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Bryan Murray
Bryan was born and raised in Nitro, West Virginia, where he began studying and playing professionally at a young age with local guitarist/bassist Chuck Biel. Bryan then pursued his musical studies at the University of Kentucky with Miles Osland. He was a member of the Downbeat award winning ensemble Mega Sax, which made several recordings on the Seabreeze Jazz label. Upon completion of his Bachelor of Music, he continued his education and obtained a Masters in Jazz Studies at DePaul University under the instruction of Mark Colby. While attending DePaul, Bryan performed with Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner, Nicholas Payton, and recorded a live CD with Tom Harrell. Bryan was also a member in the Chicago Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra and is featured on their recording “Labor of Love.” While in Chicago, Bryan had the opportunity to study with tenor greats Joe Lovano and Rick Margitza. Bryan spent four years in Chicago working as a private instructor and freelance musician before moving to New York.
Since moving to Brooklyn, New York in 2002, Bryan has established a strong presence in the New York music scene, leading his own quartet as well as his avant-jazz/country band “Bryan and the Haggards.” He is also currently performing and recording with many ensembles including Jon Lundbom and Big Five Chord, the Nick Russo Quintet, and the Aaron Irwin Group. Since moving to New York, he has studied with saxophonists Rich Perry and Chris Cheek, and has performed at numerous venues including 55 Bar, Blue Note, Jazz Gallery, CBGB’s Underground Lounge, and the Knitting Factory.
Bryan has performed with: Aaron Irwin Group, Brian O'Hern Big Band, Chicago Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, Jon Lundbom and Big Five Chord, Louie Belson, Michael Bates Tamarind, Microtonacity, Mike Fahie Orchestra, Nick Russo Quintet, Peter Van Huffel Quintet, Ray Charles, Rick Parker's Jazz Collective, Sherisse Rogers Jazz Orchestra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
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Bryan Murray & Jon Lundbom: Beats by Balto! Vol. 2
by Mark Corroto
Spinning Beats by Balto Vol. 2 in the midst of a global pandemic brings to mind a quote from Zack de la Rocha: Fear is your only god on the radio." The Rage Against The Machine frontman is begging you to turn off your radio, but somehow you just can't turn off Balto!'s beats. The brain-child of guitarist Jon Lundbom and Bryan Murray (Bryan And The Haggards, Big Five Chord), the spine-tingling essence of this music confirms what ...
read moreBryan and the Haggards: Still Alive And Kickin' Down The Walls
by Dave Wayne
With the music of country music legends Merle Haggard and Bob Wills as a starting point, tenor saxophonist Bryan Murray and his band have been creating fresh, iconoclastic, and somewhat noisy modern jazz for a few years. The Haggards' second CD, Still Alive And Kickin' Down The Walls, picks up where their stunning debut, Pretend It's the End of the World (Hot Cup, 2010), left off. Murray and his band are clearly having a lot of fun with Haggard's music. ...
read moreBryan and the Haggards: Still Alive and Kickin' Down the Walls
by Dan McClenaghan
Still Alive and Kickin' Down the Walls is the second foray into an unlikely marriage of free jazz and the Bakersfield, California, country sound of the legendary Merle Haggard, a follow-up to the pairing's raucous honeymoon, Pretend It's the End of the World (Hot Cup Records, 2010). Saxophonist Bryan Murray leads this outfit, a rowdy, rough around the edges quintet comprised of two reeds in front of a guitar-driven rhythm section.Opening with Haggard's Ramblin' Fever," the music sounds ...
read moreBryan and the Haggards: Pretend It's The End of the World
by William Carey
Is it too late for a best of 2010" list? This 2010 release, by Bryan and the Haggards, has made several of these lists; while it would be easy to approach these jazz renditions of Merle Haggard tunes as some sort of novelty, that couldn't be farther from what tenor saxophonist Bryan Murray and his quintet have accomplished with this set of country ditties. The band's namesake, singer/songwriter Merle Haggard, remains a fascinating character in the history ...
read moreBryan and the Haggards: Pretend It's The End of the World
by Raul d'Gama Rose
The legend of Merle Haggard is probably as large as the life of the folk music star. Only Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash have a larger legend than Haggard. The writer of Okie from Muskogee" is the star of this album, Pretend It's The End of the World by this ensemble led by tenor saxophonist, Bryan Murray. Haggard's music has always been earnest and soulful and like the best contemporary music, was in fact, somewhat ...
read moreBryan and the Haggards: Pretend It's the End of the World
by Dan McClenaghan
Can a saxophone twang?" If it's a set of music celebrating the sounds of Bakersfield, California's county music legend, Merle Haggard, it had better do just that. And strangely, with Pretend It's the End of the World, by Bryan and the Haggards, the saxophone blowing of altoist Jon Irabagon and the tenorist/leader Bryan Murray find that country twang via drawn out whiny lines, in an odd marriage of the country music's iconic Bakersfield sound with free jazz, in, at times, ...
read moreThe Jazz Session #184: Bryan Murray of Bryan and the Haggards
Source:
AAJ Staff
When one thinks of free jazz, one of the first names that springs to mind is that of Merle Haggard. And so, it's perfectly natural that saxophonist Bryan Murray would have assembled a band to play free versions of Haggard's songs. The result is the very engaging Pretend It's The End Of The World (Hot Cup, 2010). In this interview, Murray talks about the inspiration for the record and how the band made the songs work in such a different ...
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