Paul Bryan | PaulBryan.us

Photo- Ellen Rehak

"A tricky thing…" READ MORE...

Good record production is a tricky thing. It requires not only the creative and the generating of ideas, but a facility for organization and the ability to inspire performances. Paul Bryan excels at all of these as well as bringing a dogged determination and dedication to making everything as musical and gorgeous as possible...an extremely rare combination.”
~Aimee Mann

“The staggering thing about Paul Bryan is the scope of experience he brings to a project. He’s a musician who knows his way around the studio and the stage, having worked with some of music’s most revered artists from Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint, Aimee Mann to Lucinda Williams. There’s an acute sensitivity in Paul’s playing and a knack for taking the song in as a whole. It's little wonder that his producer chops are so finely tuned. He gets inside the song and yet he’s always conscious of the big picture. In the tradition of George Martin, he’s also an incredible arranger, orchestrating strings and horns for a number of songs on my album Little Moon. I think one of the most important things about finding the right producer is that you know that they will honor the music, that they will challenge you to rise to your best and that they are willing to get their hands dirty and do what it takes to make the best recording possible. Paul Bryan is all that in spades.”
~ Grant Lee Phillips

“The past 10 years has been me throwing in with a band. Arranging generally meant I’d play the song, everybody would try something, and Kennan [Gudjonsson] and I would cull from that. It’s worked well. Then Paul showed up at some point and proposed we try something more formal, more measured. Doubting we’d all find any real time obliged us to take a tiny opening last winter [2009]. We made a record from scratch over the course of a few fitful weeks, during which Paul would pore over the stuff I had written, putting hours in for regular involved discussions between transcribing and arranging. Near the end of that very short period he had accomplished ten masterful orchestrations, then promptly advanced to the positions of conductor and player. Somehow he made it look easy.”

“Paul is a born strategist, the picture of diligence, ingenuity and natural rapport, consistent with his uncommon ear for all things musical. Having worked with him across his range of expertise, I’m certain that our returns are ten times what they would have been without him.”
~ Nina Nastasia

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TOUR DATES with Jeff Parker

Guitarist Jeff Parker is best known for his inventive playing in post-rock outfit Tortoise and his collaborations with Rob Mazurek and other Chicago-centric experimental combos, but on his fantastic new solo LP The New Breed, out Friday, June 24th, Parker’s in a funky, soulful mode.

It’s a killer record — one of our most listened to of the year — equally rooted in jazz and funk, and built upon beat-making experiments Parker posted to his MySpace page back in the late 2000s in Chicago.

In 2013 and ’14, Parker began the process of relocating to Los Angeles, and in the new city, he found himself excavating those old beats, working with his friend, producer and bassist Paul Bryan, drummers Jamire Williams and Jay Bellerose, and saxophonist Josh Johnson, to layer tight, funky compositions over those foundations. “Get Dressed” struts like vintage MGs, while “Executive Life” sounds like an outtake from Madlib’s Beat Konducta series. On a cover of Bobby Hutcherson’s “Visions” and the woozy “Jrifted,” the band mixes up a trance-inducing brew. ~Aquarium Drunkard

Jeff Parker The New Breed- International Anthem Records

Kudos! for The New Breed

Best Albums of 2016- The New York Times

Best of 2016- The Los Angeles Times

Best Of Jazz 2016- The Huffington Post

KMHD Top Jazz Albums of 2016

Best Albums 2016- Jazz Standard

Best Jazz Album of 2016- The Observer

Credits:
Produced by Paul Bryan and Jeff Parker
Recorded, Edited and Mixed by Paul Bryan
Jeff Parker - electric guitar, Korg MS20, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, loops and samplers, MIDI and drum programming
Josh Johnson - alto saxophone, flute, clarinet, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron
Paul Bryan - electric bass guitar
Jamire Williams - drums
Jay Bellerose - drums and percussion (“Visions” only)
Ruby Parker - vocals
Mastered by Dave Cooley

Matt Mayhall Debut Album: Tropes- on Skirl Records

Best New Jazz- Bandcamp- Article

The best jazz debut of the year- bigcityblog.com Article

Credits:
Produced by Paul Bryan
Recorded, Edited and Mixed by Paul Bryan
Matt Mayhall- drums, percussion, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, Yamaha VSS-1
Paul Bryan- electric bass guitar
Jeff Parker- electric guitar
Jeff Babko- B3, Fender Rhodes, Roland SH-1000
Chris Speed Tenor saxophone
Mastered by Dave Cooley

Jeff Parker- The New Breed International Anthem Records

The New Breed is Jeff Parker’s most vibrant and comprehensively personal work yet, appropriately the first in 11 years with only his name in the “lead artist” column.

“It’s a killer record — one of our most listened to of the year…”
-Aquarium Drunkard

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Meshell N'degeocello Tour 2014

I'll be playing with the tremendously gifted Meshell N'degeocello and her band this summer. We will be touring behind her great new record, Comet Comet To Me, out June 3rd.

A few East Coast Dates below: Come out and see us!

Friday May 30: Santa Monica CA
Tues June 03: NYC, NY, Poisson Rouge
Wed June 04: Baltimore MD, Soundstage
Thurs June 05: Alexandria VA, The Birchmere
Friday June 06: Philadelpha, PA, World Cafe Live
Saturday June 07: Cambridge MA, The Sinclair

Full list of tour dates HERE

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THE BOTH- produced by Paul Bryan

The Both's first album represents the results of a well-conceived collaboration between two artists who've built up considerable goodwill with their long careers of first-rate songcraft.

Other highlights of the albums are Mann's rock-solid bass playing, the well-placed keyboards and simple production of Paul Bryan, and Scott Seiver's strong drumming.

The Both never sounds like Leo playing Mann's songs or vice versa. They work hard to make it a true collaboration, and due to that effort and the high quality of the songs they each brought, it works amazingly well. Well enough that it rates with the best work of either artist, which, given their respective track records, is saying a great deal. -AllMusic

Listen to Aimee Mann's new single Charmer!
Full Album release date: September 18th 2012. SuperEgo Records

Listen to Charmer at Rolling Stone.com

Her first release since 2008's @#%&*! Smilers, Aimee Mann's new single shows off the more pop-oriented side to her usual acoustic tendencies. "Charmer," an upbeat, synth-heavy track, takes a dig at personable people who hide ulterior motives. "The album explores the ideas of charm and people who are charming," explains Mann, "and how they can sometimes be really fun, but sometimes very manipulative – there's a darker side."

The single is from Mann's eighth studio album, Charmer, which will drop on September 18th. Mann will tour in the fall in support of the album's release.
By NATALIE MORIN

Mojo Working Article: Aimee Mann in the studio with producer Paul Bryan

Click Mojo logo for full article and pix

Mordant, erudite, singer-songwriter looks to Split Enz, Cars for album number eight.

For someone who has consistently tracked her chart success with 80's synth pop band 'Til Tuesday, Aimee Mann's new album is, surprisingly a return to the genre she ran away from. "this is a 'pop' record," she says over a crackly phone line...

Tanita Tikaram's New Album, Can't Go Back… Release Date July 27th 2012. Edel Records

She was inspired by her new found love of Americana, by the union of country and soul by Motown and Chess, and by singers such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Dusty Springfield, Don Williams, Paul Simon and the long-lost Marie Knight, Tanita went straight to the heart of what moved her heart.
“I can’t put anything out until it’s good enough, it has to feel right. It took a year to find the right producer!”

I wanted to merge sincerity of performance with movement and groove and then to merge English originality and quirkiness with American warmth and openness. I’m not a poet and I didn’t want something that sounded like I was reciting poetry. Paul Bryan who produced the album has worked with Allen Toussaint, he’s a consummate musician and he understood straight away. I made him laugh and he made me feel involved.”

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Lindsay Fuller- You Anniversary on ATO Records

The latest album by Birmingham-native Lindsay Fuller is a gorgeous, haunting gem. Fuller moves seamlessly through the lower regions of a vocal register that has incredible heft. On each track, you’ll be struck by her uncanny ability to control the seemingly volatile power she can produce. Get ready to experience something vast and beautiful, yet simultaneously ominous—very rock & roll.

Initially, You, Anniversary brought to mind a Lucinda Williams/Lower Dens synthesis, a deeper and folksier Brandi Carlile, or a female version of Ryan Adams (at his very best—and as a baritone), but ultimately, Fuller displays an impressive songwriting sensibility and an arresting musical style for which there’s no fair precedent or comparison. She enlists the aid of some talented musicians, including Paul Bryan, who doubles as bassist and producer, and has been involved in producing projects with the likes of Aimee Mann and Grant Lee Phillips.

-Oxford American Magazine