New York City-based saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer: Progger, Knower, fall, winter, souped-up Civics

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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Progger, Knower, fall, winter, souped-up Civics

The last few months have felt like they've blitzed by like a souped-up Civic that isn't even street-legal any more. Freelance gigs, Progger travels, living life in New York, and working on new music has been a very enjoyable way to feel completely swamped. But I feel very grateful for all the beautiful human beings, musician or otherwise, who I've gotten to work with and otherwise spend time with over the summer. I'm looking forward to taking a couple weeks to relax here in New York as well as in the Northwest with my family, and I'll hopefully be cranking out some new ideas for musical projects that will be taking shape over the next few months.

After the earthshakingly epic shenanigans with the Funky Knuckles in July and August, it was a serious pleasure to get to do a show with one of my favorite saxophonists, writers, and overall musicians on the scene right now, Troy Roberts. His group is fantastic, his albums are fantastic, and holy crap can he play his instrument. I very much hope we get to do more of those!

My good buddies from Austin, Mente Clara, came up for a few shows, and it was great to reunite with those rascals as well. Plus I got to play at Owen Summers' high school. Witnessing the origins of such a mastodon-like presence on the Austin music scene was a blessing indeed. Also, Poughkeepsie is a trip of a town.

There's some very exciting Progger activity coming up soon! Next is a show that I'm insanely excited about: we're playing with one of my favorite bands on earth, Knower, at One2One on November 1. That will serve as a prelude to a super-sweet December of lots of shows in Texas and the South. Here's everything coming up for my public shows:

CALENDAR

November 1, 2014: Progger and Knower at One2One, Austin, TX
November 5, 2014: Progger (north) at Shrine, Harlem, New York, NY

December 5, 2014: Progger at FlattFest, Austin, TX

December 9, 2014: Progger at RBC, Dallas, TX

December 10, 2014: Progger residency at One2One, Austin, TX

December 17, 2014: Progger residency at One2One, Austin, TX

December 31, 2014: Progger residency at One2One, Austin, 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.