Described by the Irish Times as, ”two rising stars of the northwest’s blossoming jazz scene”, Micheal and Conor Murray, twin brothers, are considered to be two of the rising stars of Irish jazz.
Born in the rugged, rural landscape of County Donegal Ireland, Conor and Micheal began experimenting with various different instruments in Irish traditional music like the Fiddle, Guitar, and Tin Whistle before settling on Saxophone and Double Bass respectively at age twelve. They both developed a strong love for jazz music soon after and quickly began to develop a reputation around Donegal.
In 2013, at the Sligo Jazz Project, the brothers met Irish Jazz Drummer David Lyttle who the have had the honour of working with and being mentored since then. In 2015, they moved to Glasgow to study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, under the direction of Tommy Smith, and have had a vast array of performing experience in many of Glasgows jazz clubs and venues alongside top musicians such as Pete Johnstone (Tommy Smith, Square One, SNJO) and Tom Gibbs (Will Vinson), and have this year been working extensively over Ireland with drummer David Lyttle playing in Bennigans Jazz Club, Sligo Jazz Project, and most recently, a 27 date tour of Ireland that took place over the month of June.
Conor was also a finalist in Young Scottish Jazz Musician 2018, he is also a current RCS Scholarship Holder, Grade 8 Trinity in Classical Double Bass, Double bassist in the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra and was awarded a place on the Erasmus Program Sep 2017 to Feb 2018, to study at the Music and Arts Conservatoire of Vienna(MUK).
Micheal was a semifinalist in Young Scottish Jazz Musician 2018, and a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he was awarded a place on the Erasmus Program Sep 2017 to Feb 2018 to study at the Music and Arts Conservatoire of Vienna (MUK). Recently he was awarded the Jazzlife Alliance Award, to study with contemporary saxophone icon, Jaleel Shaw.
The Brothers have a unique duo project in which they approach the standards of the Great Composers of Jazz and the American Songbook in an exciting and engaging way that also attempts to stretch the traditional role of their instruments in Jazz.
