JOHN MacMURCHY has made a stellar name for himself as a multi-faceted composer, arranger, and master of both the saxophone and clarinet. He has released four albums to critical acclaim and international airplay, performed and recorded all over North America, France, Great Britain, and Greece, and composed for jazz trio, quartet, quintet, tentet, big bands, and chorale. He has worked with international artists as varied as Warren Vache, Howard Alden, Guido Basso, Henry Mancini, Cleo Laine, Linda Ronstadt, Keith Emerson, and John Dankworth.
MacMurchy’s latest album ‘Art of Breath – Volume 1’, features eight original compositions performed by seven of the finest instrumentalists in Canada and two superb vocalists. A versatile musician, MacMurchy is busy as a session player, sideman, and arranger. He is featured on June Garber’s latest record, “This I Know’.
“…MacMurchy is a fleet, accomplished reedman with a knack for writing and arranging. He’s got everything together and balanced out when it comes to tone, technique extraordinaire, and seemingly unending ideas … His vision of music exudes clarity: of companionship between musicians, of sound, of musical ideas, of concept, of execution, of music. It’s an honest sound that John uses to converse with the listener. Nothing is hidden. It’s all there on the table. Heart. Experience. Pleasure. Life. … I don’t know whether to think of John MacMurchy as a player who writes, or a writer who plays. That he does both exceptionally well is demonstrated on his current release…solidly within the jazz tradition, with a solid grasp of the too-often forgotten need to swing.”
(Ted O’Reilly – CD Review for The WholeNote)
This evening’s all-star JOHN MacMURCHY & ALISON YOUNG QUINTET teams up jazz masters JOHN MacMURCHY on saxophone and clarinet and ALISON YOUNG on saxophone, with JEFF McLEOD (piano), NEIL SWAINSON (bass), and DANIEL BARNES(drums), entertaining in the up-close-and-personal ambience of the Home Smith Bar.