New York City-based saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer: Austin is beautiful, especially when it's not a hundred and five out

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Austin is beautiful, especially when it's not a hundred and five out

The weather has started cooling off, and I've been enjoying this beautiful city that's been my home for the last two years. The trail from Barton Creek to Town Lake, the Lamar footbridge over the Colorado River leading right to downtown, and the pervasive sense that the people who live here WANT to live here make me very happy to be in Austin. The community here is only getting stronger, and I'm glad to be a part of it.

Progress is playing at the end of the month, and we've got a grip of new music that we'll use to lay waste to the Elephant Room. Nelo's got a string of new dates, as well, plus we're gearing up for a humongous nationwide tour in the spring. Here are all my public gigs coming up.

10/13/11: The Vineyard, Florence, TX
10/14/11: Nelo at Hotel Sorella, Houston, TX
10/15/11: Nelo at Schotzi's, College Station, TX
10/19/11: Monster Big Band at the Elephant Room, Austin, TX
10/20/11: Nelo at the House of Blues, Houston, TX
10/22/11: Nelo at Lola's, Fort Worth, TX
10/27/11: The Vineyard, Florence, TX
10/30/11: Progress at the Elephant Room, Austin, TX
11/3/11: The Vineyard, Florence, TX
11/4/11: Nelo at the Parish, Austin, TX
11/19/11: Nelo at the House of Blues, Dallas, TX

Bio

Initiate third-person voice.

Brian Donohoe was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and took an early interest in composing and performing on the piano, woodwinds, and guitars. Originally inspired by soundtracks from movies, cartoons, and video games, he soon became fascinated with British and American rock, pop, soul, funk, and jazz. By high school he was playing bass in rock bands, piano and saxophone in jazz and funk bands, and clarinet in the Albuquerque Youth Symphony.

While attending the University of North Texas College of Music jazz studies program, Brian recorded and toured internationally with the Grammy-nominated One O’Clock Lab Band and won Down Beat Magazine awards as a soloist and band leader. He developed friendships with the UNT community that would eventually evolve into the Grammy-winning group Snarky Puppy under the direction of Michael League. He also worked with prominent members of the Dallas music scene, including Robert “Sput” Searight (Snoop Dogg/Kendrick Lamar), Shaun Martin (Kirk Franklin/Kim Burrell), TaRon Lockett (Erykah Badu/Funk Apostles), Wes Stephenson (The Funky Knuckles), and Bobby Sparks (Prince/Marcus Miller).

After composing music for and performing on three Snarky Puppy albums, Brian moved from Dallas to Austin, spending several years as a touring and session musician while forming and developing his own group, Progger. He currently serves as Progger’s band leader, saxophonist, keyboardist, and primary composer.

In 2013, Brian relocated to New York City while keeping ties to Austin and Dallas strong. In 2016, Progger released its third record, “Scattering,” under the auspices of Ropeadope Records, using musicians from both Texas and New York. “Scattering” was released to warm critical reception by the international jazz and progressive music communities, and it continues to garner praise in publications and podcasts in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

In addition to Progger and Snarky Puppy, Brian has performed and recorded with many critically acclaimed artists including Okkervil River, Myron Butler & Levi, Nelo, Bill Laurance, The ClubCasa Chamber Orchestra, and The MK Groove Orchestra. His compositions appear in multimedia productions around the world.