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Alex Murphy to play four venues plus Sinatra show at Vero Voce Theater
![[St. Charles native Alex Murphy will perform during St. Charles Jazz Weekend festivities and at a special concert celebrating Frank Sinatra on Sept. 6.]
ST. CHARLES – Dozens of events are about to put the arts and entertainment scene in St. Charles into overdrive with the start of the 10-day ArtsFest. It will partner with the St. Charles Jazz Weekend from Sept. 6 to 9, whose lineup showcases a hometown young talent, Alex Murphy.
"My first summer playing the St. Charles Jazz Weekend was the summer in between my senior year in high school and freshman year at college," said Murphy, a pianist who is starting his final year at DePaul University in Chicago, pursuing a performance degree in jazz studies. He played in the Chicago Jazz Festival on Aug. 30 at the Chicago Cultural Center.
Before his first of four appearances for the St. Charles Jazz Weekend, his local performances kick off at 8 p.m. Sept. 6 in a program of Frank Sinatra classics that Murphy has arranged, and which will be sung by a founder of Chicago Jazz Magazine, Daniel Ferris, whom he calls a wonderful vocalist.
Joined by Murphy's trio, their program at Vero Voce Theater will be "staying very true to Frank's allure and his light-heartedness," Murphy told Kane Weekend Editor Renee Tomell. The following is an edited version of the rest of their conversation, plus a sneak preview of the ArtsFest happening Sept. 7 to 16 from Alison Bastian, executive director of the St. Charles Arts Council.](7354f359-1f9e-4eb4-9fc9-ee3f65a6aeb3/image-pv_web.jpg)
[St. Charles native Alex Murphy will perform during St. Charles Jazz Weekend festivities and at a special concert celebrating Frank Sinatra on Sept. 6.]
ST. CHARLES – Dozens of events are about to put the arts and entertainment scene in St. Charles into overdrive with the start of the 10-day ArtsFest. It will partner with the St. Charles Jazz Weekend from Sept. 6 to 9, whose lineup showcases a hometown young talent, Alex Murphy.
"My first summer playing the St. Charles Jazz Weekend was the summer in between my senior year in high school and freshman year at college," said Murphy, a pianist who is starting his final year at DePaul University in Chicago, pursuing a performance degree in jazz studies. He played in the Chicago Jazz Festival on Aug. 30 at the Chicago Cultural Center.
Before his first of four appearances for the St. Charles Jazz Weekend, his local performances kick off at 8 p.m. Sept. 6 in a program of Frank Sinatra classics that Murphy has arranged, and which will be sung by a founder of Chicago Jazz Magazine, Daniel Ferris, whom he calls a wonderful vocalist.
Joined by Murphy's trio, their program at Vero Voce Theater will be "staying very true to Frank's allure and his light-heartedness," Murphy told Kane Weekend Editor Renee Tomell. The following is an edited version of the rest of their conversation, plus a sneak preview of the ArtsFest happening Sept. 7 to 16 from Alison Bastian, executive director of the St. Charles Arts Council.
[Alex Murphy is shown playing at the 2017 Chicago Jazz Festival, where he just had a repeat appearance Aug. 30.]
Renee Tomell: How did you pick the piano for your instrument?
Alex Murphy: I switched my focus solely to piano my sophomore year in high school [St. Charles East]. I wanted to play drums from an early age. I took piano lessons in first or second grade. I started playing bass in second grade, drums in fifth grade. … It turns out I had a knack for piano … a calling for this.
Tomell: Many people know your dad, Rob Murphy, for his role in the arts including as French horn artist. How did that affect your path?
Murphy: My dad raised me very much in a musical family. My grandpa was a child prodigy pianist. All my dad's brothers studied music in college in some capacity. My dad was the director of the St. Charles Art and Music Festival when I was [very young]. I was always surrounded by amazing art and amazing music.
My godfather is Jeff Hunt, founder of the St. Charles Singers, an incredible musician in his own right. There was no shortage of a musical environment that I existed in. I was always able to choose what I wanted to do as a kid. Never [told] I had to do music. It always seemed I desired to do something musical.
Tomell: Who will be in your trio of fellow DePaul seniors at all your Jazz Weekend appearances?
Murphy: The bassist's name is Simon Ciaccio of Evanston. The drummer is Jeremy Benshish of South Elgin, who went to St. Charles North High School. At The Filling Station Pub & Grill from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, I'm playing [with my] quartet with Jack Macklin … on guitar, a St. Charles native [who] will be a sophomore [at] DePaul.
Tomell: What are your plans after school?
Murphy: Eventually I'd like … to potentially look at post-grad work … but ideally I'd like to go to New York for a little bit … to test out what it's like. It's a very competitive environment. [But] I think Chicago will always be the place where I reside. Chicago has some of the best musicians [and] a pretty welcoming music scene. They nurture a lot of young growth, which has been great for me. I enjoy the things the younger musicians are doing in Chicago within the jazz scene, whether it's more hip hop influenced stuff or more modern.
[ArtsFest will include numerous gallery events across town, and will represent all the arts including partnering with the St. Charles Jazz Weekend.]
Tomell: You're not only arranging, but composing as well?
Murphy: I am currently in the process of releasing a couple singles of my own compositions. We're still in a place where we're learning so much. … You have to go through the process of deciding how you want the music to be perceived. It's so personal when you're writing, you're composing [and] you have a band that brings it to life – [that] personal element, something that's yours.
Tomell: You will play at The Wine Exchange at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 8 and also have two appearances the final day of the festivities?
Murphy: On Sunday morning, I'll be doing the 9 a.m. jazz service at Baker Memorial United Methodist Church. That is my home church. There will be a member of the church singing with us. I'm playing a charity event – with the trio – later that day called "An Evening of Random Acts" … at Mount St. Mary Park. We're closing the night from 6:15 to 6:55 p.m. [To learn more, visit RandomActsMatter.com.]
Tomell: How can people keep track of where you'll be performing in general?
Murphy: Follow me on Instagram at @alexmurphyjazz and Facebook. A sure-fire way to see my group would be to come and buy a ticket to Vero Voce at verovoce.com.
Tomell: Alison, how broad is the scope of the St. Charles Arts Council's ArtsFest this year and are there new elements?
Alison Bastian: ArtsFest was developed as a way to incorporate all arts organizations across all of St. Charles. We want to promote the fact that we're representative of arts of all disciplines. We tend to be visual arts, [but we're] using this event to include other arts – music, performance, dance, spoken word and poetry [for the] first time. Poems … will be made into 24-by-36-inch posters and displayed in some of the storefronts.
We have a lot of galleries and we have [the] poetry crawl new to the event. Outside of that, we have tons of performing art [including] Jazz Weekend. We involve all of what's going on at the Mainstage Theater at Pheasant Run, Steel Beam Theatre ["Girls Night!" is a revue of Broadway musicals written by women],… the Marquee Youth Stage and LUX Dance Studio. There'll be live music and dancing the night of the reception – from 6 to 8 Sept. 7.
To see all the attractions and the full schedule extending until Sept. 16 and beyond at some venues, visit stcharlesartscouncil.org/artsfest-2018. For more on jazz events, go to downtownstcharles.org/dscp_events/stc-jazz-weekend.