| Band Members | Pianist Greg Murphy can burn with the best of them. Referred to as “the embodiment of liquid flame” in Cadence Magazine, and having played with and been nurtured by great musicians representing the traditions of New Orleans, Chicago, and New York, Greg has developed his own voice, which truly makes him part of the jazz lineage. Add to that a compositional style that represents a variety of jazz traditions, a teaching style that adapts to the student, and a learning approach that embraces all possibilities, Greg has the whole package.
He began his musical adventures in 1971 when he joined the Ray-Fisk Grammar School Band in Chicago. His classical studies began later that year with Lucia Santini at Roosevelt University. Between 1980 and 1984, he played with the jazz/funk band LFTR, The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Big Band, The Northern Illinois University (NIU) Big Band, and other local Chicago bands.
After being awarded a jazz study grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1984, Greg went to New Orleans to study with the eminent pianist and jazz educator, Ellis Marsalis. He decided to remain there and began recording and performing with The New Orleans Jazz Couriers, Percussion Incorporated, and his own group, The Fusicians. The percussion Incorporated album Drum Talk was recorded and released in 1987. While living in the crescent city, Greg performed with Donald Harrison, Wynton Marsalis, and countless other great musicians.
Greg moved to New York in 1987 and began what has become a long association with multi-directional drummer, Rashied Ali. Greg has been performing and recording with Ali and his various groups throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States, from 1987 to the present. One tour in 1990 featured Carlos Santana and Archie Shepp. During 1989, Greg went to Tokyo, Japan with his trio for two months, and toured the United States with a quartet. In 1990, saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman asked Greg to put together a rhythm section for a performance of Coleman’s new, jazz-funk original music. The month-long project resulted in a successful performance. Later that year, he led a septet (Club Bird Jazz All Stars) in Yokohama for three months, and in 1991 he performed solo in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada--where he was born. During this period he studied in New York City with Ron Carter and Jaki Byard at City College and The Manhattan School of Music, as well as privately with Larry Willis and Walter Bishop Jr. In 1995 and 1996, he recorded Meditations and Bells with Rashied Ali and Prima Materia on the Knitting Factory Works label. In 1999, Worldbeat records released A Mano with Raphael Cruz, and Heart Sound with Tisziji Munoz was released on the Anami record label. In 2001, No One in Particular, again with Ali, was released on the Survival record label, and Greg wrote the title tune. Let’s Get Started, his first recording as a leader, was released in 2004. Greg had a two-month engagement in Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China in 2005; then in May, 2006 he graduated from New Jersey City University where he received a Bachelors of Music Degree in Jazz Performance while studying piano and arranging with Allen Farnham and Pete McGuiness. Also in 2006, Greg’s CD Orientation was released on the Murphasaurus record label, coinciding with two new releases by The Rashied Ali Quintet: Judgment Day Vol. 1 and Judgment Day Vol. 2 on the Survival record label. All three of these releases received significant airplay and spent several weeks on the charts. In 2008 Raphael Cruz released his new CD Time Travel, and Greg launched a new online mp3 store called JazzIntensity.com. In 2009 Live In Europe by the Rashied Ali Quintet was released on the Survival Records label.
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