Recorded live at San Francisco's legendary Keystone Korner in June 1980, and sandwiched between his 1979 album Satisfaction Guaranteed and his classic 1981 album Bop for Kerouac, the previously unreleased Wild and Free finds Mark Murphy at the height of his powers. Incredible dynamic control, time-bending phrasing, fearless scatting, a singularly persuasive way with a song's expressive arc, this is vintage Murphy. The medley ‘It Might as Well be Spring’/‘Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most’ is a touching triumph, the first performed as an intimate duet between Murphy and Potyen. Other highlights include an extraordinarily virtuosic ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy’ and ‘Bijou’, the latter from Satisfaction Guaranteed and one of a number of songs from the repertoire of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. ‘Body and Soul’, a Murphy favourite, is absolutely mesmerising here, with the singer pouring his heart into one of the very finest ballads. His complete, almost foreboding, reimagining of ‘I've Got You Under My Skin’ delivers such a powerful emotional jolt at its climax that the music stays with you for days.