He was an in-demand accompanist for singers such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Jo Stafford, Anita O'Day, and Julie London.

[4] Rowles along with bassist Joe Mondragon and either drummer Mel Lewis or Stan Levy formed the rhythm section.

[3] Years later Murphy told James Gavin that he and Holman, "did songs from the hit parade and tried to make them hip".

[5] He wrote, "the appearance of several albums in the late 50s announced that the jazz world had a new and important singer in its midst".

[6] He praised the band, writing, "Bill Holman has produced a crack musical accompaniment.

[2] Will Friedwald said that the albums made during this period from 1956 to 1960 "reveal a young singer with a strong, dark, attractive voice, with a lot of good ideas and an obvious commitment to the jazz idiom-but one who stops just short of having a sound and a style of his own".

[1] The attempt to capitalize on the previous success of the songs didn't work for Murphy and the album did poorly.