“Incredible” is the word that keeps coming to mind when contemplating this masterful compilation of musical anomalies that seems to take on a life all its own. “Incredibly hip” is the way it has already been described by some reviewers. And “hip” indeed is a word that has long been used to characterize the work of vocalist Mark Murphy, a name not necessarily familiar to all contemporary jazz fans, but a four time winner of Downbeat Magazine’s “Best Male Jazz Vocalist of the Year” award and a six-time Grammy nominee, although he never actually won one. What seems amazing is that this “hip” new jazz CD is the work of a singer now 75 years old and features saxophonist Lee Konitz, age 80, a veteran of the historic Miles Davis 1950s Birth of the Cool sides.

It is the totality of Love Is What It Says that gives it its power. I can’t help thinking of some of the longer works of Wynton Marsalis or Duke Ellington, or albums like Woody Herman’s Summer Sequence or Miles Davis’ Echoes of Spain. But in this case, the impact is achieved not by instrumentals, but through separate and seemingly unrelated song material. It begins with the work that Murphy is best known for, the lyrics he wrote for the Oliver Nelson instrumental “Stolen Moments.” Producer Till Broenner uses a reprise of this on two other occasions in the album and that’s part of what gives it a sense of being all of a piece. But consider a sequence of “My Foolish Heart,” the 1940s saccharine pop tune, followed by the Johnny Cash C&W hit “So Doggone Lonesome” given a jazz flavor with a Miles-like trumpet solo by Broenner, followed by “What If” by the British rock group Coldplay. Then, on top of this comes a strong walking bass line under Murphy’s falsetto scatting, accompanied by some complex sax improvisation by Lee Konitz. That one is a new Mark Murphy original entitled “Interview.”

What you have here is a group of mature and serious musicians who aren’t afraid to take chances. You may not previously have heard of this album, but I suspect it’s a piece of work that jazz fans will be listening to for some time to come.