Orla Murphy

Highlights
* Talented Jazz vocalist
* Varied Line-up Options
* Best rates in the South
* Varied setlist

Orla Murphy is a talented London-based Jazz Vocalist.  Her voice has been described as possessing a distinctive, rich sound with a deep and soulful timbre; and often comparisons are made with great Jazz Vocalists Nina Simone, Cleo Laine, and Diana Krall.

Orla performs regularly at various jazz and music venues throughout London, and the Greater London area, and over the last 7 years has performed at the following notable venues: The National Portrait Gallery, The Spice of Life, The National Theatre Foyer, The Octave, Rays Jazz at Foyles, JAZZ7 at Hugos, Pizza Express (Maidstone) and The Stables at Wavendon.

She has worked and recorded with many of London’s leading jazz musicians, some of which feature on her second album ‘Wonderous Visions’, which was officially released on the 6th March 2012 at the Leicester Square Theatre.  The album is a set of new jazz arrangements of Stevie Wonder songs, chosen mainly from his works from the 1970s - his ‘classic’ period.  Several other songs from outside this period are also featured, plus an original, written by Orla and pianist Steve Lodder.

Orla embarked on a tour of the UK in May and June of 2012, to promote ‘Wonderous Visions’, which included a date in her hometown of Belfast, at the 13th Cathedral Quarter Festival in the city.  It was well received, along with other gigs throughout England, notably at: The Met in Bury, Matt & Phreds in Manchester, The Lescar in Sheffield, Square Chapel Theatre in Halifax and St. Ives Jazz Club in Cornwall.  The tour garnered much praise and attention from audiences throughout the country.

Orla has also performed at various International festivals throughout the UK and Ireland, in Glasgow, Derry, and Sligo; and at jazz venues in her native Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; as well as performing in Italy and Malaysia.
In May 2008, Orla released her debut album 'Wishful Thinking', co-produced with pianist Simon Wallace.  This release coincided with Orla's very successful Jazz Services-funded tour in England, which began at the National Portrait Gallery in London on the 30th May 2008.

Born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Orla’s interest in jazz was fuelled by the plethora of great jazz musicians that performed at her late father’s bar and music room ‘The Bridge’, during the early to mid-1990s. The venue played host to local, national and international jazz musicians such as Paul Dunmall, Jean Touissant and Hugh Fraser.  It was around this time that her interest and love of jazz began, and so too her quest to pursue a career as a Jazz Vocalist.

What people have said about Orla?

"Belfast-born, London-based singer Orla Murphy’s second album, a heartfelt homage to the great Stevie Wonder, is remarkable for two reasons. First, it’s a mark of Wonder’s genius that these songs, written some 40 years ago for his own voice accompanied by electric instruments, stand up so well that an Irish woman singing with an acoustic jazz trio can find plenty to explore in them without ever losing their essential wonderousness. Second, it is a measure of Murphy’s achievement here that she brings something new to the songs...she proves that she has something profound to say about Wonder’s wonderful songs."
- Cormac Larkin, THE IRISH TIMES, (June 2012)

"Orla Murphy’s fine tribute...presents a superb cross-section of classic Wonder songs...It’s the musical equivalent of tantric sex.  The entirely skip-proof collection also features the singer’s gorgeous, long-lined phrasing in ‘Another Star’... Murphy’s wonderfully rich timbre and warm vibrato...on the lyrical riches of slower material... If you haven’t heard Murphy yet, then Wonderous Visions – her second album – should definitely make it on to your wish list."
- Peter Quinn, JAZZWISE (May 2012)

"...true devotees [of Stevie Wonder] are beginning to declare themselves, and none more lovingly than Orla Murphy...a deep well of bittersweet Irish blues in her voice...delivers 10 Stevie classics with real feeling and a laid-back elegance. Visions, Big Brother and Too High (a prophetic epitaph for Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston) are particularly fine, and her own song, Timeless, is a neat overview of her mentor’s career..."
- Jack Massarik, THE LONDON EVENING STANDARD, (March 2012)