This outstanding Mark Murphy twofer pairs Rah, recorded for Riverside in 1961, with his second album for Capitol, Hip Parade, recorded in 1959. As an extra bonus, we're also treated to the standout track, ‘Day In – Day Out’, from Murphy's debut album for Capitol, This Could Be the Start of Something. Murphy already had several recordings under his belt before Rah – his debut album Meet Mark Murphy came out in 1956 – but it was certainly the one that cemented his reputation as one of the only genuine jazz singers of his generation. Featuring great arrangements by Ernie Wilkins, Rah kicks off with a superb ‘Angel Eyes’ and never looks back. Whether evoking heartbreak in ‘No Tears For Me’, scatting his way through ‘Milestones’, or breezing through a virtuosic ‘Twisted’, Murphy's fl exible tenor sounds amazingly fresh 40 years on. Accompanied by the Bill Holman orchestra (Holman also conducts and plays tenor/bari sax), highlights from Hip Parade include a lean, rhythmically charged ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ and the wondrously elongated phrases of ‘Witchcraft.’