Miko Stefanovic (August 19, 1908 – August 5, 2005), better known as Lyle 'Spud' Murphy, was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and arranger.

Early life

Born Miko Stefanovic to

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation ...

émigré parents in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, Germany, Murphy grew up in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, Utah, where he took the name of a childhood friend.

Music career

Murphy studied clarinet and saxophone when young and took trumpet lessons from

Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. Biography Early life and career Nichols was born in Ogden, Utah, United States. His father was a college music profes ...

's father. He worked with Jimmy Joy in 1927–28 and with

Ross Gorman John Ross Smeed Gorman (November 18, 1890 – February 27, 1953) was an American jazz clarinetist, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist. Gorman is best remembered for his work with Paul Whiteman, particularly his famous clarinet glissando for ' ...

and Slim Lamar (on oboe) in 1928. He worked in the early 1930s as saxophonist and arranger for

Austin Wylie Austin James Wylie (1893 – December 7, 1947) was an American jazz bandleader. Biography Wylie led a dance band in the 1920s and early 1930s which operated as a territory band based out of Cleveland, Ohio, though he also broadcast on national r ...

Jan Garber Jan Garber (born Jacob Charles Garber, November 5, 1894 – October 5, 1977) was an American violinist and jazz bandleader. Biography Garber was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He had his own band by the time he was 21. He became known as "The ...

, Mal Hallett, and

Joe Haymes Joseph Lawrence Haymes (February 10, 1907 – July 10, 1964) was an American jazz bandleader and arranger. Life and career Born in Marshfield, Missouri, United States, Haymes relocated with his family to Springfield, Missouri, after his railroad ...

, then became a staff arranger for

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conc ...

from 1935–1937. At the same time he contributed arrangements for the

Casa Loma Orchestra The Casa Loma Orchestra was an American dance band active from 1929 to 1963. Until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands. With the decline of the b ...

Isham Jones Isham Edgar Jones (January 31, 1894 – October 19, 1956) was an American bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter. Career Jones was born in Coalton, Ohio, United States, to a musical and mining family. His father, Richard Isham Jone ...

, and Les Brown. From 1937–1940 Murphy led a

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

, and from 1938–39 recorded for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

and

Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is a record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of kids' music, blues and jazz in the 1930s and 1940s. It was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced RCA Victor subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebird became known ...

. In the 1940s he moved to Los Angeles, where worked in studios and film music, in addition to writing and teaching the 1200-page ''System of Horizontal Composition'' (a.k.a. "Equal Interval System"). He recorded two jazz albums in the 1950s, but his later career was focused on classical and film music. In the film world, Murphy was staff composer and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

for Columbia Pictures under

Morris Stoloff Morris W. Stoloff (August 1, 1898 – April 16, 1980) was a musical composer. Stoloff worked with Sammy Davis Jr., Dinah Shore, Al Jolson and Frank Sinatra. Life and career Stoloff worked as music director at Columbia Pictures from 1936 to 1962. ...

. He worked on over 50 films, including ''The

Tony Fontane Tony Fontane (born Anthony Trankina; September 18, 1925 – June 30, 1974) was an American recording artist in the 1940s and 1950s who gave up his career in popular music to become a gospel singer following a near-fatal car accident in 1957. His c ...

Story'', which won him the Neff Award for best music score. In addition to being a talented composer, arranger, and musician, Murphy became a renowned educator, writing over 26 books on various topics in music, such as instrumental techniques and

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...

. His crowning achievement was his 12-volume course in composing, arranging, and orchestration for the professional musician titled The Equal Interval System. He taught mostly in Los Angeles but also a special course at the Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary, Canada. He was an instructor who was voted Educator of the Year in 1990 by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. Murphy died in Los Angeles two weeks short of his 97th birthday. In 2003, orchestra leader Dean Mora, a friend of Murphy, recorded some two dozen of his arrangements in a tribute CD, ''Goblin Market''.

Equal Interval System (EIS)

The Equal Interval System (EIS) (also known as the System of Horizontal Composition based on Equal Intervals) is a modern system of music composition developed by Murphy over a lifetime of research. Several courses based upon the EIS system are taught at

Pasadena City College Pasadena City College (PCC) is a public community college in Pasadena, California. History Pasadena City College was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. From 1928 to 1953, it operated as a four-year junior college, combining the l ...

. Many notable composers and arrangers have been students of the Equal Interval System, such as Tom Chase, Gerald Wiggins,

Jimmie Haskell Jimmie Haskell (born Sheridan Pearlman, November 7, 1926 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer and arranger for motion pictures and a wide variety of popular artists, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Stee ...

, Richard Firth, Mary Ekler, David Blumberg, Steve Marston,

Clair Marlo Clara Veseliza, known professionally as Clair Marlo, is a Croatian-American record producer, songwriter, composer, educator, and performer. She is known for her multiplatinum hit singles "'Til They Take My Heart Away" and "Without Me", both fr ...

, Dan Sawyer,

Don Novello Donald Andrew Novello (born January 1, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, singer, writer, film director and producer. He is best known for his work on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1978 to 1980, and again from 1985 to 1986, often as the ...

, Don Peake, Danny Pelfrey,

Craig Sharmat Craig Lynden Sharmat (born October 8, 1957) is an American musician. He composes music for television and film and is an accomplished guitarist whose work has been noticed in the smooth jazz charts. He has scored a wide variety of reality shows ...

, Scott Paige,

James L. Venable James Lewis Venable is an American composer, working primarily in American film and television. He is known for his scores to the animated television series ''The Powerpuff Girls'', ''Samurai Jack'', and ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''. ...

Marcos Valle Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Nélson Marcos, Portug ...

and

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...

Discography

* '' Four Saxophones in Twelve Tones'' (

GNP Crescendo The gross national income (GNI), previously known as gross national product (GNP), is the total domestic and foreign output claimed by residents of a country, consisting of gross domestic product ( GDP), plus factor incomes earned by foreign ...

, 1955) * ''New Orbits in Sound'' (GNP Crescendo, 1955–57) * ''Gone with the Woodwinds'' (

Contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

, 1955) * ''Twelve-Tone Compositions and Arrangements by Lyle'' (Contemporary, 1955)

References

* Dean Mora's Modern Rhythmists, ''Goblin Market'' (Mr. Ace Records) * Scott Yanow, Spud MurphyAllmusic

External links

*
The Equal Interval System

Murphy biography and radio interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Spud 1908 births 2005 deaths American jazz bandleaders American jazz multi-instrumentalists American music arrangers Contemporary Records artists GNP Records artists American people of Serbian descent People from Marin County, California Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) 20th-century American musicians Casa Loma Orchestra members Jazz musicians from California