Don Murray

Everything associated with veteran engineer and producer Don Murray seems vast. The list of mega-qualities includes phenomenal production values and a larger-than-life recording soundstage, leading to commentary that could be mistaken for the idle chatter of people-watchers: "...the bottom end is enormous." So is Murray's discography, beginning in the early '70s as the R&B sensations the Spinners began to really hit their stride. It was in the company of this group's producer, Thom Bell, that Murray began to develop a knack for capturing a clear, full sound for each instrument. This was not only an important aspect of the original Philly soul sound pioneered by Bell and other producers, but a desirable asset for any recording project from original soundtrack to jazz fusion. A guitarist himself, who contributed to the thick pudding of sounds on albums such as the Spinners' 1974 New and Improved, Murray has been praised for his work with the Los Angeles studio guitarist Lee Ritenour, among others. Even the list of other people named Don Murray whom the engineer should not be confused with is lengthy; it includes the drummer for the Turtles who died in 1996, the actor who appeared alongside Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop, and a New Orleans jazz reed player who drank himself to death in the late '20s. ~ Eugene Chadbourne