Turk grew up in the north-central California farming community of Palermo. When he was 19, he joined the Merle Howard Orchestra where he met Bob Helm, who was in the reed section. The next year (1935) saw him with the Val Bender Orchestra in Texas and then Will Osborne’s big band where he recorded for the first time. He had another stint with a big band (Mal Hallett) before returning to the Bay Area to play Dixieland gigs with Bob Helm. |
| Turk & Lou Watters |
It was at the Dawn Club on Annie Street, behind the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, that the band became a magnet for traditional jazz fans from far and near before and right after World War II. Watters teamed with Bob Scobey to emulate the two-cornet combo of King Oliver and Louis Armstrong in Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band from the 1920s. The band was soon getting offers from the East Coast and Europe, but Watters was reluctant to travel. So in 1949, Turk left the band and formed his own group that initially was known as the Bay City Stompers. But he was told that his name would be more recognizable, so the band henceforth was always the Turk Murphy Jazz Band.
During the 1950s, the band was rarely in San Francisco. For three years, it was based in New York City where they played all the popular clubs of the day such as The Roundtable, Embers and Basin Street East. At The Embers, which was a long narrow room with a small bandstand, and tables jammed tightly together, Turk
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recalled, “We had to stuff rags in our horns to avoid offending people who wanted to carry on conversations at tables right under the band.” .The band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show twice, in 1959 and 1965.
recalled, “We had to stuff rags in our horns to avoid offending people who wanted to carry on conversations at tables right under the band.” .The band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show twice, in 1959 and 1965. K.O. Eckland, in his Jazz West book, wrote, “Despite continual personnel changes, which was typical of bands with such demanding schedules, Murphy retained the integrity of his own sound due to his rigid structuring of the basic music, and by developing his own library of ensemble arrangements.”
By 1960, Turk and his musicians were tired of travel and returned to San Francisco where Turk opened his own club, taking the name from Al Capp’s comic strip, Li’l Abner— Earthquake McGoon’s. When Turk asked for permission to use the name, the cartoonist replied, “I hereby give you permission to use the name Earthquake McGoon as long as you play good jazz and keep your nose clean.” The band became such a SFO fixture that McGoon’s was even included on tourist bus routes.
Turk is the subject of several books that are still available through Amazon. His discography lists over 40 albums. The band appeared on the Ed Sullivan TV Show twice, and Turk sang as a character in two 1971 Sesame Street cartoon shorts. Turk Murphy Day was twice proclaimed by San Francisco mayors—1974 and 1987, the later in connection of band’s sold-out appearance at Carnegie Hall. Turk at the time had been diagnosed with bone cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. It was to be his last public appearance, and he passed away on May 30, 1987 at the age of 71.
Murphy's memorial service drew so many people that all 1,500 seats in Grace Cathedral were filled. It was the traditional jazzman's funeral; there was the solemn liturgy of the Episcopal Church and as counterpoint, the wistful, sometimes sad, sometimes raucous music of the San Francisco Jazz Band echoing in the vaulted ceiling of the cathedral.
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| Turk at Carnegie Hall, 1987 |
(Edited mainly from Lew Shaw’s article in The Syncopated Times)