Home » Jazz Musicians » Barry Finnerty

Barry Finnerty

BARRY FINNERTY, was born in San Francisco on December 3, 1951. My father, Warren, was an award-winning actor (he received the Village Voice Obie for Best Actor of 1960 for "The Connection") and my mother, Ruth, was an excellent classical pianist who later got her PhD and taught English at UC Berkeley.

I began playing piano and reading music at age 5, then got my first guitar (a classical) for my 13th birthday. I got my first electric guitar, a Fender Jaguar, for my 14th birthday while living in Hong Kong (my mom had gotten a Fulbright grant to teach there for a year), and that same year my first band, The New Breed, opened the show for Herman's Hermits! I seemed to get some attention for my ability to play the guitar solos from the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" and the Rolling Stones' "Heart Of Stone" note for note! The band also played songs by the Who, the Kinks, and the Yardbirds. Jeff Beck was my first real guitar hero.

I returned to San Francisco in 1966 and played in high school bands while absorbing the new hippie rock scene at the Fillmore and Avalon Ballrooms. Here I heard Jerry Garcia with the Grateful Dead, Mike Bloomfield with the Butterfield Blues Band, and later, Eric Clapton with the Cream, and Jimi Hendrix, along with virtually all the top bands of the time. Hearing Jerry Garcia's smooth melodic playing influenced me to trade in my Jaguar for a red single cutaway Guild Starfire. But I really identified more with Jeff Beck, so I traded that one in for a '57 cherry sunburst Les Paul...with a Bigsby tremolo! (I had it removed..I had worked hard on my finger vibrato and I didn't want anyone to think I was cheating!) The price of that guitar..500 bucks. Now it would be worth at least $25,000!

Around that time, I began to be interested in jazz, and studied jazz guitar and theory with Dave Smith at Sherman Clay music store in downtown SF. I listened to records by guitarists such as Howard Roberts (my first real jazz influence), Kenny Burrell, and George Benson, as well as Dave Brubeck (with Paul Desmond), Miles Davis ("Kind Of Blue") and John Coltrane. I traded in the Les Paul for a 1960 blond Gibson Johnny Smith. I played and sang in a band, Beefy Red, that opened shows at the Fillmore and Avalon and featured some of the Bay Area's top young musicians. In 1969 I entered UC Berkeley and studied philosophy, astronomy, ear training and sight singing, which considerably advanced my musicianship and conceptual abilities. In 1971 I attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston for one semester, during which time I went to New York and heard some real heavyweight artists, live, including George Benson (who I still consider the greatest jazz guitarist in the world, bar none!), Joe Henderson, Chick Corea, and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. I could see that I wasn't quite ready yet, so I returned to San Francisco for two more years of "seasoning." I played some gigs around the area and bought another Les Paul from my old high school band mate Adam Silver...a beautiful '59 sunburst...for $500 again!

Read more

Tags

1
Album Review

Dave Bass: The Trio Vol. 2

Read "The Trio Vol. 2" reviewed by Maurizio Zerbo


The Trio Vol. 2 è un atto d'amore nei confronti del piano trio jazzistico, riproposto in chiave mainstream contemporanea. Leader di una delle formazioni più classiche per un pianista, Dave Bass propone qui una consolidata formula che travalica tempo e mode senza inutili virtuosismi. È davvero ammirevole la sua raffinatezza di fraseggio, che fa da volano a una superba lezione di swing e musicalità. La forza di questo CD risiede anche nel dinamico interplay di un ragguardevole trio ...

4
Album Review

Dave Bass: The Trio Vol. 3

Read "The Trio Vol. 3" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


The life of any jazz musician is precarious and the road to that life is often compromised by unexpected misadventures. Just ask pianist Dave Bass. After completing piano studies with renowned teacher Madame Margaret Chaloff, and composition with George Russell, he began playing firstly around San Francisco but subsequently moved to Southern California. One day on his way to a gig, Bass fell and so damaged his wrist that he was told he would never play piano again. Thus he ...

2
Album Review

Dave Bass: The Trio, Vol. 3

Read "The Trio, Vol. 3" reviewed by Troy Dostert


For its third installment, pianist Dave Bass' regular working group has produced another worthwhile document drawing on Bass' many influences, and showing that he also has plenty of his own creativity to offer. Once again accompanied by bassist Kerry Kashiwagi and drummer Scott Gordon, and a few cameos from guitarist Barry Finnerty, the pianist proves his mettle as an agile and thoughtful interpreter of the jazz repertoire. Just a few bars into the beguiling opener, “As Long as ...

15
Extended Analysis

The Complete Arista Albums Collection

Read "The Complete Arista Albums Collection" reviewed by John Kelman


When fusion first emerged in the late 1960s/early '70s with artists like trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Chick Corea and guitarist John McLaughlin, the emphasis was on guitar and keyboard heavy lineups like Return to Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra, with an equally strong predilection for the intensity and volume of rock and a kind of thundering funk that was different than the kind of music coming from R&B and soul artists like Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire. Parallel to ...

Read more articles
244

Recording

Barry Finnerty Releases "Blues for Trane"

Barry Finnerty Releases "Blues for Trane"

Source: Michael Ricci

Barry Finnerty is back. One of the top guitarists on the New York jazz scene in the 1970s, '80s and '90s -- his brilliant playing with the Crusaders, Miles Davis and the Brecker Brothers put him on the international map -- Finnerty has just released his first live studio recordings in a decade: “Blues for Trane," a bracing straight-ahead session imbued with the probing spirit of John Coltrane, and “Manhattan Sessions Part 1," a far-ranging contemporary set full of pleasing ...

152

Event

Guitarist Barry Finnerty appearing 1/13/06 with full lineup in NYC after seven-year absence

Guitarist Barry Finnerty appearing 1/13/06 with full lineup in NYC after seven-year absence

Source: All About Jazz

News hook: Guitarist Barry Finnerty, perhaps best known for his playing and recording with Miles Davis (The Man With the Horn), the Brecker Brothers (Heavy Metal Bebop), and the Crusaders (Street Life), will make his first New York City appearance after a seven-year absence on Friday, January 13, at The Cutting Room, 19 West 24th Street, in the middle of this year's International Association for Jazz Education convention. The lineup will include trumpeter Randy Brecker; drummer Graham Hawthorne (Paul Simon, ...

PRESS RELEASE

Barry Finnerty is back. One of the top guitarists on the New York jazz scene in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s — his brilliant playing with the Crusaders, Miles Davis and the Brecker Brothers put him on the international map — Finnerty has just released his first live studio recordings in a decade: “Blues for Trane,” a bracing straight-ahead session imbued with the probing spirit of John Coltrane, and “Manhattan Sessions Part 1,” a far-ranging contemporary set full of pleasing melodies and dancing grooves, deft arrangements and vital solos. Together, they capture a masterly musician in peak form, playing in the inspired company of trumpeter Randy Brecker, bassists Victor Bailey (electric) and Ron McClure (acoustic), pianist David Kikoski, drummers Graham Hawthorne and Victor Jones, and Chuggy Carter on percussion.

Read more

Primary Instrument

Guitar, electric

Location

San Francisco

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

$75/hr. also available on Skype, email for an appointment

Clinic/Workshop Information

"SERIOUS JAZZ SEMINARS" based on Barry's internationally acclaimed "SERIOUS JAZZ" educational books.

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Trio Vol. 3

Dave Bass Music
2023

buy

The Trio Vol. 2

Dave Bass Music
2022

buy

The Complete Arista...

Legacy Recordings
2012

buy

BLUES FOR TRANE

Cheetah - Pony/Canyon (Japan)
2010

buy

Trazz! (Trance Jazz)

Birdland Records
2003

buy

Goldenwings/Magic Time

Milestone Records
1997

buy

Baltic Bolero

From: The Trio Vol. 2
By Barry Finnerty

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.