Brian Prunka emigrated to New York from the tiny nation-state of New Orleans in the year twenty-aught-three. He had spent the previous decade honing his musical skills in the Home Of Jazz and ingesting what he could of the local culture. Originally from Newtown, CT, Brian grew up in the cultural wasteland of Miami, FL during its well known “Vice” era. Equally proficient on both guitar and oud, Brian composes and performs jazz and middle-eastern influenced music with his own projects (such as the Near East River Ensemble) and with musicians such as Michael Bates and Simon Shaheen. Brian recently return to New Orleans to pursue various music projects and to teach jazz guitar at Loyola University. Since returning, he's been putting together projects with Simon Lott, Michael Jenner, Tim Green, and Helen Gillet among others.
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