JAZZ REVIEW : Murphy at Ease at Vine St.

Mark Murphy, who opened Wednesday at the Vine St. Bar & Grill, is a member of what seems to have become an almost obsolescent breed, the male jazz singer.

His specialties are vocalese and scat singing. He has written some of his own lyrics for the former, and obviously requires none for the latter.

Opening with “Stolen Moments,” his 1978 adaptation of the Oliver Nelson instrumental, he moved from the vocalese opening to a wordless passage, holding on to one note as if for dear life before plunging into a volley of scat choruses.

“Moody’s Mood for Love,” which followed, has taken a new lease on life since the old King Pleasure version was used on a TV commercial. Murphy dealt with it sensitively, except for a few expendable attempts to vary the original.

Throughout his set he seemed more at ease delivering straight-ahead treatments of standards such as “Skylark” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is” than in the sometimes overweening scat interludes.

Pianist Tom Garvin, who opened the show with an imaginative “Stella by Starlight,” offered several reminders that along with his facility as an accompanist, he ranks among the Southland’s most dependable soloists.

Murphy and his companions will be at Vine St. through Sunday.