Chris Murphy - Water Under the Bridge (2017)

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Written by Raymond Burris, posted by blog admin

Renegade jazzman Chris Murphy and his dead aim band The Blind Blake Blues Band tackle winding instrumental passages, dirt road country, rock n’ roll and even a sing-a-long little ditty or three on their debut together Water Under the Bridge.  Murphy (a current LA resident) has been at it awhile and is a true troubadour with a huge back catalog of solo and collaborative work that’s well-worth a look. 

You can tell that everybody was feeling inspired on this record because the chemistry was magnetic, or certainly appears that way because you can feel all of the individual passages of music free-flowing in and out of one another.  It begins with the catchy quirks of “Moveable Feast;” a free-wheeling, feet moving zig-zag jazz swing sort of song kept glued tightly together by some pyrotechnic piano playing, zesty upright bass and doe-si-doe violins calling out the dance floor configurations.  Though the follow-up track “Joan Crawford Dances the Charleston” slows up the groove a little bit, it fits like a hand in a glove with the opener and further explorations that explore all branches of the established path. 

One of the odd yet neato aspects of the band is that they are mostly instrumental.  I’d say about 80% and the above-named tracks didn’t have a single lick of them.  So, just when you least expect it they become a lead part of “Table for Two.”  With satisfying country twang, rhythmically aggressive rockabilly bass licks, wild though somehow tasteful rock n’ roll, rapid fire violin and piano trades the tune goes for break and concocts this superb, melodic rock n’ roll song loaded to the nines on powerful instrumental performances and flawless vocal harmonies.  They swap moods but manage to fluidly integrate the switch in terms of the overall album flow.  This is a Spartan, atmospheric blues where drifting low grooves, hurdy guitar guitars and a crying violin heartbreak equates to golden manna from the Earth’s core itself. 

At all times on Water Under the Bridge Murphy and his band sound like a group of guys having fun playing and challenging their own musical chops to reach for the stars.  The blue-collar, straightforward pop songwriting standard set by “I swear I’m going to learn this time” is so simple but so catchy, you just end up sitting back and wishing that you wrote it.  Again making their bread n’ butter on toe-tapping jazz piano and perfect “blues” violin if it’s something that exists in the first place.  Honestly, it might as Chris’ challenging style reminds me distantly of the legendary Simon House who played with High Tide and Hawkwind.  The playing and dynamics aren’t exactly the same it all, rather just that overwhelming sense of gripping blues heartbreak but back to the song discussion at hand; “I Swear I’m Going to Learn This Time” is a wonderful pop song that just happens to have edge and grit owing to the very ornery and fun country/blues/folk/rockabilly hybrids that Murphy so wonderfully crafts. 

Water Under the Bridge is a very unique collection of songs.  The many moods conjured by the uncensored songwriting style works to the band and the listener’s advantage as the songs move and shift enough that there’s always a melody or hook to come back to that you might have missed on the first round of listens.  It’s a quality like this that is just one of many reasons that Water Under the Bridge is a masterful piece of work.