn't know what to call it", Murphy told Gavin. Murphy's biographer Peter Jones points out that Murphy had grown up and matured with bebop and swing, but he was now trying to achieve stardom in the mainstream commercial record market. "That seemed to mean presenting himself as a young hipster, a swinging cool dude around town, toying with the affections of innumerable women, and having a whale of a time". Jones wrote, "The one thing Murphy hadn't yet tried was just being himself". Although none of his Capitol records were as commercially successful as Murphy and his label had hoped, they marked the beginning of a long, interesting and influential career. Although he never became a star, he would become a highly respected performer noted for his fearlessness and an influential vocal coach. Just before this compilation came out Murphy won the 1996
DownBeat annual reader's poll for best male jazz singer and would win again in 1997. Murphy would next move to
Riverside with his first release for that label in 1961. == Reception ==