"An Evening of Jazz with the Murphy Family" Friday, Sept. 9, kicks off the Weymouth Arts & Humanities programs for 2011-2012.

McDonald's Restaurants of Moore County is supporting this year's programs.

The concert will begin at 7 p.m. at Weymouth Center, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. A reception will be held on the lawn at Weymouth after the concert.

Moore County resident Paul Murphy, a performer at the Carolina Hotel as well as other local venues, is a former music teacher and currently a minister.

He brings along his daughter Anna, 21, and his nephew Gary Brown, to present an evening of diverse standards, some as early as the 1920s ranging up through the late 1960s and early 1970s.

A Latin American beat will mark Anna's vocals. She will perform many songs in Spanish and Portuguese, as well as English. Murphy will mainly play piano and tenor saxophone. Gary is a drummer, who also plays a mean piano.

"The performance will be a few standards for ensemble and quartet," said Murphy. "It will be a diverse group of songs."

Murphy's musical expertise also includes both classical and jazz clarinet among a host of other instruments, plus his own compositions.

He grew up in Southern Pines, began musical studies in Chapel Hill majoring in clarinet. After a stint in the military he returned to complete his bachelor's degree in music composition at UNC. He had become interested in jazz and composing musical pieces.

Murphy has won regional performing contests, including an award from Duke Graduate Students competition for a piece he composed to be sung by a mezzo soprano, accompanied by piano.

He has taught music and conducted performing groups in the Moore County schools and The O'Neal School, also serving as an administrator for the charter arts school for grades K-8 in the Southern Pines-Vass area. He is a familiar figure at many entertainment venues in Moore County.

Murphy currently divides his time between ministerial duties at Franklin Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church in Laurinburg and his music performances. His home base is Pinebluff. He has found the time to earn a master's of divinity from Duke University and a doctor of ministry from Hood Theological Seminary.

His wife, Sharon, is a teacher at STARS. Anna attended Pinecrest High School and completed her high school diploma via homeschooling. She has attended St. Andrews Presbyterian College and Sandhills Community College. She has studied violin, dance, piano, and guitar and is planning on entering Tulane University in Louisiana. She is interested in the film business.

The rest of Murphy's entire family is given to music.

His father, Bob Murphy, is a trumpeter and a former English teacher. He performs in local venues. So does Murphy's youngest son, Greene, 11, who plays guitar and sings, studies piano and composes music, as does Murphy himself.

Greene is being considered for a reality show role on the ABC television network.

Murphy's two older sons Kent and Drake, are music producers traveling between Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Nashville. They produce "all types of music," says Murphy, including country and western.

Murphy's home is equipped as a professional studio where music can be recorded, he says. The family also owns a music shop run by parents Bob and Thomasina Murphy, a former science teacher.

Advance tickets are recommended as space is limited. Tickets are $10 if purchased in advance, and $12 at the door. Tickets may be purchased at The Country Bookshop in downtown Southern Pines; Given Bookshop in Olmsted Village, Pinehurst; and Weymouth Center.